Common factors will separate the respondents by sectors such as age or cultural background. A random sampling of each sector will be reviewed. Following each review, art will be created  to see if the intake of new data shifts the aesthetics of my established art.   The data received will be used to create a multi-media art exhibit available to the public. If you have an interest in supporting or exhibiting this show, please contact the artist through mshodgeart@gmail.com

I believe that we are born with a primal belief system some refer to as an internal compass which is influenced over time by external forces, becoming a more complex cumulative belief system.  Participants are asked to provide meanings of basic shapes, objects and colors which will then be evaluated to discover their meanings in today’s western society. Is it different from our ancestors? Is there a transcendent core universal system? In an effort to bring visual reality to the intangible values found in public belief systems, I have developed a fun and simple 18 question survey and placed it on the internet.

While the concept came as an “inspired moment,” the research and development of the project took more than 5 years including hundreds of hours of reading, analysis and interviews. I received input from experts on the variety of meanings that symbols and colors have around the world.  Additionally, I sought input from experts in the field of data collection and interpretation. My commitment to research has resulted in a survey designed to reveal content for a future multi-media art project.

Hodge thanks her friends and colleagues for their generous time and valuable advise: Gary R. Libby (Director Emeritus, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach); David Swoyer (NovaFolio Museum Services), Laura Stewart (Art Teacher and Author),  Jessie Lovano-Kerr (Art Professor Florida State University),  and the Survey Practice Squad: artists Kathy O’Meara and Jean Banas.