Granola Grunge and Art Nouveau

My Personal Aesthetic

My personal aesthetic, which I am deeming “Granola Grunge” draws heavily on the grunge and post-grunge musical movements of the 90’s and early 2000, tempered by the granola aesthetic that is heavily associated with Colorado. A common theme of both aesthetics, and one that is certainly prevalent in my own fashion choices is a heavy use of plaid and flannel shirts. The image below shows Kurt Cobain wearing some quintessentially grunge clothing, we can see the flannel shirt and jeans, with converse. All simple, reliable clothing, focused on function and economy, things that I embrace in my own aesthetic. In addition to the flannel shirts I wear frequently, I also really like good work jackets, which I think fits in with the Grunge aesthetic. The grunge movement has its roots in the pacific northwest and the thrift-able workwear available at the time, including these flannel shirts and work jackets. 

Image credit: Tullio Saba / Public domain

Growing up in Colorado I was also heavily influenced by the outdoors-y or granola aesthetic that is prevalent here. I own a lot of Patagonia/north face t-shirts and hoodies that I wear regularly. I have included below a picture I took of myself on the first day of this semester that I think does a good job of showing my “Granola Grunge” aesthetic.

 

Main Project Aesthetic

For my main project I am not planning on creating a piece using my own personal aesthetic. Rather, I would like to explore the Art Nouveau Aesthetic in further detail in my main project. One of the things that really draws me to this aesthetic is the Tiffany Lamp. The example shown below represents both Art Nouveau and the classic Tiffany lamp well. We can see the use of stained glass to create a very floral and green scene, common in Tiffany Lamps and Art Nouveau.  

 

By Telome4 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14892217

Main Project Plans

For my main project I will be creating a mobile. The mobile is a form of Kinetic Sculpture pioneered and popularized by artist Alexander Calder. His work “Peacock” is shown below. 

Image from the Calder Foundation

I am thinking that both the Mobile form and Art Nouveau aesthetic will compliment each other well. The natural curves of Calder’s mobiles reflect the natural curves common in Art Nouveau, and I will be able to add ornamentation, hopefully using stained glass as in the tiffany lamps as the weights and counter weights of the mobile.

 

Sources:

[1] Calder Foundation. https://calder.org/. Accessed 5 March 2025.

[2]Coetzer, Theo. “A Lifetime of Lumberjack Shirts.” Habilitate, 29 November 2021, https://habilitateblog.com/a-lifetime-of-lumberjack-shirts/. Accessed 11 March 2025.

[3] Wikipedia contributors. “Mobile (sculpture).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Feb. 2025. Web. 5 Mar. 2025

[4] Wikipedia contributors. “Alexander Calder.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Jan. 2025. Web. 5 Mar. 2025.

[5] Wikipedia contributors. “Tiffany lamp.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Oct. 2024. Web. 11 Mar. 2025.

[6] Wikipedia contributors. “Art Nouveau.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Mar. 2025. Web. 11 Mar. 2025.

[7] Wikipedia contributors. “Grunge.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Mar. 2025. Web. 11 Mar. 2025.