Jordan Warner

How do we decide what makes a good pet? The answer to this question may depend on where one grows up. In the United States, the most common household pets are dogs and cats. But what about other animals, like the ones most commonly raised for food? In the United States, cows and pigs are raised most often for our consumption. Because of this reason, they are often overlooked when people make the choice of raising and caring for an animal. In this series, I want to show that animals we raise for food are just as loveable and worthy of being a pet as cats and dogs. Growing up I have always loved and cared for animals of all kinds. I want to express my love for animals in a way that other people can feel empathy and love for them too. 

I have created charcoal drawings of a pig, cow, dog, and cat. Charcoal is a fun media to work in. It is messy and sometimes unpredictable, but it is great for layering and working in many different values. Charcoal was used to create portrait like images of each animal. The animals are portrayed in a style similar to a children’s book to bring out a childlike empathy in the audience. The idea is to make the audience reconsider the place pigs and cows have in our society.