Professional Practices (ART 399)

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Glimpses

Eriko Whittaker

As a painter, I have always been intrigued by the relationship of color, shape, and composition. While my work mostly consists of oil paint on canvas, I also use acrylic paint, gesso, and wood stain. My work evolves with that of my immediate surroundings, taking daily, ordinary scenes of life and how light and color can affect the visual reading of a scene. My work shifts between a continuum of abstract and realistic work, a painting being either non-objective, abstract, or representational. I find great inspiration in ordinary, everyday scenes and objects, ranging from interiors, nature, social, and urban scenes. I often shift between abstract and representational work because while I greatly enjoy the freedom and spontaneity of abstract work, I equally enjoy the structure and study of representational work.
Fall 2018 Professional Practices

Claire Wilson

While still being a college student, I have used many different practices to create artwork, differing from woodworking to metalsmithing and my emphasis, graphic design. However; the voice of my work always calls back to the theme which I feel the most connected to not only in my art making process, but also throughout my life as well. I believe nature and being outdoors is one of the keys to creating a happy life for ourselves – and is the place I feel most heard, comforted, and accepted. A hike through the woods or a day paddle boarding across the lake always brings solace and is able to still and refocus my mind. The calming effect of nature then is what translates to all of my favorite works and reappears no matter the media I am employing.

Some of my works that deal with this recurring theme include an embroidery series of photographs that include my favorite places I have travelled heat transferred and then stitched over to emphasize individual elements of the landscape. When presented, its ideal location would be hanging from tree branches so that the viewer must take a step into a serene, outdoor location to view them. Another piece that demonstrates this is one of my most recent works, a band saw box created in the shape of a tobacco leaf, which represents the landscape where I spent my entire childhood. This theme not only translates into 3D materials, but into my graphic design projects as well. Here I often use simple patterning that include natural elements such as hand drawn leaves and flowers.

My overall vision for my work would be for viewers to see my pieces and it draw them back to their favorite moments they have had travelling, or where they played outside as a child. That the small moment they spend viewing my work would take them back to a time they felt they were less stressed and carefree – and hopefully demonstrate that I believe these feelings can be brought back by spending time quietly enjoying nature.

I believe my work fits in with contemporary art by relating to the current crisis to stop global warming. While not directly speaking to this issue, my work showcases the beauty of the natural world and could encourage others to do their part in keeping it clean for the sake of humans and animals alike. My work also reflects on that of art throughout history. Ancient people believed parts of nature to be gods and would create entire ceremonies around natural events such as rain or a good crop season. The theme of the importance of nature has been demonstrated since the beginning of art being recorded and we should hold onto that standard to continue.

To conclude, I believe spending nature is one of the most important factors for happiness in our lives and this for me continues into every medium of my work. If I am able to make viewers stop their hectic lives for one moment, and remember a calmer time or time they have enjoyed outdoors then we as a society would be able to come together again and create positive change not only for our environments, but for our own lives as well.
Yiyang Xie

yiyang Xie

Artist Statement

Yiyang Xie

In my freshman year, I studied photography, broadcasting, acting, sports and drawing. I discovered what I liked, and what I did not like. When I go to a fiction show. This show is you can use the artwork which made by this artist to create a photo which is not the same in the real. I saw a lot of people were happy at that time. I realized that an artist can bring happiness to people. After that, I decided to be an artist, because an artist is a magical being.

Most of my artwork is made by using a pencil. I can easily use it to draw and using my hands is important in my artwork. I can immediately draw the whatever I want with it. First of all, I create the idea in my mind. And then, I will draw the idea’s draft. After the exploration of my draft drawings. I will choose the best one and start to draw my final piece.

Currently, my art making includes Drawing, Metal, and Design. I use a variety of pencils to complete my drawing work. I learned basic metalsmithing skills this semester and I will continue to use these skills in my artwork. I also started computer based design this semester and can easily incorporate Photoshop and Illustrator into my practice now. I want to use different and cheerful color to create a happy world. I hope my work can show the beautiful world to the people who are unhappy and depressed. I hope they can know how beautiful and wonderful this world is! I this modern city, more and more people we meet. However, we have less and less friends. I feel the happiest time is my childhood. That is a colorful time in my life. Thus, I decided to create a colorful city for people who lose the color in their life.
Supernumerary

Ethan Best

For me, art is centered on shifting perspectives, the analysis of communication and the impact of art on our society. It is a reflection of a cultural collective consciousness; manifestations of a collection of beliefs and worldviews that function both as a time capsule and as a direct line into the world of ideas. I create work that is fundamentally founded in personal exploration and interpretation of the artwork at hand. Each piece is, in essence, a catalyst for discovery. For this reason I use a largely minimalist approach in creating objects that have a strong phenomenological presence and have any and all meaning compressed into openly-interpretable visual cues. Narrative is only determinable through heavy investigation of the piece, and even then is largely subjective. There is an emphasis on untranslatability; an inability to fully understand outside of personal experience and interpretation. While some preconceived meaning is inherited through the use of visual metaphor, the intuitive patterning of the metaphor is obscured due to its vagueness or the further layering of conflicting patterns. Furthermore, the context from which the iconography is drawn from varies greatly.

Whether it be literary and philosophical references or from TV and internet culture, all imagery is of equal of importance. They blend together creating a sense of unsure, uncomfortable half-familiarity. While the art itself is confounded and is relative to the viewer, that does not mean that it is meaningless. Meaning is instead inscribed by the context of the work from the spectator's perspective. This oscillation between investigation of predetermined meaning and objective non-meaning is meant to give the work a sense of sublime absurdity. The spectator is fully free to investigate and form their own opinions on what the work is and what it means, and, therefore, are entirely responsible for those beliefs.
Thoughts and Rambles

Leslie Buhrmester

My work is rooted in the here and now of my mind. The emotions I am feeling, the shows I am watching and music I am listening to all play a large role in informing my artwork. In my “From Birth to Death” photographs, I thought about how quick a sun sets and in relation how quick our time on earth is. I wanted to put the two together to represent that idea. I enjoy playing out these ideas and whimsies.
Reflective Interactions

Isabella Cardozo

My paintings are concern the exploration of light and transparency as it interacts with the figure and objects. I am interested in the exploration of reflective surfaces as they interact with the figure and each other.

By recreating the figure as it interfaces with the transparent surfaces and the light, i can examine the idea of breaking up or splitting the body as a way to understand and maybe communicate anxieties that concern the body.

Formally, I am interested in the play of transparency and reflection and recreating the bright colors that these objects form as the light passes through them, and aim to depict them with as much detail as possible, varying my brushstroke thickness and the amount of paint applied.
Final Portfolio Assignment

Shelby Clark

- “Art, should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” (Banksy.)

I feel the power of art is derived from its ability to allow otherness to be addressed, encouraging the viewer to engage with topics that are ignored or difficult for them. Art is the platform for my critique of society.

My work focuses specifically on my personal experiences relating to the “F” word.

Female.

“1 a (1) : of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs
- In a field of milkweed, I watched a female monarch butterfly deposit a single egg on the underside of a leaf. —Tom Tyning
- A few months later, she became the highest paid female performer on the Great White Way. —Susannah McCorkle
(2) : having or producing only pistils or pistillate flowers
- a female holly
- female inflorescences
b : made up of usually adult members of the female sex : consisting of females
- the female workforce
c : characteristic of girls, women, or the female sex : exhibiting femaleness
- composed for female voices
- a female name
d : designed for or typically used by girls or women
- a female glove
e : engaged in or exercised by girls or women
- female suffrage
2 : having some quality (such as small size or delicacy of sound) associated with the female sex
- female castanets
3 : designed with a hollow or groove into which a corresponding male part fits
- the female coupling of a hose
— femaleness noun`` (Webster.)

Feeling bound to use the “F” word as my label, is a perfect example of the otherness that drives my work. I create wearable props that exaggerate and imprison my figure, drawing attention to the restrictions I feel placed on me for just being female. External stimuli like advertising images and day-to-day life interactions provide the inspiration for these objects. I look at artists like Nick Cave and how his soundsuits fuel the viewers senses without preconceived judgment, by eliminating identity.

During this journey as a woodworker, I have been trying to push the preconceived notions that I have created about the material. It is my goal to attack the boundaries of wood through the incorporation of varying, unconventional materials, as well as the concept of what wood can be used for.

There are endless possibilities to all things and what an artist may do. It is only now that I have begun to find what I’m passionate about, my mind has been opened to the possibilities of creating work that challenges me.
Final Portfolio/ Digital Commons Assignment ART 399-01 SP17

Troian Cummings

My body of work is based in nature; it deals with concepts of comfort, discomfort, and in shared human perception and emotion. The malleability and durability of metal reflects my desire for control while its unpredictability aids in my desire to emulate nature. I am drawn toward natural elements because of my upbringing in Yosemite National Park, where nature is life. It is inevitable, when you live in such a natural place, that you see nature as art. Also, I have always been very aware of my thoughts and feelings in comparison to others. I have a tendency to tell myself that everyone must share the same feelings and self criticism that I do, though I know now that it’s not true. Even so, there are some shared internal struggles that we as humans collectively experience go through and the root of my work comes from this locus... I begin with a fairly loose plan and let it evolve and mature as the project proceeds. In it’s own way, it is a natural growth process, almost meditative in nature. Through this method I aim to emulate the perfect imperfection of nature. I also want to create some of the feelings of human life and the struggles that come with it.

Despite being attracted to the tranquility and peacefulness of botanical forms, I am also interested in pain, danger, and discomfort—the darker side of nature. I am interested in the tension between these two elements of experience; beauty and pain. I am drawn to these darker qualities in the Body Art of Vito Acconci and Chris Burden. Acconci’s Following Piece in which he followed a person around until they became uncomfortable as well as Burden’s dangerous and semi-masochistic pieces like Shoot, a performance during which he was shot by a friend in his arm, are two in particular that have influenced me. In my pieces, I want to evoke some of these same primal feelings, like heightened anxiety or the feeling of being overwhelmed. I emphasize these feelings by using colors that while naturally occurring are perceived to be acidic or poisonous.

When people interact with my art, I want them to feel a sense of promnesia, comfort, and slight disturbance- all at once. In some small way I want my work to make people take pause to think about their connection to everyone and everything around them. I want my art to make people question their surroundings and feel the need to become more self and globally aware.
Pro-Prac Retrospective

Matthew Hahnes

In my own life, I find myself the most contemplative when surrounded by white noise, when I am in the shower or doing laundry; that constant audio static acts like a barrier and allows me to more easily recede into my mind. I imagine the inner mind like a cave, no two are similar, as caves twist and break through the underground landscape they secret away more than we can discover for ourselves, caves are naturally occurring yet are largely unexplored. I investigate this metaphor by generating my own cave openings and spaces to try and impose a feeling of contemplation and isolation on the viewer through visual clues, usually vestiges of human occupation.

In my printmaking process, I create a composition that gives a sense of vastness or spaciousness within seemingly smaller objects to represent this mindscape and placing the figure or a symbol for it within to add to the sense of scale. I’m fascinated with combining a visual interpretation of the brain’s environment and activity within the context of daily activities or environments filled with background noise, the static moments of life. I want to invite the view to contemplate the small periods of dissociation where we cease to be ourselves doing the activity, be it laundry or waiting in the elevator, and exist solely within our minds, thinking, conversing, imagining but ultimately denying the social factor of our own humanity. In those small moments we all exist on the island inside our mind, alone.

In my sculpture work I use the anonymity of constructive materials like sheet steel and treated lumber to pull away the visual noise of logos, design, and color to imbue objects with a brooding quiet. Through sculpture I want to focus on “lonely objects” that are representative of our globalized market and growing speed of international exchange, objects that exist “everywhere” in replicated form and what that means for our interactions with these objects. I think of “lonely objects” as objects that are tucked away in corners or left alone and vacant more of the time than not, such as a vending machine: it stays on always, available always to be interacted with whether that be a positive interaction or not yet that interaction is over in minutes and especially at night there are long hours of electricity and availability seemingly wasted for lack of people.

Focusing on how our relationship to the internet and media affects our consumption of art is key to my process and relating to a larger audience of non-art makers and communicating more effectively. I use saturated flat colors to create a visually interesting composition that will draw the viewer into my piece anticipating something immediately happy or pleasant only to feel a creeping sense of foreboding from the cave or object. I think pushing these aspects of these two main structures can invite the viewer to think about how we interact with appliances and how we demand the constant availability of the internet and social media yet interactions are small and isolated over texts, posts and memes.
Final Portfolio/ Digital Commons Assignment ART 399-01 SP17

Caitlin Hemenway

Caitlin Hemenway

Artist Statement

BFA 2016-2018

In my current work, I am composing delicate forms in expansive spaces. These forms are meant to have a figurative presence. The space, having a tangible quality, then also becomes a subject. I wish to communicate that both space and form have an equal weight. I give voice in my work to the inward emotions of the figurative presence, in a moment of vulnerability, in a space that is unfamiliar.

When I choose the subject for my paintings and drawings, I pay attention to the textures as wellas the colors of the object. Currently, I look to Baroque paintings and sculpture for reference to texture. In those works, drapery is expressive in its gesture and the presence it possesses, depicted by the artist as existing in a given atmosphere. However, the spaces I create in my work are equally inspired from observed horizons, much like the work of Martin Johnson Heade. In resemblance to his work, I use soft edges to soften and unite the form with the space. I also establish hard edges for strong communication of lights and darks as well as scumbling to scatter shadows and light both within the space and form.

The purpose of my work is to communicate the fascination of a space and its emotional effect on those that view it. As the spaces I create surround these delicate forms, I seek to create a feeling of solitude and mystery, expressed as the vulnerable forms are embraced by their surroundings.
Professional Practices (ART 399)

Madison Henderson

I’ve always had a passion for art and design as well as assisting those with mental and physical disabilities. When I was searching for a career in the arts and I discovered Art Therapy I knew I had found my calling. Art has always assisted me through my life experiences. I want to be able to help those with mental and physical disabilities do the same.

The major inspiration for my work is being able to assist individuals with mental and physical disabilities and seeing their everyday struggles and how they overcome them, that your typical individual would take for granted. My art can be vague and mysterious with what I am trying to communicate. I want the viewers to be able to observe my work and discover their own meaning.

I am more drawn to art where the meaning is not immediately clear. Abstract art has always interested me. With abstract art, you can find new and inventive ways to express things, those things could be very simple but made to look more complex and intriguing. Also with abstract art, the work must speak for itself and allow the viewer to decide.

I try to find inspiration for my work in everything that I do and see. One artist that has always been an inspiration to me is Jackson Pollock. He put his whole self into all his work. If something of his fell out of his pocket or he had to stand on his piece to get at the correct angle, he would leave whatever fell out and he would even include his footprints. That’s how I want to be with my work, and all the individuals that I work with. I want to put everything I have and that I am into my work.
Final Portfolio/Digital Commons Assignment ART 399-01 SP17

Shelby Horton

My work is inspired by global warming, while focusing on the relationship between humans, nature, and honey bees. The relationship between humans and bees is complex and has been cultivated for centuries. Depending on the nature of the interaction, this can illustrate the potential destruction of the environment when the complexity of a relationship is taken for granted, or it can illustrate the potential for a symbiotic interaction between humans and bees that not only helps improve and maintain the health of the earth, but that also benefits humans in ways that transcend the collection of honey. By depicting the cooperation of humans and bees, it’s possible to begin breaking down attitudes and stereotypes that pit people against nature. In particular, pollinating insects that are considered dangerous, pests, or expendable. This offers people an opportunity to understand that it is possible to develop a relationship that meets the needs of humans, bees, and the ecosystem; and how symbiotic relationships can be cultivated in other contexts, rather than depleting resources and leaving behind damage.

I combine printmaking with practical objects to come up with pieces that help prevent the collapse of our environment while reaching a large audience and capturing their attention. Nunzio Paci is an artist who focuses on the human condition; he makes his work on humans separating themselves from nature. He has inspired growth in my own work by showing me new ways of seeing how humans separate themselves and how he expresses those moments with his imagery. I express our own down fall with imagery of dead bees, barren environments, and human figures that are usually causing the destruction but I also show the symbiotic, healthy relationship that humans can have by supporting bee hives and growing wild flowers bees need to make their honey. I make this connection in my work by making wild flower seed packets, fit for our region, that people can take with them or making stickers with my e-mail so they can contact me for more information later. I hope that my work through its practicality and meaning will inspire others to advocate for a healthy Earth.
Shelby Horton

Shelby Horton

My work is inspired by global warming, while focusing on the relationship between humans, nature, and honey bees. The relationship between humans and bees is complex and has been cultivated for centuries. Depending on the nature of the interaction, this can illustrate the potential destruction of the environment when the complexity of a relationship is taken for granted, or it can illustrate the potential for a symbiotic interaction between humans and bees that not only helps improve and maintain the health of the earth, but that also benefits humans in ways that transcend the collection of honey. By depicting the cooperation of humans and bees, it’s possible to begin breaking down attitudes and stereotypes that pit people against nature. In particular, pollinating insects that are considered dangerous, pests, or expendable. This offers people an opportunity to understand that it is possible to develop a relationship that meets the needs of humans, bees, and the ecosystem; and how symbiotic relationships can be cultivated in other contexts, rather than depleting resources and leaving behind damage.

I combine printmaking with practical objects to come up with pieces that help prevent the collapse of our environment while reaching a large audience and capturing their attention. Nunzio Paci is an artist who focuses on the human condition; he makes his work on humans separating themselves from nature. He has inspired growth in my own work by showing me new ways of seeing how humans separate themselves and how he expresses those moments with his imagery. I express our own down fall with imagery of dead bees, barren environments, and human figures that are usually causing the destruction but I also show the symbiotic, healthy relationship that humans can have by supporting bee hives and growing wild flowers bees need to make their honey. I make this connection in my work by making wild flower seed packets, fit for our region, that people can take with them or making stickers with my e-mail so they can contact me for more information later. I hope that my work through its practicality and meaning will inspire others to advocate for a healthy Earth.
Final Portfolio/Digital Commons

wei hu

Wei was Born in Zhejiang province, China in 1990. Wei started to learn drawing at 9 years old, he learned calligraphy and Chinese painting. During the drawing, Wei won a lot of awards. 2010-2012, Wei studied art design in Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics in China. In the university, Wei joined the Xiyu Work Studio, this an art design studio for student organizations. After 2012, Wei transfer to Murray State University and learn art/art studio, he chooses many interesting classes, like sculpture, woodmaking, ceramics, painting, photograph and so on. He got Clara M. Eagle Scholarship in 2014. Now, Wei mainly learn the contents of graphic design, he wanted to combine the Chinese design and American design to create. In printmaking, Wei tried to use Chinese countryside’s old house style; in graphic design, he often used Chinese elements, like the effect of Chinese painting, Chinese red, Chinese words and so on.
Walton Kromer: Narratives

Walton Kromer

11/1/17

Walton Kromer

Mid Degree Review

. I’ve always been driven by good stories with the hope to create my own someday. Whether it be from a movie, book, or video game, if it has the ability to captivate me, and my creativity, I’ll try to incorporate it in my work. My main focus is Illustration, mostly in either an ink or graphite medium, with the aim to create a narrative image with some semblance of storytelling. I have more than a soft spot for the realm of science fiction. Practically everything from the entire genre has inspired me one way or another, and through that influence I honestly believe that my own work grows as a result. I take narrative inspiration from the grand stakes and unique world-building of George Lucas’ Star Wars, I seek to incorporate the deep philosophies of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek or the diversity of ideas and concepts in Bioware’s Mass Effect series. Create my own settings that can match the beauty and vastness of the Halo universe or desolate yet immersive art styles found in both the Metro and Fallout series. Reflect on the dark concepts of the unknown from the mind of H.P Lovecraft, and incorporate sublime elements similar to the works H.R Giger contributed to both Dune and the Alien franchise.

I’ll often draw scene pieces, playing out either the most pivotal or calm of moments. The main goal I hope to achieve with the intended composition is to create a moment in time for these settings, ones that can captivate both reflect and indulge my imagination and those of others. I tend to use values and line weight to convey the various distances in my pieces which in turn creates a believable sense of space. This plays into the proportions of my work, which has both the characters and the objects I’ve put into the environment correlate on balanced and believable scale. Characters I portray tend to be at the forefront, if not the center, of the piece, as my work for the most part focuses on them and their interactions with the environment and other characters. I tend to use empty and white space very sparingly. I tend to fill up the scenes with as many elements and as much detail as possible, refining the visuals to the best of my abilities.

When it comes to deeper meanings or an overall end message that my pieces try to convey, I didn’t think there was one, at least in regards to the audience. For a long time I saw art as the way I could accomplish my goal of becoming either and animator or comic book artist so I could create my own stories. But after a bit of reflection, I began to notice a recurring theme in my work. When I dug deep enough, I found that my work had deep found respect for humanity, both its good and bad elements. The way we can be civilized and strong for ourselves and others, yet still be capable of ruthlessness if pushed to our limits. Science fiction usually depicts humans in a pivotal role, and in a way I guess my work does to. I see my art my art as a testament to how strong we are as a species, and how that strength can be used for both good and bad purposes alike.
Shinhye Kwon: ProPrac Portfolio Fall 2017

Shinhye Kwon

Artist Statement Fall 2017

Shinhye Kwon

I want to make mundane, inconsequential things special through painting. Often, trivial things do not inspire people. However, I think this can change. The trivial parts of our daily experiences affect us unknowingly. If everything in the world were perfectly orderly and nonspecific, we would have had a boring and monotonous life. The specificity of the trivial parts provides us with fun, surprise, wonder, and curiosity. For example, tooth marks on top of a pencil, the top corner of the book is folded, or nails with a manicure peeled off can cause minor empathy and humor. I create works that reclaim the trivial details in life as important.

Contemporary painter Brent Payne is among the artist who are working on similar ideas as me. Brent Payne finds inspiration from his immediate environment. He mainly works by direct observation and focuses on traditional genres such as still life, scenery and portraits. When I look at his works, he paints the marginal features of his world delicately in his own colors. His painting, Reflections (2010) depicts a reflection of the bath curtain in the water inside of toilet. This viewpoint is normally considered unimportant, but Payne makes it interesting to look at. Causing this kind of shift in the viewer’s perception of the ordinary is what I am pursuing. Brett Amory, a contemporary artist who gained broad recognition for his series, Waiting, depicting anonymous commuters he encountered in urban settings, also inspires me. His works were lauded for psychological depth and representations of alienation in contemporary society. Brett takes photographs of awkward or alienated places and then paints on canvas. I also capture trivial moments from the photographs that I take and translate it into painting. I hope to go beyond capturing the trivial part like Brett, and bring out it’s meaning through painting.

The scale of my paintings will vary. For instance, small details like paint on fingernails will be drawn largely, and the reflected light will be drawn on small scale. People do not care much about the small and trivial areas, so the scale shift will heighten attention. And because there are so many trivial parts in the world, I plan to draw several drawings on a small canvas, too. The soft, flexible nature of oil paint allows me to capture small, delicate features in my environment. I use a relatively close viewpoint that encourages me to meditate on the tiny facets of the things I am painting in an effort to cause my viewers to reflect on them as well. I do this in hopes of encouraging people to notice the trivial things in their daily lives and find meaning in the little things around them.
Life Through My Eyes

Mattie McArthur

Mattie McArthur

As a photographer, I use digital and film photography. I chose this media, because it allows me to capture memory, as well as recreate a memory. It also allows room to play with the idea of realistic and unrealistic subjects. I work with the media, because it is easiest for me to grasp, and share a concept, I create using real life, and the use of a camera allows me to do just that. I strive to create images, which speak out on topical situations, we as humans face, and create for ourselves. I practice this work by using the human body, along with research on the subject. In my photography, I start with a focus, and create a story, that will speak to the viewer as well as myself the artist.
Final Portfolio / Digital Commons Assignment Art 399-01 SP17

Taylor McCord

When I was young I was obsessed with collecting photos my family had because I knew that the moment wouldn’t last forever, if we didn’t have those photos we would be left with nothing to hold onto. After time has passed, I look back at these photographs and notice nothing is always how I remember it, yet I do not wish the images to be anything else. It is this change am confronting. It is the distortion of both the image and memory that I am confronting.

I have always been a bit of a control freak. I want to maintain my family. I want to keep us together. My grandmother once told me she wondered what would happen to the family after she and Joe Joe passed; I wonder/ed that too. They were the glue that held us together. How would we still be connected? I took this on as a personal responsibility, to maintain our connection, which why I have saves materials and images of us, in order to preserve our memories. There is no clear way to preserve the past, and because of this a layer of separation forms when the memories are no longer the same.

Documentation photography tries to control how you view something. It makes an effort to show the truth of a moment/memory, but in its efforts to do so, it too, is confronted with change. Time doesn’t wait for any of us; it always changes the way you look at something, or the way it looks.

Because time distorts both the physical image and the imagery within our mind this layer of separation forms again, between reality and the imagery, and thus creates a feeling of dissociation. This is what I am interested in, the layer of separation one feels from a memory after time takes its course. I show this by rephotographing photographs to amplify the reprocessing that occurs in our minds, and that also occurs in the distortion of an image.

In my sculpture I also show this reproduction of memory by repurposing both personal and universal symbols/materials like: dryer lint, birthday cakes, fabric, headstones, flowers, etc. I have a connection to all of the materials I use, but they are such familiar objects that people can connect with them as well. With these symbols/materials I create artificial monuments that stand in for the image home. By making these artificial stand ins for the home I’m eluding back to the separation that forms around a memory over time. How I create this artificial look is by distorting the functionality of the symbols/materials used in the sculpture. I also use video or sound to help amplify the distortion of the piece.

An artist who I’ve been looking at recently is Jennifer Loeber, specifically her project “Left Behind” which she paired old photographs of her mom, who recently passed, with photographs of items of hers she kept. There is the presence of time as the two photographs differ in look. The way she uses saved materials and photographs to talk about a loss of a loved one is what started me to think about the connection between the two.
The Graphic Design of Jason Moore

Jason Moore

Artist Statement

As a Graphic Designer the goal of most of my work is to relay information to the viewer. I try to insert as much of myself into each work that I design and draw influence from Designers such as Michael Schwab, Massimo Vignelli and David Carson. Using typography and illustration to convey emotion and personality.

My art evokes a light and airy mood through the use of minimal color, negative space and geometric shapes. The mood of my work is reflected by my personality, easy going and kind, the work is reacted to visually by the viewer in the same manner, its easy to look at and isn't imposing to the viewer. I want the viewer to take something away from the work without having to force it down their throat and use stark typography to assist in this.
Diseased

shanice Ross

Shanice Ross

I’m attracted to the idea that the body is more than just a vessel that we exist in. I am interested in the idea of not only the body as a whole but more importantly the female body and its amazing qualities. I find that the way that the female body can carry a child and still do all the other amazing things. And along with all those amazing things are the social perceptions that we find ourselves trying to fit into. The way we see ourselves, the way the world sees us, and the way we are told to see the world. It’s all about how we connect to people and the unpredictability of the lives that we live. That each day that life could be taken and that moment of unsureness with death peaks my interest. With all these interests I feel that the ability to make something out of nothing and share a piece of you with someone else is a rare moment of vulnerability.

I take these things that I’m interested in and put them into my artwork. I like to show the viewer that social perceptions are a very big part of our lives and the relationship we have with ourselves. A lot of my art has faceless figures so that the subject of the piece has someone that could be anyone or all of us. I feel that this connects the viewer to my art and makes them think deeper about themselves. I’m attracted to very round and curved lines that to me represent a sort of softer quality of humanity, but then I challenge this softness with the harsh realities of life. The connection from person to person mirrors some aspects of making something out of nothing. I put a lot of that relationship in my vases and bowls. That idea of having a personal and intimate relationship with the clay as you are making something out of almost nothing reflects the relationships we make with those around you. I like to make art that emulates my personal relationship with the pieces that I make. The joy that I have when my hands are in the clay is what I want the viewer to feel when they look at my art. I’m intrigued by the Rococo era because the Rococo style was known for its pastel colors, curving forms, and light subject matter that placed and emphasis on pleasure. But on the other side of that I like the Impressionism era because they find the beauty of the fleeting moment. I feel like I try to bring these aspects into my art and the beauty of the small things. More importantly I am attracted to the work of Sarah Jeager and the way she takes her own spin on functional pottery and that her biggest accomplishment is that her work is featured in kitchens around the country. Her style of working inspired me in the way I like to make something out of nothing and how that creates this special and intimate relationship between potter and viewer.
Professional Practices

Xek K.D. Rychtevorik

I have always been interested in storytelling and books of a wide variety of genres. More specifically, I am attracted to well-developed narrative illustrations that enhance and expand the intent of a story. Therefore, much of my artmaking is influenced by western and eastern animation, sci-fi/horror literature, and comics/mangas from companies like Shonen Jump, Marvel, Dark Horse, Funimation, and DC. I’m strongly influenced by the artists known as Simon Bisley and Josan Gonzales for similar and different reasons. They both have a vivid and graphic way of drawing that has a lot of movement and intensity to it. Bisley’s vibrant and high contrast use of color and Gonzales’s attention to detail and creative construction techniques have both inspired me greatly.

I draw a large variety of characters, worlds and concepts for comic books based upon my own writing. Often, I approach my art as storyboards for larger sequential art making, even if they exist by themselves. Stylistically, I work mostly with line but use a good amount of texture, shape, and color as well. My work is Primarily in ink, using graphite only to construct figures before inking them. My line work includes hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, scribbles, and various patterns to give illusions of textures and shading. In each class I take, my many imaginary worlds come with me and end up manifesting within class assignments, allowing me to develop my skills of bringing the characters and their worlds to life.
Final Portfolio/Digital Commons Assignment

Kaitlyn Steward

Patternmaking as well as people and places in my environment influence my drawings. I’m interested in the figure and how actions of the figure can be dissolved and simplified into patterns and mark making. My drawings portray the subject and their surroundings representationally, but some aspect will dissipate into shape, line, or pattern. I am interested in the negative space a figure can create and filling that space with line work that is just as interesting as the figural aspect of the drawing.

My intrigue with space is further explored in my paintings, but from a slightly different perspective. Currently, I am moving into paintings that relate more heavily to my interest in understanding moments of high stress that often end with dark, emotional outcomes. I find learning the layout of a space in which something traumatic happened is a way for me to understand and assess a situation that would otherwise create great anxiety. My paintings are my way of trying to understand and cope with complex personal issues in an analytical, well-thought answer. I attempt to paint a story, usually trying to give some indication of setting, symbols of the conflict, and a sense of the layout, whether that is spatially or chronologically. Inspired by design blueprints and model- making, I paint interiors of spaces to convey that the setting of the scene is just as vital to the escalation of a situation as the participants.

Artists like Emily Brock, David Oliviera, and Charlotte Mann inspire me.

Emily Brock’s glass miniatures invite the viewer into tiny spaces, and they encourage you to see an everyday setting as a novel encounter. Charlotte Mann’s large-scale drawings take her mundane subject matter to another level. Exceptionally common imagery becomes overwhelming from afar, but rewarding up close and I would like to portray this in my drawings. David Oliviera’s wire sculptures are the perfect dichotomy between this delicate material and the aggressively styled and bent figures. It’s a delicate balance I would like to learn to reach in both my drawings and paintings.
Professional Practices (ART 399)

Shateanna Stewart

I create clay forms that are distressed, altered, textured and colored. Most take a utilitarian form, but not exclusively. I am interested in connecting to the medium and getting lost in the creation of the piece. I am not interested in perfection, but rather find the most amazement in what it is we are capable of; changing a chunk of clay into something wonderful and surprising. My main focus is on the creation of something beautiful that hopefully enriches my audience in the same way it does me. With the goal of creating organic beauty in mind, I found clay to satisfy my need for usefulness and tangibility in my work. The material allows for exploration of variety in form, texture, and scale.

Someone that I reference a lot in my work and ideas is George Ohr. I like his work because his alterations to pots are visually similar to the things that I like to make and please me aesthetically. His technique of modifying forms and rims is different than other ceramicist. I find inspiration in his attitude about his own work. It was not seen as beautiful in his own time, but has grown to be considered sophisticated objects by today’s standards. I love techniques that result in non-commercial looking work. While I do still find comfort and beauty in a level smooth rounded bowl, there's something about misfigured and abstract forms that draw me in. This is most apparent in my most current ceramic pieces because I now have a vocabulary of skills to draw from.

While I am still attempting to master the skill that is ceramics, I still explore a lot with the medium. Usually starting from a chunk of clay, I transform the material into something I think is so beautiful and unique. I put my pieces out into the public eye to hopefully get the same reaction from my audience. I will continue to take risks and draw inspiration from Ohr and others like him for my future pieces.

Within my other pieces that aren't made of clay I like to explore the different techniques that each medium encompasses. When I graduate college I hope to become a high school art teacher, getting to know all the mediums and how you can manipulate and handle them is critical to me being the best teacher I can be for my future students.
Spring 2017

Lashae Taylor

My paintings are an abstract representation of varying elements of life such as connection, choice, growth, and deterioration. I combine found objects from nature along with traditional painting mediums in a way that explores the range of my materials while exhibiting a relationship of emotional energy understanding to the human experience. The abstract expression of such experiences creates a broadened platform of communicating what we have in common with one another and the life that grows around us.

Among nature I have been greatly influenced by contemporary artists such as Betsy Stewart and Pat Steir’s abstract portrayals of nature and space through pattern, color, varying brushstrokes and paint viscosity. Sarah Cain is another contemporary abstract expressionist who’s work I gain influence from through her innovative use of traditional and non traditional materials and processes.

My own process is one of combining a sense of control and intuition. I choose a color palette and found object(s) from nature that enhance the emotional response related to each piece’s concept. By attaching such found objects onto my canvas I transform my paintings into a multidimensional, semi-sculptural encounter that evokes closer examination by the viewer. From there I come up with a broad compositional idea that continuously evolves as I paint. I experiment with my materials until I have reached the point where I feel it is complete. While I am working I also move my paintings from the floor to the easel depending on what painting method I am preforming. Such methods include mounting found objects, soak staining, splattering, glazing, and scumbling. The abstract spaces I create are emphasized through varying brushstrokes, texture, and color resulting in organic and inorganic patterns. I layer and blend color to further enhance a believable sense of depth and fluidity. With each piece I build upon my previous painting techniques in an effort to continuously evolve and individualize my art.

My work is important in connection to my process as it noticeably relates to the concepts being conveyed. By using nature to express varying elements of the human experience I reveal their shared characteristics. In a world where we continue to define, stereotype and discriminate one another based on our differences I believe it is more important to focus on the things we have in common; not only with one another but with nature as well. In doing this we can foster a relationship of respect that will have a positive impact for the future. There are many ways to communicate the aspects of life we all experience. By choosing to communicate these aspects through my painting, I evoke a visually dynamic stage that causes my viewer to examine their own emotions and experiences in relationship to my work and the world.
Professional Blend II

DaKota Vincent

My work references physical relation to interpreted spaces, I want people to experience the visual plane as if they were traveling through it. Inside the picture plane I mix organic and inorganic shape to visit the ideas of humanity, evolution, and the divisions between what we see and what we decide to be natural or unnatural.

My interest in symbolist art brought me to poetry. I find poets have this delicacy of description wherein a poet like Joseph Fasano could describe his journey away from civilization in Hermitage with such painterly expressions that reading his poem feels like viewing a painting. You can

In most of my work I try to discuss the division or lack thereof of nature as a progression and humanity as its result. It always felt to me that humankind and nature were never really separate, intelligence and technology are just products of nature. I want to challenge the concept that one has to always antagonize the other, and suggest that we don’t decide what’s natural. I’ve been exploring this concept through painted landscapes inspired by artists like the symbolist Caspar David Friedrich and his idea of the sublime, and Rubens rendering of natural forms. I develop interacting geometric figures in contrast to the natural forms to highlight their differences while keeping them integrated in the landscape to show that they aren’t separate even if they differ visually.

I’d like to bring my viewers to consider what we see as natural and what we define as unnatural. My work is intended to show that the current state of the world is a perfectly viable result of evolution, and should not be considered as a separation from nature.

It’s true there were times when it was too much and I slipped off in the first light or its last hour and drove up through the crooked way of the valley and swam out to those ruins on an island. Blackbirds were the only music in the spruces, and the stars, as they faded out, offered themselves to me

Joseph Fasano

Hermitage

2015

Caspar Friedrich

The Abbey in the Oakwood Oil on Canvas 3′ 7″ x 5′ 7″

Peter Paul Rubens

Stormy Landscape with Philemon and Baucis

Oil on Canvas

Darren Almond

Night Fog(Monchegorsk)(1) 2007 Triptych, each: 93 5/16 x 39 in. Bromide print