Education Changes Consciousness

Reading The Key Essay 5 of 17

MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, 24 X 18
ACRYLIC, INK, 1956 BEGINNING DICTIONARY PAGES

Partnering three canvases into a tryptich composition, “Education Changes Consciousness” joins three dictionary pages to link three words: education, change, and consciousness.

Keeping with the cruciform composition of the series and the sense of reliquary, this piece is much more straightforward in its message. However, there are a few subtle suggestions of humanity within the concept.

In the center canvas, there is a silhouette in the background, almost as a suggestion of a Victorian woman’s portrait. What is her education? What is her consciousness?

The key icon is painted, with the form modeled after an antique key in the artist’s found object collection. It shares the feminine and stately characteristics of the silhouetted portrait.