Written by Professor Ryan Carrington
November 13, 2024
My research focuses on the shift in public perspective of blue-collar and white-collar workers, and how we value labor in today’s society. As an interdisciplinary artist, I do that through many different mediums. This includes using uniforms of white-collar workers and blue-collar workers sewn together into American flags as a hopeful sign of unity, as well as using construction material straight off of the shelf. My piece, Enough To Go Around, is a 5-foot plywood lattice crust pie, with a fabricated steel pie tin, and a necktie filling. Through using the iconic symbol of the apple pie, but shifting the materials, I aim to produce a deeper metaphor within the piece. In my work I use the idea of medium is message, which means that the material that something is made out of affects how the viewer interprets the concepts behind the work. I used plywood specifically because of its reference to blue-collar labor and used the neckties as the pie filling to represent white-collar workers, coming together in the symbol of The Great American Dream. In that research I'm trying to develop a conduit for communication between people and how they think about other people's work. How they think about labor, but more fundamentally, how that dialogue and understanding can instigate empathy towards each other’s places in life.
I see my research as a form of visual communication. Foremost, I hope somebody looks at my art and thinks it's interesting, and then, as they continue to investigate it, it becomes a visual form of communication to see other’s perspectives. I intend to shed light on a corner of our society with a rich history of craftsmanship, process, and precision, while using irony, absurdity, and humor to provoke conversations.
"In my practice, I want somebody to look at my work and enjoy it from a visual perspective. Then, I hope they feel something from it."
I think that the way that we communicate has a lot to do with how empathetic we can be. When I had the opportunity to work with the Mindset Scholars, I wanted to facilitate a fun event that could bring students together to get their creative juices flowing, but also to encourage them to start thinking about the various issues that exist in the world. I think that a big part of what any sort of entrepreneur needs is the skill to communicate across disciplines and with many different people. In considering avenues to explore this, I came up with this idea of having an Iron Chef of Art activity that consisted of two rounds of creating art pieces from non-traditional art materials, and a whole lot of hot glue.
I asked them to think about the conceptual prompt of artificial intelligence and how it will affect our future. It's here. The good things, the bad things, and everything that comes with it. 
The opportunity to work with this next generation of great learners here at our campus was an absolute treat. They impressed me with the way that they thought about the prompt, and their art skills were amazing! They really produced some great work in 30 minutes, which is a hard thing to do, and they inspired a terrific dialogue about harnessing the ingenuity of humankind to solve world problems.
In my practice, I want somebody to look at my work and enjoy it from a visual perspective. Then, I hope they feel something from it. I hope that they investigate it further to learn more about it, or that it reminds them of an experience in their lives that opens up a dialogue for thoughtful discussion. In my eyes, that is why the Iron Chef of Art was such a successful kick off event for the Mindset Scholars. Through teamwork, creativity, compassion, empathy, and having fun, they were able to bring up and discuss real world issues and solutions revolving around the central theme of artificial intelligence. It was rewarding to see this group of students, many of which admittedly hadn't had much previous art experience in their lives, come up with thought provoking art pieces that investigated the human condition. Though this was one of their first activities as Broncos, it gave me faith that our world is in good hands with the next generation of entrepreneurs here at Santa Clara University.
"My work addresses the shift in public perspective towards the culturally defined roles of blue and white-collar workers in the United States. It bridges issues of labor, class, work ethic and economics with my personal and family history. Within my studio practice I delve deep into processes that parallel the monotony and tedium that laborers endure. My intent is to provide a conduit for empathy between our stratified society by inspiring dialogue across communities of people that represent the corners of our culture, history and socio-economic status."