Escher Island, being a museum of the adoration and preservation of the work of M. C. Escher is not a museum of make-believe...We (well, I) do not pretend that this museum is anything but what it is: a web site dedicated to the art and genius of M. C. Escher. This proclamation of art and genius is no less real than the rest of the museum and, like the rest of the museum, it is naught but MY interpretation of the works of the man known as M. C. Escher.
The works are presented in two ways: the "Wander" section which allows you to browse and view the works I've selected for display and attempts to lessen the impact of my opinions on your viewing experience (even though it contains only the works that I've selected) and the "Tour" section which takes you, step by step, through the works I've selected in an order I've selected and in the way I've opted to lead you through them. The "Tour" is probably the most accurate of the two in portraying the real sense of this museum in that it does not pretend to be even slightly objective, that is to say, the entire thing is my interpretation of how Escher's works should be viewed.
In accordance with the nature of the class ( check out the class' home page at http://vc.lemoyne.edu ) this museum was created as a part of, a joint effort between Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connetticut and Lemoyne College in Syracuse, New York, I must now tie my ethics and mission statement in with the things we covered in class...well, I'll attempt to. Before I begin, I would like to beg a small boon from you, gentle reader. I ask that you remember that this attempt is only because of the requirements of the class I'm taking and has really nothing to do with the construction of the museum since, as I have said, the museum is but my interpretation of Escher's work and the way I feel it should be viewed by others. Okay...now we may begin. The labelling of the items has no real significance to me, it is purely of an informative nature, the labels being the same ones the artist originally placed on his works. The museum is, as is everything else on the 'net, of an exclusivist nature: only those with computers and access to the 'net (or someone who wanders into one of those digital cafes that are springing up all about) will be able to partake in the optical delights that I have presented for their viewing pleasure. This is, as you may be able to tell already, not an altogether conscious exclusion of the techology-impaired (for whatever reason, be it poverty or fear) class of people in our society, it is just a casualty that must be expected when doing anything on the 'net. As for ethnocentricity, there is none whatsoever...unless, perhaps, I'm giving the Dutch a bit of a boost by featuring one of their most famous personages. Art is not about color, race, gender, etc. it is about ART! It is about beauty. It is about pleasing the eye and moving the brain to get off its wrinkly grey butt and do some thinking about what the eyes are seeing. African art...is art, American art...is art, Dutch art...is art, Icelandic art...is (I think we can all see what's coming here) ART! Period. By grouping it into a different class of art we demean the art...it is my feeling that we should do one or the other: either call it art and art alone or take each and every work of art by its own identity and judge it as it is, not by some general class of art that we feel it fits into. This, of course, is just my opinion on art...yours may be different...but this is my museum and so, around these here parts, my perception of art controlls what you will see on these pages. All these things, in accordnace with my beliefs, reflect my existentialist nature and the fact that I am quite an adept (modesty? me? nah!) student of Nietzsche and I feel that, if you look hard enough, this will shine through in all parts of the museum, especially this ethics and mission statement.
That having been said, I can move on to the "nicer" part of our mission statement. I've opted to take responsibility as a museum curator and as a webmaster on a few different levels. I have taken the responsibility of being "true" to the academic nature of Escher's works and those who study his works, that is to say, I've attempted to portray Escher's work in a way that those most knowledgeable about his work would find "authentic" or "academically pleasing" and such. I've also taken the responsibility as a webmaster to give the 'net community things they want/like such as a choice between framed and non-framed versions of the site, not using busy/hideous/confusing backgrounds, using a plain, non-confusing, and (at least I think) attractive color scheme. I've also included a small (but growing) library of midi music files for you to listen to as you browse through (in the framed version) and, even though these files are of my own selection, I believe that there is enough of a variety in them to please just about anyone.
Furthermore, in conjunction with Escher's art dealing with Moebius Strips and Torus Knots, I have constructed VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) representations of both which are linked to the images they pertain to. For a good explanation of VRML and what you need to view it properly, check out this page at: http://vrml.sgi.com/basics/ I personally recommend either SGI's Cosmo Player, a Netscape plug-in that can be found at the address above or Netscape's own Live3D which can be found at Netscape's homepage: http://home.netscape.com/
Please, above all, remember to have fun!!!