Raini Evergarden: ART399-FA25 Portfolio Final

Author/Artist Name

Raini Evergarden, Murray State UniversityFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Junior

Date of Creation

Fall 12-4-2025

Artist Statement

The value of an American worker has long since been measured in the value they provide in the enlargement of a billionaire’s wallet. Manipulated and oppressed by the system, American laborers have been reduced to shells of themselves, their sole purpose to keep the machine running. My work picks up the broken narrative and reflects the modern effects of violent American Capitalism on the working class.

Lithography and book arts are inherently anti-capitalist. The process and laborious nature of printmaking and bookbinding is inefficient, unruly, and full of failure. It resists the capitalist obsession with speed, productivity, and optimization. Through these methods, my work offers a perspective on working-class life. One that represents American workers and their lives honestly, their struggles, sympathetically. By using corporate objects and controversial livestock animals–such as pigs– to represent workers' simultaneous complacency and oppression, I can better reflect the underlying injustice that the American system perpetuates. Printmaking evokes lustrous textures and expressive linework that is often a nod to the underlying exhaustion behind the figures and objects. Inspired by Micheal Barnes surrealist landscapes and soft rendering, I make imagery that might not always be real, but is always, reflective of the real emotion.

Much of my inspiration comes from both observation and conversation. Inspired by Kelly and Kyle Phelps, ceramicists who depict American labor, my lithography book, Inheritance, was inspired by an inside wireman at IBEW 702, who described her life as, “Inherited labor, with no reward”, influencing my use of negative space, and rich values, to illuminate how capitalism has structured her life. Ultimately, my work is a wake-up call. One that seeks to reflect an emotion that the average laborer can resonate with, one that might inspire them to move beyond their slaughter, and promote resistance.

Advisor/Mentor

Nicole Hand-Bryant, Lu Colby, Antje Gamble, Carrie Jerrell

Description

The body of work listed is primarily printmaking, more specifically lithography. All lithography shown is stone lithography with a Copal crayon and BFK Reeves (Lightweight) Paper. The color was achieved through either silkscreen printing, watercolor, or color litho. The other work listed is sculptural, varying in medium. Some are book arts, and others are low-fire terracotta pieces with earthenware glazes.

Recommended Citation

Evergarden, Raini, "Raini Evergarden: ART399-FA25 Portfolio Final" (2025). Professional Practices (ART 399). 193.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art399/193