The Balance Between Truth and Peace
Ashton Weiss, Marley Fischer

Artist Statement and Reflection

 

Our art piece was motivated by the quote that states, “Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates (Zechariah 8:16). Is it not that in the place where there is strict judgment, there is no true peace, and in a place where there is true peace, there is no strict judgment? Rather, which is the judgment that has peace within it? You must say: This is mediation, as both sides are satisfied with the result.” -Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa. This quote teaches, that in life both truth and peace are necessary and they need to balance each other out. This is the recurring theme that helped us build our art piece. We implemented a scale, one side truth and the other peace, both balancing each other out. This scale highlights that we need both truth and peace, and both need to be balanced and present in our lives equally. Inside the “truth” bowl attached to the scale, we utilized a number of elements that symbolize what we think truth represents. For example, we laser cut a Jewish star, resembling that Judaism is true and prominent in our lives. Also, we laser cut people holding hands and people having a conversation, showing that relationships and friendships are true. A core aspect of truth is the fact that it can be both a positive and negative aspect of life. We showed this concept by adding a graduation cap because graduating is bittersweet. Inside the peace bowl, we added elements that connect us with peace, such as doves, flowers, and olive branches. These are items that fit the peace category well and are common symbols that reinforce it. In addition to our scale, we added a spike underneath each bowl, to represent that if truth or peace becomes off balance in your life, you can get hurt. We used many different design materials and techniques such as 3d printing, laser cutting, spray painting, carving, and more. All of those techniques help to create our vision of how truth and peace are connected and we need them both to live a tranquil life.

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Our digital model is very different from our finalized design. Firstly, in the digital model, we could not perfect all of the beautiful colors we wanted to incorporate into our project. Additionally, we used string to hold our bowls and sand to fill the bowls which were not able to be displayed digitally. From the audience’s perspective, it is more fun and cool to see every detail when looking at the physical model, not the digital one. With these differences, the meaning of the art piece decreases, because you are not able to see all of the little details that give it its emphasis and greatness. The goal of the art piece was to clearly display that you need a balance between peace and truth in your life and while the finalized physical art piece does display this, the digital one lacks some detail and does not display the message as the tangible model does.