Chalk UP! 2015 came and went on our campus, starting with sunshine and ending with puddles. Sophomore art major, Daniel McElroy, hoped to stir up discussion on our campus, beating the rain at its mission to wash away our messages. After months of preparation, McElroy was approved for a spot in front of Levermore Hall, as funny as it sounds… that’s a high traffic staircase! There couldn’t be a better spot for him!
Usually students pick up their chalk and start drawing whatever comes to mind but McElroy spent a tremendous amount of time thinking of how to execute his piece, a (handmade) stencil of Medusa, with his interpretation of Medusa’s relations with Poseidon. Other than being inspired by the Greek/Roman myth, he was driven after taking a class over the summer where he visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the class he observed different galleries and students would present what they interpreted from the artwork.
“One week we went to the classical Greek section and we presented on Perseus slaying Medusa,” said McElroy. “We were going over the myth, and there’s more than one myth, and that’s where I tried to pull from. It’s a pretty dark story but I think she’s such a great symbol.”
Q: Where do you see yourself as an artist 10 years from now?
A: In ten years I want to be using my art for good, in advocacy and rallying around social and environmental problems. It’s something that’s really close to my heart and I hope to bring my technical skills into a capacity where they can really help people.
I don’t know that I have one credo to offer up, because I tend to find lots of useful and wonderful ideas. I will break my own rule because I like how Ze Frank (currently the President of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures) put it in his yearlong YouTube channel experiment: as a resolution he says, “Let me find and use metaphors to help me understand the world around me and give me the strength to get rid of them when it’s apparent they no longer work.” As an artist, and far more importantly as a human being, I collect ideas that I hope helps me grow.
Q: How would you say your family, friends, and surroundings have influenced you into the person you are?
A: Family for me is, and has always been, a massive support network, that has given me so many wonderful and meaningful opportunities. They’ve let me have the freedom to grow and the structure to get where I am today. I have extremely understanding and encouraging parents, who have taught me endlessly and given me some of the best advice I could have had, and I’m happy to say I’ve inspired my sister in the arts. Them, along with an extensive network of extended family, have always had a great measure of faith in me, and that’s been both humbling and exhilarating.
Q: If you could tell someone one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: The advice I would give not only to artists is it that being creative is about bumping into big ideas, and then thinking more critically about yourself and the world. That process is difficult, but makes the world a whole lot more wonderful, and that will feed into everything else you do.
Q: What message do you hope people take away from your Chalk UP! piece? Why do you believe it is important?
A: My hope with the Medusa piece is to get people talking about a really uncomfortable idea through the lens of a story that tends to be whitewashed quite well. The common children’s telling is Medusa was proud or arrogant and Athena condemned that. The real story is that Medusa bedded Poseidon, and (being one of Athena’s priestesses) was transfigured out of breaking an oath of chastity. The darker Roman telling says that Poseidon (here, Neptune) raped Medusa, and thus was condemned. The first act is an example of slut shaming with no blame cast on Poseidon. The second is victim blaming. And Medusa’s use as an apotropaic amulet (like a gargoyle, or a devil’s horn neckless–a holy object that is scarier that the demons that threaten you, one working for you) is her shame, her blame incarnate. We tend to think of classical antiquity by the bleached out statues that remain, or by our lukewarm retellings of its myths, but I want people to remember that not only were their stories and art vibrant but sometimes very disturbing. I think we need to hear that people were struggling against women’s sexual freedoms, or at least rights, for a very long time and it’s not yet over.
The Her Campus Adelphi team is proud to support him and we hope that he continues to get our student body thinking critically, something our smartphones have drained us of. Art is about interpretation, expression, and has no limits. Like a true campus celebrity, McElroy is shining in the spotlight.