Terribly Unrealistic or Impractical Hopes, Dreams and Goals

Jamie Shoneman, Art Photography, Senior, Syracuse University

This work taps into the very human nature of imagination that plays such a big role in the artist's life. As someone who is always dreaming of something more, looking forward to a new opportunity, the artist decided to compile her favorite dreams. The book was designed to be fun, colorful, and elemental. It was to be more about the human creation of this piece than about striving for perfection, another one of man's unrealistic or impractical dreams. To make it clear that the book was made by hand, the artist chose to use her own messy handwriting because in a way it is a diary of her personal thoughts. Materials were selected based on their reaction to being handled, such as fraying and bending, which reflects the pressures of living and trying to fulfill these dreams. The book would read very differently, and falsely, if it were made through technology reproduction. It is delicate, tragic, funny, and above all else human. Created in 2007 in an edition of three.

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Jamie Shoneman recently graduated with a major in art photography from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and is expanding upon a previously discovered love for making and altering books. She often uses found materials to create conceptual pieces that work with themes including preservation or alteration of the past and memory, the human experience, as well as more humorous pieces of reality and her own personal experiences.