Senior Thesis: Women Who Shaped Our Modern World

(1) Hypatia of Alexandria and (2) Ada Lovelace

(3) Madam C.J. Walker and (4) Hedy Lamarr










(5)Yue-Sai Kan and (6) Ellen Ochoa










Here's my Artist's Statement:

Women Who Shaped Our Modern World
By: Kendra Melton

Ever since I can remember I have always had a passion for learning. One of my earliest memories is getting up at 5am just to watch Mr. Wizard before I had to get ready for school. Since then Mr. Wizard has been replaced by the History and Discovery channels.
Earlier this year while I was watching the History Channel I became inspired to create a series of portraits on scientists and inventors - people in general who have enhanced our everyday lives through their innovations. When I was younger it always struck me as odd that the majority of intellectuals we learned about in school were male. Seeing a need for more positive influences for young girls I decided to spotlight women I feel have been overlooked. As a military child I moved around a lot giving me an appreciation of history and other cultures. This drove me to keep the women’s backgrounds diverse both chronologically and ethnically so more people could identify with them. Although these portraits are targeted at school age children from 9 to 12 I feel that they also have a broad range of appeal in various markets.

Thanks for checking out my work, wish me luck! :]