Senior Exhibits 2013

Artist StatementI chose the paper cut medium because it serves as a methodical alleviation of stress. As I subtract material to reveal an image, the stress of the day falls to land near the scraps on the floor. Through, this body of work, I aspired to explore the span of time I have no recollection of. These “missing memories” occurred through my mother’s illness and ultimate death from lung and brain cancer in the years between 2003 and 2007. The years in which she was ill have passed and I do not currently have the ability to recall them. My goal is to explore the issues connected to my amnesia of this crucial period of time.
The images that I developed are a compilation of impression I can evoke of her during the course of four years, photographs that have become representative of my time with her, and documents that describe the progression of her illness. These documents include medical files and x-rays.
I assumed starting this project and seeing it to its completion was going to help me uncover memories of my mother, instead I realized pushing the boundaries of my mind has the power to cripple me. The last months have been filled with difficulty concentrating, fatigue, excessive sleeping, and irritability: all when I tried to focus my attention on the project and on the past. During her illness I worked, attended high school, kept our home together. I made it through and am a functioning adult today but the last months have showed me suppressed memories allow me to continue being.
My initial assumption that the memories I am missing are powerful is true. Whether or not uncovering them will propel me towards being a more complete person has yet to be revealed. I still believe the missing memories are important but they are not the only path I need to follow in order to grow as an artist and as a person.
Memories are delicate, can be manipulated, and can be extremely faulty. I view my artistic process as directly correlating to this aspect of memory. I selected the thick arches paper because it’s pleasing to cut and provides a soothing tactile experience as I work. I find the colors cream, black, and light green soothing. The physical act of cutting into the strong sheets of paper, making them more visually interesting while weakening their structure is a fascinating act. I’d wanted to do the same with my memories of my mother during her illness. I have no reservations about why my memory lapsed during my mother’s illness, now. The harboring of these years is what keeps me moving through each day. I wake in the morning and am able to step away from bed without feeling the dreadful pull of emptiness.

[1] Gossypium

[3] Centaurea

[2] Aloe

Artist Statement
I am a storyteller. Just as a writer does, I create narrative arcs, form characters, and employ metaphor. Through painting and weaving, I try to understand patterns in my experience and in the lives of people I love. My subjects are universal themes such as identity, history, and hope. However, I try to explore these themes through symbols from my own life. From my experience with hand weaving, for example, I have discovered that amazing beauty can come from threads that tangle and snarl. My loom often breaks down, threads snap, and I often make mistakes in my pattern, but the result of my efforts is a thing of order and poetry. This craft is the perfect form to express the idea of combining the threads of my own experiences with family history and heritage.
The elements in my pictures are symbolic, from the objects I choose to depict, to the supports, threads, and paint that I use. I want every element of the picture to mean something, so I choose my materials carefully. For my Continuous Thread series, I paint on wood panels because trees have their own life spans and histories. They grow slowly and are present in the lives of multiple generations. I also chose not to use synthetic threads in my textiles, continuing the concept of growth over time, and chose instead to weave with cotton.
My current work deals with the concept of creating a future from the synthesis of personal experiences and family history. In my own life, I have doubts about the political and social future of our nation, about the health of family members, and my own economic safety. Thankfully, I have many examples of people who have woven something beautiful out of the chaotic threads of life. Women especially, in my family, show me the hope present in perseverance and the healing that can develop out of times of pain. These women created a good life for their families even though their situations seemed unworkable.
In order to convey this theme, I created the character of a young woman who gathers thread from her tangled environment. The woman is not trapped by the forest, instead she moves through the confusion purposefully. The example of family members allows the woman to wind her threads into a manageable form. Finally, the woman creates a blanket for her child that will keep him safe and comfortable. The story that I am telling is one of identity, because the woman gathers strength, as I have, from her family. The narrative is also about persistence and the ability to hope and dream. The young woman chooses to create even when it would be easier to walk away. She provides for her child and gives him a connection to the past as well as strength for the future.

[5] Serenity

Artist StatementAlthough we come into this world one by one and we leave this world one by one, we are all systemically interwoven. We all affect someone along the way just as others leave their mark on us. We were not made to travel this journey as a solo entity but to explore our environments and get tangled in their relationships. The simple beauty that surrounds us is often passed right by without second thought. It is not until one decides to find the glory in the smallest details that one can be truly satisfied. It is not second nature but becomes easier with the repetitive decision to stay focused on discovering joy. We all exude energy. I want my outgoing energy to be uplifting. I see the ever changing world as a utensil to challenge this side of myself. I feel this interwoven community of energy includes the realms of flora and fauna. Our souls are the unique element of our experience and the rest is just a bunch of molecules floating around. Just as plants and animals grow to their environments, so do we. So does our love, our joy, our hate, or our sadness. I enjoy examining the patterns of plant growth as a symbol of personal growth and the building of one experience on another. I have titled each piece as essential factors that either assist in our growth or impede it. For instance, our Inner Dialog is an important element that has the ability to either encourage our growth or hinder it.
I make art that is first derived from a living species and then abstracted to become its own entity. By examining the structural development of organic forms, I make sculptures that create an ease within its natural configuration and look to find the calm resting place inside each new arrival. I strive to find the harmony of the piece and ultimately don’t stop building until that is achieved. The building technique I use is the accumulation of similar parts which allows me to continue to add elements until the desired semblance is found. I enjoy this pursuit. Once the initial idea starts to take shape the process is very calming and almost hypnotic. The beginning of the process, on the other hand, of getting my concept to take a tangible state is my biggest hurdle. At times I become frozen in my idea. Most of my forms begin in a quiet place alone. Just as my environment is my inspiration, at times it is my deterrent. Once the form is growing it becomes second nature. I feel my way through. I think through the technical aspects and feel through the rest.
Clay is my medium. Clay is my choice. I understand it. At times I let it do what it wants and at times I make it do what I want. We work together. Making this current series “grow” has lead me to examine what that actually means to me. What is success? How do we grow? What circumstances inhibit or accelerate our growth? Where do we get that metaphoric “water” that is so necessary for our souls? How much do we need? Will we ever find enough? How are all these unique experiences connected and what is the most important? And then I get my answer: just love one another.

[1] Blastomyces

Artist Statement
I make artwork based on a large variety of things in my life that I see and take interest in. “Visions from the New World” is a series of works that explores my passion for Christian theology and how I view the figures and situations presented in the book of “Revelation”. The themes of human desire and the trials of humanity are frequently occuring in my art and have been for many years. My goal with this series is to express my passion for both graphic advertising and the theological elements that have inspired me throughout my life as an artist.
The traditional apocalyptic images and concepts are abstracted in my work and are presented in a context that is unexpected, challenging people's preconceptions. Stylistically, I have chosen different time periods with which to convey each character and situation. Each poster has in some way been inspired artistically by advertising of the past, as I wish to create a narrative in which a particular time cannot be placed. I chose to use digital illustration in Adobe Photoshop and incorporated vector elements from Illustrator to create the ideal image I had in mind for the poster effect.
My work as a whole has often featured fantastical images and theological elements. My goal with this series is to use the concept of poster advertising, which people are very familiar with, to convey images that they would not expect. I am taking the poster, typically used to create fantasies and feelings of escapism and superimposing the notion of apocalyptic mayhem upon the images. Along with this, I am also exploring the narrative of a post-apocalyptic world and how I feel the characters in that world would go about advertising the services they offer. In contrast, I have also created one piece that is meant to have been created by those Christians left behind, and this work is meant to depict their dwindling hope, opposing the enticing promises of the enemy.
This series primarily represents my emotional attachment and deep interest in my own faith, and my desire to bring to light an aspect of it that is not often focused on. By choosing to create these advertisements, I have created a look at these figures that is intriguing, yet also retains some amount of a feeling of intimidation. Despite the seeming triumph of the enemy, though, hints of good are still able to persevere. Even when surrounded by darkness, hope and faith still remain strong at the center of the chaos.

[3] Let Me Lead You and You Will Be Safe

[1] Poison from a Cup of Gold

[2] The Great Pandemonium

[4] Dromopoda

[1] Life

Artist StatementStill Life is a series of found object sculptures that represent different animals and the environments associated with them. I am amazed at the way in which the natural world constantly changes and adapts in order survive, and how all organisms, both living and non-living exist to benefit each other. I draw inspiration from these aspects of the natural world; it seems to me that this is the way that the world was meant to exist. In each work, small objects are used to create the image of a particular species of animal; the objects are carefully chosen to represent the mood and characteristics of the species as well as the life and energy of the natural world.
I chose to portray this concept through animals because, unlike humans, an animal’s existence is decided by its environment. In order for an animal to exist, it must have a specific environment to live in; it needs a certain climate, certain types of food, and other factors to create a perfect balance. Although beautiful, I see this aspect of the natural world as fragile and chose to include it in my show. The seemingly solid structures will not rest on a surface, but rather they will be suspended in midair. The relationships between the small composing objects, the fact that they float next to each other, brings a sense of fragility and a lack of solidity that suggests that each part needs the other in order to exist, much like the way an ecosystem exists in nature. The title, Still Life, was born from the fact that I do not wish the animals to provide a narrative, but rather be looked at in a way similar to how one would look at freeze frames. They give a sense that the forms are somewhere between movement and stillness, and thus in possession of a certain energy.
The process of creating and producing each sculpture was generally the same for all three pieces. After I had decided on a species of animal, I researched what kind of environment that they exist in, and decided on a material for the small objects. I choose very different species to show a variety of the natural world. For the first sculpture, the butterfly, I chose to use flowers to make up the shape. Like the butterfly, flowers are fragile and brightly colored. Flowers are the main source of food and shelter for a butterfly, without them the species would not exist. The second sculpture, the bird, is made up of leaves. Birds spend the majority of their time in trees, as trees provide safety and shelter for them. The way leaves grow on trees is also similar to the way a bird has thousands of feathers. The last sculpture, the coyote, is a strong and adaptive species and it can exist in many environments. For this reason, I chose to create the coyote form out of small rocks; rocks are found all over the world in almost every environment as well. Coyotes also often make their dens inside caves or rocky cliffs. In each sculpture, I suspended the small objects with clear nylon thread and hung everything inside a display case.
The ever-changing balance of the natural world never fails as an inspiration for my work. When one looks at nature at a first glance it appears so simple; but in reality it is made up of hundreds of different aspects all relating to each other. The way in which living things coexist in nature is so very different from the way humans live our lives; sometimes it seems as though we are missing out. I hope that as one studies Still Life they are able to experience and think about the intricate and beautiful relationships that exist throughout the natural world.

[1] Butterfly

[2] The Vine Intervention

[4] Inner Dialogs

[3] Inhibition

[1] Continuous Thread

[3] Wrapped

[4] Woven

[2] Gathered

[6] When the Music Dies

[5] One Must Buy and Sell

[4] Mercy on Us

[3] Sparrow

[2] Coyote

[5] Intuition

Artist StatementOver the course of my life, I have been exposed to many different types of people, groups, cultures, and classes. I quickly became aware of the judgments and opinions of others and the effect that it has had on my own sense of identity. In my work, I use photography to explore the themes of Identity, Phases of Life, and Societal Attitudes in order to better understand myself, others and society as a whole.
I tend to investigate themes that involve human interaction, attitudes, and behaviors. I am intrigued by the way that people interact and how culture, society, and environment can influence behaviors. I start by researching the theme: defining terms, making associations, and investigating past approaches. I make photographic sketches by experimenting with different types of lighting, setting, mood, and composition, in order to see what works best. I enjoy working with both natural environments and studio lighting, but I appreciate the control studio lighting offers and the many moods that can be suggested. I also, often work with photo editing software to enhance the quality and cohesiveness of my images.
My current body of work focuses on the awkward adolescent phase of life, during which many individuals are at the most malleable and vulnerable to influence. Young adults begin to pick up on societal stereotypes and the attached judgments of character and start to experiment with image and identity. All of these experiences combine to form a person’s sense of self within society. I express this by using self-portraits to show the different stages and explorations of my own path to self-discovery; each stage is represented by different cultural stereotypes such as Goths, Party Girls, and Tom-boys, to communicate the vast differences in societal influences of personality. The viewer brings their own identity struggles and cultural opinions which creates an interesting mix of correlation and dissension. The result is a series of seven portraits that reflect conflict of self from an individual and societal stand point.
Reflection is the culmination of my own experiences and explorations of identity. Researching and creating this body of work has led me to a better understanding of the way cultural groups and societal views have influenced my own sense of self, but it has also made me aware of how uniquely other individuals can be influenced.

[1]Articulation

[4] Indignation

[5] Responsibility

[3] Confusion

[2] Adventure

[6] Strength

[7] Intellect

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Items in this collection

[1] Gossypium