A-Z: A Walk Through The Alphabet Garden
Artist Statement
Letters and words were scary. As a kid, reading was a challenge for me. Differentiating between letters was a struggle and words were intimidating. Graphic design has allowed me to share these challenges. In this work, I am conquering my fears of letters by combining ornamental designs of flowers with typography. As a Graphic Designer the visual quality of letters sparked my interest for the originality of my display. I created the designs to express my struggles with dyslexia and show the beauty in each letter from A-Z. Since words are difficult for me, being a visually learner opened a path into a world of art. When I was younger, I refuse to read books, so I have designed a book that alludes to my conquering this fear and to convey my newfound enjoyment in the written word. The specialty of each design brings the observer through an Art Nouveau alphabet flower garden. The floral background of each letter contains three to four flowers whose name begins with that intricately designed letter. A is for Amarillys through Z is for Zenobia; this floral motif extends through the entire alphabet similar to the early reader ABC books. As the flowers intertwine and spread over the letters making them harder to see, it reflects how letters challenged me as a learner. The use of maximalism reflects my personal struggles with reading comprehension as the words I read became jumbled. A-Z: A Walk Through the Alphabet Garden is a celebration of letters as they dance among the flowers to help me overcome my personal struggles with dyslexia.