For the artworks which I produced for my exhibition, I had the theme of extinct animals depicted realistically as if they are living creatures while making sure to avoid making them seem too monster-like. I achieved this by giving each creature what I consider to be realistic colors and patterns, as well as keeping their integuments (scales, feathers, protofeathers/pycnofibers) accurate to how they would have been in life. The intent of my artwork is to give the viewer an accurate mental image of what the animals would have looked like when they were alive and how they would have lived. When thinking about extinct animals, it is important to remember that there was a time when these creatures were alive on this planet and that they were no more monstrous than modern day predators, which spend only a fraction of their time hunting or fighting.

The arrangement of the pieces was chosen primarily based on the color of the frame and the orientations of the images. Due to a lack of material, two of the frames had to be white rather than black, so they were placed in the center of the exhibition where they contrast against the color of the wall, bringing the viewer’s attention towards them. The remaining pieces were placed based on their orientation, with the vertically oriented pieces placed below the horizontally oriented pieces. This provides a sense of symmetry to the exhibition. The piece placed in the center, Feeding behavior, has the most action out of the pieces in the exhibition, while the scenes depicted on the outside are much calmer by comparison. I also took the time they were created into account, with the images on the right being the latest works, those in the middle being the earliest, and the pieces on the left having been made in between. Those in the middle, with the contrast against the wall provided by their frames, are likely the first that the viewer will look at, which coincides with this chronological order, with their gaze then moving to the other pieces. I created all of the pieces digitally because it is the medium which I feel best suits what I intend to accomplish with my artwork, and my progression within this medium can be clearly seen in the exhibition.