BRIONN NETTLES EXHIBITION STATEMENT 

Introduction

Books, art, and animals were extremely integral in the author's childhood. Having younger siblings, cousins, family members, and working with children the author knew that the interests she had are not unique. Endangered animals and climate change is a common topic that is somewhat talked about in schools. When she first learned about it the world was changed and she realized the animals she had so much love for are at risk. In the current day there are efforts like paying for bags at the grocery store and ads talking about the repercussions of climate change. The avenue taken by the author is to educate others about climate change and trying to make a change in the world is by writing a children's book talking about one of the top endangered animals, the Javan Rhinoceros.  The author's goal is to teach a very impressionable and inquisitive age group (around 6-8 years old) about the Javan Rhino and how they can help them.

Literature Review

Scholarly Influence

The Javan Rhino is one of the most endangered animals on the planet with a population of about 76. They all currently reside in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java Indonesia under the protections of the Indonesian government. Teaching children about the importance of this animal and what is causing their extinction is extremely important. This is because children should be allowed to learn about the world around them and all of the creatures that are on it. Poaching is one of the leading causes in rhino deaths. “Poaching, driven by consumer demand for rhino horn primarily in Asia, poses the biggest threat to rhinos… and criminal networks grind up the horns to sell for use in traditional medicines or sell them whole as a high-value gift item(World Wildlife Fund).” 

Artistic Influences

The wild Kratts books by Chris and Matt Kratt, Have multiple different books and reading levels that stretch from 1 to 5, that talk about different animals in a scientific yet simplified way. The Kratt Brothers have multiple television shows and books out talking about different animals and how they live. For the illustration there are references to different Disney children's book illustrations. Pinterest boards were also a great resource used to find the correct style of illustration to implement in the book.

Methods

The first artistic technique used in this project is realistic fiction literature which will be applied while writing the script for the book. Creating fictional characters to describe the lives of real endangered animals in the wild. The second artistic technique used is character creation when making the character for the book named Joyo the Javan Rhino. The rationale or reason why the author chose these techniques is because they will help make a story that is easily understood by children. They will help build skills and reinforce the message by allowing the author to talk about what endangers these characters and how to help them. The first method she will use is interviews. The author will also be sending the book to different groups of children to read and then give feedback by sending three questions via email to the different groups. This will be done by the author emailing family and church groups the digital version of the book allowing them to read it and then send their opinions and take aways via email. This method can be considered a convienence sample survey/ questionare. The author chose this option after long deliberation because of how much more convinient i can be to get tangible feedback from children and adults.

Audience & Impact 

  This project's audience is for the age group of 6-8 years old. This audience was chosen because the author has a lot of cousins around that age and it seems like a great age to ask more questions about the topic after reading the book. She also thoroughly enjoyed learning and reading at that age so she thought it would be a perfect age group.The impact the author hopes to have on her audience is that she will  teach them something new about that specific endangered animal and spark their curiosity. The author gives them information about the animals assuming they haven't ever learned about the specific animal in depth before, not that the books will be extremely different from other endangered animal books. The author's capstone project will draw on the knowledge and experience she has gained through the Arts Scholars program by being one of her first large art projects (illustrating and writing) that makes her think about how other people outside of herself are affected by her artwork. In the future hopefully the author may create a series of books if they land well with her audience.

References 

“10 of the World’s Most Endangered Animals.” WWF, www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/endangered-animals. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023. 

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). Rhino. WWF. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/rhino#:~:text=Only%20around%2070%20Javan%20rhinos,Java—Ujung%20Kulon%20National%20Park. 

Acknowledgements 

I would like to acknowledge my aunt who is a teacher, writer, and editor who has edited my book and given me advice throughout the whole process. I would like to acknowledge my research methods professor Coutts who has helped answer my questions about research involving children. I would like to acknowledge all of the children I will be sending the book to and thank them for allowing me to take time to teach them something new. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the people and educators around me when I was young who inspired me to learn more about the world around me.