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The Lens of Suicide
Chad Reeder
I have been shaped by loss. My art is deeply personal and is directly informed by the effects of suicide. I make art as a way to confront the reality of losing many loved ones and as a way to reconnect to the world by seeking friendships through conversations about suicide. Through photography and video my work challenges the stigma of suicide in order to save lives. I do this formally through different perspectives of light, pattern, shape and form. Additionally I print on larger format so that the viewer is overwhelmed as I have been with dealing with so much loss. My work uses symbolic representation through fire, doors and light fixtures to cast a different light onto suicide. I am interested on representing moments/scenes that can be interpreted as rebirth or the moment of death. For if suicide is not constantly talked about society will continue to lose beloved souls to their own unseen struggles.
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Gretchen Ruth Art399 Portfolio
Gretchen Ruth
My work comes from a place of tension between trying to understand the world and being understood. My current focus is making work that has more centralized and serious concepts. Despite some naturalistic elements that are often seen throughout my works,
I intentionally combine these elements along with imagery that brings the viewer to a made-up or dream-like reality . One of the most important aspects to these types of works, especially more recently, is my use of color. Throughout a lot of my work, I utilize form and proportion as well as color to emphasize the ambience of the scene or object. This comes from the idea of art itself being a visual language and being able to have a silent, one way conversation with the image or object you are viewing. However, a lot of my artistic process is pushed by improvisation.
During my artistic process, I write down thoughts I have as much as possible throughout the day. I used to spend time figuring out exactly what I wanted a piece to say. However, I have discovered that it becomes mentally draining to try to plan out every intricacy of a piece, so recently I have started projects without a clear end goal. I like to experiment and see how processes and elements work afterwards. Some examples of this method are evident in most of my metalsmithing works ( Image 1&3). If I am not satisfied with the results of his intuitive process, I keep reworking and problem solving a piece until it works. It can be a mental rollercoaster, but I enjoy that aspect of it so I try to keep challenging myself to make something different and more interesting than the last piece I made. The steps taken to develop a piece usually lead me to discover new conceptual ideas throughout the process. For example, my final piece could have no meaning when I start out but during the process of making that piece I come to a realization of what I am wanting to convey and how to articulate that. Recently, I’ve been interested in exploring the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, especially the maternal relationship between my mother and I (Image 2). Although I’ve never put much thought into what family is and how it affects me personally, I’m now realizing that my family is one of my biggest influences.
Everyone in my household is creative either artistically or musically, so there was always something being made or played. Remembering this fact, it seems quite natural for me to have started making drawings as a form of expression and communication because that was always my main purpose. However, it was more difficult to find contemporary artists that I can relate to and be truly influenced by until I discovered Dan Miller. He is an active member at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland,California. His work focuses on understanding and processing the world and communicating with it (Image 4). His message really resonated with me because I’m finding that's also what I want to convey in my own work.
(Image 1: Gretchen Ruth; Image 2: Gretchen Ruth; Image 3: Gretchen Ruth; Image 4 : Dan Miller)
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Kaley Shackelford ART 399 Portfolio
Kaley Shackelford
Ideas are like fish. You don't make the fish. You catch the fish. You have to convince them to come to you. You can catch ideas from daydreaming, or you can catch ideas from places. ~ David Lynch
We all participate in escapism in some form, and ever since I was a child, my vice was starring off into nothingness, dreaming of romanticized scenes, often landscapes loosely based on the familiar curving fields and dense, luxuriant woods of rural West Tennessee. This pastime has been a prime source for the ideas explored within my paintings, particularly the human relationship with our natural environment and both the positive and negative aspects of that interaction.
The stories told by the work are often autobiographical in some regard, unwilling — and perhaps unable — to disconnect my experiences, body, and feelings from the paint. Artists such as Elly Smallwood and Jennifer Presant who center around subjects such as the female form and elements of the natural world have influenced the paintings immensely. The works sometimes bend the traditional representation of space, rather using varying degrees of detail and paint thickness to draw emphasis to specific parts. These areas of thickness are sometimes built up with experimental materials, such as hair, dried paint scraps, and salt. The juxtaposition of these textured, sometimes grimy areas and the vibrant, rendered wilderness reinforce the strange, daydream-like quality of the work.
The paintings are always asking the viewer to insert themselves, to envision their dreams or reflect on their experiences within the landscape. There is often a quiet action in the midst of taking place – perhaps a flower being lain down or a dance amongst the trees – but the paint captures only one second in time, one still glance. Yet, you finish the action, you watch hands move and wind whistle through trees as the rest unfolds in your own imagination. A stark contrast presents itself between pure, blooming pieces of Nature and the filth or dull sterility both so accurately associated with modernity. These cold corners of reality come flooding in, if only as a reminder that, for now, this is where we are, and the rest is just paint.
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Daisy Slucher Art399 Portfolio
Daisy Slucher
I am primarily a painter but use other mediums, such as videography, to further explore themes and flesh out my ideas. I make work about the over-sexualization of the female body that asks, “how can I give power back to the woman?” I defy the notion that women are sexual objects by portraying female figures in my paintings holding a confident gaze with the viewer almost challenging them to keep looking. Most of the figures are partially undressed to communicate the idea that a naked woman does not mean she is performing a sexual act or wanting to. I use bold, cautionary colors meant to catch attention and force the viewer to draw closer to the subject matter. Discarded clothes are a common piece of imagery that comes up across mediums and serves as a representation of this small boundary between a woman's body and the outside world. In my work, these objects are often placed on the ground to question whether the disposal of it is cause for alarm or part of sexual courtship. Part of my practice is community-based, through conversations about the female experience. These conversations inform my work and give me the courage to explore subject matter that can feel daunting to address.
I am deeply inspired by the painters Jenna Gribbon and Scott Avett. Jenna Gribbon is also depicting female forms that confront the male gaze and normalize the female nude to be something more than just sexual. The way she intentionally chooses to highly render some parts of the painting, like the subject’s butt to acknowledge that she knows you’re looking at it, to the way that she is able to simplify and suggest other parts in just a few strokes to better carry out her narrative is an inspiring technique to me. Scott Avett shows relationship dynamics and how vulnerable they are in the way he organizes his paintings. He plays with composition and scale in an interesting way that combines different settings and creates his own world, something I’ve tried doing in my own work. His subject matter is often mundane, but it draws you in because there seems to be a level of relatability. His brushwork is loose and he exaggerates colors to the point where the imagery feels slightly fantastical. I think brightly saturated subject matter paired with monotony is a common theme in my own work and something I would like to keep pushing.
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Makayla Tapp ART399 Portfolio
Makayla Tapp
My artwork is spurred from past experiences and memories, ocean life, and family, often combining several different influences into one work. I am drawn to concepts such as childhood/nostalgia, memories, misplacement, and the unknown, in both my own works and others’. I have a deep connection to the ocean and like to incorporate it into my work as well. My process usually includes looking at other peoples’ work in order to spur my thinking. This means looking at their processes and techniques, which often gives me ideas and encourages my own thinking for a piece. I then begin looking at various reference images to get an exact idea for how I want my composition to look, and finally sketch. I generally want my art to evoke curiosity in the viewer. I want the viewer to question what it is exactly that they’re looking at or why it’s something I decided to focus on. I don’t always want my chosen concept to be clear.
At this point in time I don’t have a specific subject that I want to focus on in my work. There isn’t one single concept that speaks to me more than the others, and I am enjoying making art about what I like or am interested in at that moment in time. I usually enjoy working with drawing, painting, and most recently printmaking. I am currently interested in many different mediums. I tend to make work in a more stylized fashion, leaning away from realism most often. I enjoy a stylized approach more in my own artwork because I don’t like feeling the specific constraints of making a work that is naturalistic. Instead of having to focus on making a piece look recognizable, I can focus on my own processes and make it look how I believe it should. I find that the more realistic I try to make a work, the less enjoyable it becomes. The work begins to lose meaning because I focus too much on trying to perfect it. My work often takes on a more cartoon-like effect, with bolder outlines and playful qualities.
I don’t draw inspiration from very many outside artists, as I’m still trying to figure out what I want to create art about. However, one artist that I draw influence from is Margaret Wertheim, who creates crocheted coral reefs. Although her medium is far different from my own, I draw inspiration from her concepts as her work has a deep connection to the ocean. Another artist I look to is Cindy Sherman, or more particularly her series of self portraits where she portrays herself as various family members. This concept is interesting to me because I enjoy making art about my own family as well.
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Autumn Brown Art399 Portfolio
Autumn Brown
It is easier to approach a difficult topic if it isn’t immediately posed as threatening or sacred. The viewer’s ability to enjoy my pieces, regardless of their prior experience with the subject matter, is my priority. My primary means of creating my work is through drawing, with the end products taking the form of animations and zines. Sequential art provides a unique opportunity to form a relationship with the viewer during the short time they interact with the piece, which many drawings can’t accomplish in the same way. Zines and animations are highly shareable and exist as an experience as much as they do a “piece.”
I was raised in a community that was socialized to not empathize with LGBTQ+ people or the subsequent mental health issues that can come with that experience. As a member of both communities, it was natural to be hyper-aware of my differences growing up and thus spent a lot of time thinking about identity and how people perceive one another. As an artist, the subject matter I am drawn to is the result of that introspection; especially surrounding gender and sexuality, and the way that this inevitably ties in with mental health. I find power in making these themes relatable to people that wouldn’t typically share, or even resent, my experiences. By doing this I hope to remove some of the stigma associated with “otherness.”
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Healing
Hsuan Hsiu Cheng
I am from Taiwan, and I transferred from Ming Dao University (MDU) in Taiwan. When I was in Taiwan, most of my artworks were metalworking. After I came to Murray State, my artworks are mostly ceramics and sculpture. For my ceramics, I’m attracted to do hand-building, casting, and molding.
Some of my artworks ideas are influenced by my Christian faith. For example, one of my sculptures is an ocean wave. I used the movement of waves to represent God’s power. Also, there is a series of bottles I made; I used that series to describe my life with different stages in how the Lord has changed me. Some of my artwork ideas also are influenced by my emotional feelings, like depression, struggles, peace, and joy. I want the viewer to feel touched when they see my work. When people see artwork, they might comment on how it looks at first, but I care more about the meanings and ideas behind the art pieces.
I like abstract art styles, and I want to combine my three dimensional art pieces with abstract style. For example, I am interested in Hunter Stamps’ abstract ceramic vase because his vase is not just a vase standing there; its abstract style gives you inspiration and different feelings.
I like emotion-provoking and dynamic movement pieces. For example, I am interested in Canova’s sculptures. His sculptures have many different movements on it, and the sculpture looks like it is really moving. Also, you can see the emotions in his pieces. Especially the emotion in his pieces, they give me ideas for my artwork.
All in all, I like to do ceramics and sculptures. Three dimensional, it makes me feel happy. I'm interested in abstract styles and emotion-provoking pieces. My artworks are usually influenced by my Christian faith, emotional feelings, people’s struggle, and the story of my life.
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Kiley Cox ART 399 Digital Commons
Kiley Cox
My artwork uses the organic forms found in nature as metaphors to express human emotions. The incorporation of nature is used as a tool to evoke a sense of community as it is something that we all appreciate collectively. My drawings are made to be relatable in that way so that different viewers can have different interpretations. For some people, they can evoke a sense of happiness or nostalgia, while for others it can create a feeling of sadness or being overwhelmed.
My drawing process is improvisational in nature. I discover the emotion that I want to explore through the observation of people around me, whether that be people close to me or complete strangers. I then create iconographic images from the flora or fauna to portray that emotion. Inspirations come from directly observing my environment, including the behavior of those around me. For example, by paying attention to the music people listen to, the things they are passionate about, and their expressions and body language, I can often discover the emotion I’m looking for to explore in my work. I approach these emotions in my work through a range of linework in charcoal and pen that draw attention through intensity and boldness.
Christina Mrozik is my biggest role model and influence. Her work is often accompanied by a poem or monologue themed around the internal battles we all share. These struggles are then represented in her drawings which consist often of a hybrid of both organic and inorganic forms. She is able to accomplish manipulating these hybrids into something that looks like it could be anatomically correct, which is something I’ve tried adopting within my work. Her work is what got me to start developing myself as an artist and the kind of art I wanted to make. Ali Norman is a printmaker who has influenced my art more recently. A lot of her art relies heavily on linework, which is something I’ve been improving on lately.Another artist who has been a great influence is Erica Williams, an illustrator who specializes in flora and fauna. Her use of composition is what influences me the most, as she uses her entire space and will even go off the page creating an overwhelming and all-consuming atmosphere within her work.
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Fife, Malcolm Art 399 Portfolio
Malcolm Fife and Malcolm Fife
My life would make a perfect decadent novel. Nothing happens, but it happens with style. The time we live in now is an exceedingly decadent one, and I am interested in making connections and comparisons to periods of historical decadence. Aesthetically and thematically I am interested in the art and literature of the 1890s and 1920s, especially the Aesthetic, Decadent, and Art Nouveau movements. Art that is ornate and intricate attracts me. Superfluous ornament is something that makes life more bearable. One way this shows up is a consistent use of historical settings in my work. The people in my art are usually dressed in the fashion of one hundred years ago or earlier.
My painting style draws on Sir William Orpen, John Singer Sargent, and Anders Zorn (for instance, I painted two self portraits inspired by self portraits painted by Orpen) and my drawings and prints are influenced by the style of Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke, and Edward Gorey. I am frequently inspired by decadent authors and literature, especially the Welsh author Arthur Machen. Machen has inspired me so much that I am working on a series of illustrations for his novel the Three Impostors. Films, especially the silent films of Louis Feuillade and Fritz Lang, inform the architecture and settings in which I place the people I draw as well as the clothes they wear.
My art should look as if it had been created in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Viewers ought to feel transported to an earlier era. The content of the art should be able to speak for itself and the message should be relatively easy for the viewer to interpret instead of being highly ambiguous and cryptic. I want my art to work on multiple levels. The visual aspect should be aesthetically pleasing even if the viewer is not contemplating the message.
The media I work in the most are drawing, printmaking, and painting. For different media, I use different styles. I think the medium should call attention to itself and should not be self-effacing. My pen and ink drawings and prints are very linear; the mark making is very precise and controlled. I use little to no smooth shading (i.e. graphite or charcoal) in my drawings. If I do employ shading, I use stippling to render more three dimensional forms with light and shadow. Usually, I fill in darker areas using a series of parallel diagonal or horizontal lines that extend the entire length of the interior of the form. This is a highly artificial style of drawing and thus very decadent, for the Decadent movement was preoccupied with artifice. In general, I try to use a similar style to that of my drawings in my prints; however, the only form of my printmaking with a very different style from my drawings is mezzotint. My style for mezzotint is necessarily much more naturalistic and I focus on depicting the play of light. When I paint, I also use a much more naturalistic, albeit more looser and painterly, style. And as with my mezzotints, something important to the feel of my paintings is the depiction of light.
Since the start of the pandemic I have become interested in comparing historic diseases and pandemics, such as the plague and the 1918 flu, with what is happening today. For example, I have done a mezzotint of plague bacteria and I am working on several paintings that deal with the Great Plague of 1665 in London. Viewing today’s problems through the lens of similar historic events can add interesting insights. Because of these historical interests, research and reading about historical images and texts is an important part of my artistic process.
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Art 399 Portfolio
Christopher Gill
Moving to Kentucky from a small Central American country has definitely shaken a lot about what I thought I knew of the world and painting is a sort of way to express what things are ‘shaking’ currently for me and how it continuously shakes me. My artwork reveals certain key points in a childhood experience unique to Belize. Imagery used and settings are strongly influenced by local art styles from the country. Strong themes of discrimination, marginalization, inner and outer dialogues about interpersonal ideas and society’s violently inflicted and delicately or sloppily treated wounds, all these ideas are set in tropical, real life day to day scenes of the Caribbean region are to speak on them from a native’s queer point of view.
Oil & Acrylic on wood panels and canvas are preferred materials for my personal process. A digital collection of references that may not include figures, patterns, textures and prints as well as Belizean history books and records inspire a lot of my art as I can draw a lot from more relatable experiences of my own life and translate it into a universally recognizable moment. As reference and inspiration artists like Francois Boucher from the Rococo period influence my pieces heavily. The themes of Freedom, love and opulence call me to bathe Belizean queers in the love and attention they deserve with my art. More contemporary artists such as Milt Koboyashi, Cheyenne Jackson, and Kehinde Wiley are artists who have certain skills and styles that my work aligns with and can learn from theirs.
Certain things are important for the work such as a strong reference to my country of origin (a personal fight against assimilation), as well as a representation of those not seen. I not only want to give voices to my fellow queer peers that I grew up with, but I also want to create an oppurtunity to talk about these things together at the middleground. Figures and bright, saturated colors, not only mimic the style of Belizean artists but as well fakes a dream-like internal surreal scenery that is to insinuate the conversation is happening somewhat within reality.
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Ian Gresham ART 399 Portfolio
Ian Gresham
I am an artist who primarily, medium-wise, works digitally in Photoshop, using a Wacom Cintiq 16 so that I may draw directly on the screen - allowing me to be especially precise when creating my work. Working digitally is mess-free, and allows me more flexibility than traditional oils and acrylics - so that I can either get rid of mistakes hassle free, or experiment without having to worry about the paint drying or the experiment turning out to not work in the end. I also just find it plain fun to use, the software is always changing and being updated, and there are a variety of different brushes to find online and experiment with (some of which can’t even exist traditionally) so that I may improve my workflow. In addition, the ability to change colors on the fly, and use the eyedropper tool to select specific colors from you piece, makes mixing colors and finding new ones simple and easy. I make the work that I want to make, and a lot of times I want to make work that’s off-the-wall, a little humorous, and (at times) just a little erotic without it becoming pornographic. Growing up as a queer man in the heart of the bible belt meant that I had to supress my views and my own sense of self - and creating this work allows to finally be, in the purest sense of the word, myself. In addition, working at a place known for it’s problematic views on queer people (Chick-Fil-A) gave me a new set of ideas and new perspectives to pull from for my work - using the sort of hunger (both literal and mental) that food and the cult of personality created by certain brands of food have, I’ve made work about me personally, the restaurant itself, and the effects it’s had on me and others (mainly customers.) A large chunk of my inspiration comes from music - as I’ll listen to it while working, and it’ll inadvertently influence what the final piece ends up as. More often than not, this ends up being Tyler, The Creator - as his often outspoken, synth laden beats end up influencing how my pieces end up, when I listen to him. Artistically, I’ve found myself drawn more towards queer artists like Ali Franco and Hugh Steers - Franco’s more erotic work has served as a good point of inspiration for some of my work that involves more erotic subject matter (humorous as they may or may not be) while Steers’ more heartfelt, heart-wrenching pieces resonate with me as a queer man.
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Jasmine Groves ART 399 Portfolio
Jasmine Groves
For most of us, the first space we identify ourselves with is the domestic sphere. This is where the objects and people that we have chosen (or had chosen for us) live, grow, and move about. We interact with everything differently in our domestic spaces, especially in private.
Both directly and indirectly, I have thought about this in my artwork, especially in my sculptural pieces. I am attracted to furniture, clothes, and jewelry that have been used or made to look used. I like to arrange these objects in a way that seems natural, or in a way that creates a narrative about personal space. This interest stems from a strong connection I have to my heritage.
In my 2018 installation Years Have Passed, I focus on the kinds of toys that a young boy might have. As these toys make contact with the wooden shelf, they begin to lose their color, signifying an ended childhood. Located within the installation was a small music box that was to be played during viewings, emphasizing a nostalgic quality. A more recent work is a small upright jewelry case that I produced this semester, also a domestic object. For this specifically, I avoided making the container a simple box, and went with a more organic pea-pod shape. I found that the unusual shape brought attention to how the object might stand in relation to other pieces.
My inspiration comes from artists Mickalene Thomas and Nick Cave. I first saw Thomas’ work in 2017 in an exhibition titled Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities. In the main room, there were four televisions playing videos of women singing Angelitos Negros, a song about the lack of brown-skinned angels in religious paintings. Centered in front of this was a large lounge area, complete with a multicolored 70s style rug, ottomans, small houseplants, and books written by black authors. This domestic space became a curated environment for the video installation to be considered in. Nick Cave, similarly, works with found objects and fabric. He is a fan of “bells and whistles” so to speak, but many of his works refer to or utilize household objects.The art objects, while not utilitarian, reference the duality between texture and sound. He also refers to African heritage and the black struggle in America through the use of Dutch wax fabric. Using specific African fabrics and domestic objects is something I would like to experiment with in the future. As an art history nerd, I often try to integrate well-known motifs or other elements from other artists. In my Psychological Self Portrait, I borrowed a pose from Alexandre Cabanel’s 1847 painting Fallen Angel. My passion for art history influences the themes that I choose to highlight in my work.
When I graduate, I would like to go to graduate school and pursue a degree in museum or curatorial studies. The practice and diligence I have acquired through being an artist will always help me in any career I may pursue.
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Archie Hardesty Art 399 Portfolio
Archie Hardesty
The queer lifestyle fascinates me because of all the different facets that the queer community has within it. The ideas of love, intimacy, safety, feelings, confusion, pride, sex etc. are so pervasive within this community that all of it swirls into one big melting pot. My work reflects the confusion that is seen with the two juxtaposing sides of the queer community but also the stereotypes and lifestyle choices the straight community throws at me.
When thinking of my work the first word that comes to mind should be “gender binary.” Where do I fall into this binary as a male presenting person that holds feminine characteristics? How does the binary work in other relationships whether same sex or opposite sex? How is sex and gender perceived to me whether it be straight or queer? Through the use of photo, video, and other 2D works, inviting the viewer in for a closer look or even forcing them to look through either full frontal imagery or forcing them to listen and become emotional is what is important. It is important for people to question where they fall in the binary and what they can do to break it. Showing the viewer how the world is ran by masculine views and ideologies and how the artist and everyday person can break it is one of the goals. I want people to question how they present and is that the way they want to present or is it how the world wants them to present? Are we breaking free from these stereotypes or are we reinforcing them unknowingly?
The world is not a kind place for the queer community, and I am willing to show how, as a queer person, I view the world. Being abrasive is not a bad thing when it comes to presenting these ideas, but also creating this kind appreciative and loving environment is also possible in my work because this community does have these moments. By using photos and videos of real queer people, it enhances that these people exist.
The need for gender inclusivity and sex positivity is quite dire in this country and the main goal is to be inclusive and make sure every single side of the story is heard. Since the queer community’s voice is meek at the moment. Then I want my art to scream for them.
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The Journey of Storytelling
Keimya Harris
Whenever we think of stories most of us can visualize what the setting and the characters look like. Within my work I strive to take storylines from my imagination and bring them to life. For my work I aspire to bring important aspects of stories to life by creating illustrations that deal with fantasy worlds that deal with creatures and people that inspire viewers to embrace their inner child or feel as if they're a part of the story. To achieve my goal of bringing different and unique storylines alive I use different mediums such as ink, marker, and colored pencil to help give life to these stories by capturing the viewer with vibrant or subtle colors and detailed line marking. The different medium contributes to my vision because it can give the characters and landscapes a stylized but life-like feel or make the audience feel as if they're in a storybook. Things that have helped me towards this journey are Bella Rachlin, Tony Jackson, Bobby Chiu, and many more. Each of the artists that are a big influence to me allow me to take a step back and see the worlds I visualize in ways I may never have considered. When I make each piece of work I always think of what kind of story I want to tell and what emotions that I want to make my audience feel. On this continuing journey I am taking as a storyteller I hope that I continue to bring out the child within my audience and make them want to use their imagination.
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James Inmon Art399 Portfolio
James Inmon
My work has its roots in structures; the regularity of structural components feel right to me and serves as a counterpoint to the visual noise of the natural world. My most recent work has focused on houses and home structures. Most contemporary houses are only a slight variation on one another, and there doesn’t seem to be too many models to choose from. The suburbs are full of sameness which can become pattern. This observation sparked my interest, so with my latest pieces I’ve been exploring this idea of multiplicity in a suburban setting, whether it be with a watercolor painting or a wooden sculpture of a house.
I’m a person who likes puzzles; I’m in love with the process of finding a solution to a problem. Similarly I enjoy exploring the things around me to try and better understand their nature and how they exist and function. I treat my art as a practice of exploring and comprehending the world around me. This method of understanding is why I find woodworking so enjoyable; it is a medium filled with processes that require you intimately understand your material. It’s constantly checking your knowledge and testing you, and if you happen to make a mistake you’ll know immediately.
I’ve been looking at how Jerry Bedor Phillips utilizes the interaction of shadows to help emphasize the forms of his bookbinding covers and I have embraced this in my recent house sculptures as a way to maintain a simple but pronounced shape. These concepts of suburbia become apparent when looking at my work; for example in my most recent piece Who’s Helen Beck, you see the form of a house that you could see a hundred times driving through any american suburb. It’s painted a light pastel color reminiscent of pastries to imply this is a cookie cutter form that has been dressed up just enough to be pleasing to the eye. There is also a lighting element that allows the windows to emit a soft warm glow to further assist this idea of visual comfort. I am currently working on four more similar houses to bring the topic of multiplicity deeper into the conversation my art poses.
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Emma Mitchell
Emma Mitchell
The purest form of pleasure is found in simplicity; holding something meant to be held, touching a surface meant to be touched. My sculptural ceramic work focuses on embracing the childlike desire to reach out and touch. The textures visible on the sculptures heighten the viewer’s inclination to feel what they are seeing. Just as mugs are created to meet the lips of the drinker, my sculptures are built to meet the contours of the holder’s hands. This mirrors the effect of holding a child or caressing a loved one.
Many of my sculptures begin as a flat surface, created to meet the ground or table in such a way that implies growth, flourishing into a form resembling a figure with an enormous amount of life and energy. Although the form doesn’t necessarily mirror the figure exactly, it mimics elements found in the figure; curves, bumps, concaving surfaces, etc.
My chosen medium is clay because clay is natural, found on this earth, manipulated by hand. Clay is a living organism, growing and collapsing with the elements. The clay has memory, it remembers how it was formed, built. It can embrace the hand of the potter, or choose to reject it. I find beauty in the fact that ceramic failures can be recycled into something greater. The majority of my early sculptural endeavors collapsed or cracked in relation to the speed at which I was building and, as a result, were recycled. Now, I embrace impurities, honesty.
As I continue learning, I experiment more with different surfaces as well as the meanings behind them. The cracks, glaze drips, streaks, and imperfect surfaces remind me of the human body and the many imperfections associated with it; birth marks, scars, stretch marks, etc. No one is without imperfections; flaws provide character, personality. My work is meant to empower those who interact with it and give them a sense of safety and security by encouraging them to embrace impurities and less-than-perfect.
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UtariusArt399Portfolio
Murray State University
My art is a visual representation of my emotions and the things I cannot say through the use of portraits and flowers. When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, this flower will have a different meaning to every person who holds it. The living beings and things I am painting are my outward expression of my experiences and the people in my life, but they can be understood in infinite ways by viewers. Art to me is a free space; a place with no rules, no restrictions, and no wrong way of doing anything, which can be a space of growth. My art depicts my emotions. These emotions are scattered, but honest. The work is mostly inspired by the outward struggles and problems of my everyday life, but hidden in a more abstract viewpoint that results in a more vague narrative. My pieces are figurative and surreal, and mostly depict flowers and portraits of close friends and family. With these living subjects, even the slightest difference in brushwork or color can change the identity of that person or plant. I love the different emotions you can press into a piece with organic forms and facial expressions. I want my art to show not only emotion but a sequence of different viewpoints that inspire a vivid form of communication, given to them through the way I combine these viewpoints in my art. My medium of choice is something that I can't confirm because there are so many to choose from, but that's the fun part of expressing myself because I can choose so many to improve my form of outward expression. I can still use the styles learned to bring forth the deeper emotion and communication. Some of the artists whose work I am in conversation with are Kehinde Wiley, Kara Walker, and Faith Rinngold. These artists all have separate components that give influence to my work. Kehinde’s work gives me the aspiration to add more narrative to my work complete with vivid color styles, Kara for her use of form to project scenes with her work, and Faith because the deeper narrative presented in her art work.
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Conner Murt ART399 Portfolio
Conner Murt
Conner Murt
Artist/Design Statement
These photographs capture raw moments of people’s lives, without artistic fabrication, communicating a sense of candor and ingenuity in each photograph.There is an absence of a figure, yet obvious fingerprints have been left on the space due to its unique nature. Most easily explained, taking pictures of things that stand out mentally in a personal sense, have unique characteristics, and can illustrate only portions of a destination, without giving away all of the specifics of that said place are what is photographed within this work. The search that is involved in finding the spaces for the photograph is of greater importance than the editing and after process that follows photo taking. The images are framed in a way that provides balance and context to the subject of the photograph, thus allowing its story to be ascertained. The story of the consistent presence of the individuals responsible for the space, but the absence of their being within the photographs propels the continuation of this conundrum.
The photographs depict spaces and subjects/items that are worn and have clearly developed over time, providing a conclusion in a still frame, while allowing the onlooker to imagine the story that may have led up to that point. Photos of hands have also been incorporated into this work throughout the years. The inspiration and focus of these photos is the presentation of hands being a working part of an individual, heading somewhere, doing something, or pursuing daily activities. These snapshots of everyday life allow the eye of the beholder to fill in the blanks and allow his or her mind to wander and allow the photo to play out in a variety of ways that are dependent upon mood, life experience, and personal interests.
Inspiration for this work is drawn from two artists in particular: Ted Geshue and Nan Goldin. Ted Geshue is an independent photographer and digital media specialist living presently in London, England. His work primarily consists of classic cars and hazy landscapes. Ted Geshue’s photos produce a creamy, hazy lighting similar to what is broadcasted within this work. Inspiration is drawn from his lighting in particular when choosing destinations to photograph and during the editing process. In addition, Nan Goldin’s photography is a bit more chaotic, having collaborations with the likes of Supreme and large scale gallery representation such as MoMA. She resides and works in New York City, Berlin, and Paris. Nan Goldin inspires this work by means of capturing oddities, by implementing new objects of focus, and by never viewing everyday things plainly while undoubtedly stepping out of zones of comfort.
Studying everyday spaces and activities of daily living that are often overlooked is the focus of this work. The individual is not the focus, rather the space or environment enriched by that individual. Natural, un-fixed daily activities and scenerios provide insight to an individual and the life which they lead. Oftentimes, big highlights of people’s livelihood are the only memories captured by photographs; however, photographing everyday activities and natural events that are unrefined give people a realistic viewpoint of life to reflect upon and view in a different light. Revealing the identity of the figures behind the photographed spaces would divulge the mysterious nature of the work. The intent behind this specific work process is to invite the viewer to take an active role in the work by means of reflection, personal interpretation, or memory through life experience.
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Ashley Reagan Portfolio Art399
Ashley Reagan
Nature is filled with delicate yet very resilient organisms capable of withstanding immense adversity. I utilize imagery of particular plants that flourish after natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, drought, etc., as a means of representing themes of growth and progress of the self within an environment that is inherently detrimental. Through the adornment of handbuilt ceramic boxes with imagery of these plants I am to allude to the notion that one is able to grow through even the most devastating of circumstance. I allow this metaphor to speak to not only my own personal narrative of struggle, but also the narratives of others who have faced hardship. The use of organisms that are only found growing after disaster cements the idea that the struggles people have to face are what create the people they are. Flowing organic forms, soft line, clean imagery, and semi-muted color show up often in my work through well-touched, soft edges and watercolor-esque underglaze paintings. I plan to tie together both my metals and ceramics work through the related imagery as well as using the ceramic boxes as displays for each metals piece.
The tactile nature of ceramics and the wearable implications of metalsmithing are things I am very interested in. How a piece is touched and observed by the viewer informs many of the decisions I make. My personal concept of a wearable is that it is to be worn and fidgeted with as an idle movement or way of quelling anxiety. I often create work that is mobile or shifting, has hanging pieces, or contains something to be opened and closed; including hidden elements. The sense of tactility is also related herein to the boxes I create. The idea of them opening and closing either by the viewer or creator is important. I often work in copper, using earthen tones and imagery when making colored enamel pieces to maintain a softer muted palette. My use of an earthen palette also prevails in my ceramics. I work in a red, terra cotta clay body which allows the colors after firing to retain an organic quality. Retaining this type of color palate is important within both my metals and ceramics work because it maintains the focus on the natural and despite the implications of the imagery used, it still allows the viewer to approach the subject more gently.
I find myself very inspired by artists such as Jennifer Kaplan, Joan Bruneau, Jessica Calderwood, and Victoria Walker. Calderwood’s work influences mine through her use of botanical imagery to portray concepts as well as her limited paletes. Jennifer Kaplan’s work lends itself to mine especially in her use of greenery as a pattern and wrapping decoration which is something I plan to explore in future ceramic work. Finally, I find Victoria Walker to be a large influence because her kinetic wearables are relative to similar kinetic attributes I hope to further pursue in my metals work.
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Art399 Portfolio
karli steinbruegge
Artist statement
My work is based around my personal beliefs, feelings, and experiences. This means that my work often displays a feminine perspective. It also means that I consider women’s issues when creating. I often dig into my roots for inspiration, this causes me to incorporate midwestern imagery into my pieces like nature and agriculture. My preferred medium is oil painting. I am drawn to the repetitive nature of layering. However, I also enjoy working with charcoal and sculpture.
Art has the ability to be expressive and create an experience for the viewer as well as the artist. By utilizing this I intend to help viewers relate to my work, or at least understand a perspective that may not be their own. My collections are intended to start a dialog, raise a question, or evoke an emotion in the audience. Art also provides me with a platform for my concerns and opinions.
Most of my paintings are figurative. While not all of the figures I create are clearly defined into male or female, I often draw into the feminine aesthetics. I also tend to dramatize my pieces by utilizing color in order to create a dynamic work. By using highly saturated colors it allows me to incorporate a great deal of contrast and depth as well.
My sculptures tend to be connected to the viewer’s sense of touch. I find that texture is something that really affects the small choices I make everyday. Therefore, this became a concept that constantly appears in my three dimensional pieces. Part of the observation of my works require you to think about what they are created from, how they feel, and who created them. Like my sculptures my abstract pieces are often inspired by my own sense of touch. Compared to the rest of my work My abstractions tend to incorporate heavy linear patterns.
Another commonality amongst my work is that I usually stick to forgiving media, (oil paint, charcoal, and handbuilding). This is because I am not perfect and sometimes there are accidents (whether they be negative or positive) and art is about problem solving. I think that my art is not always going to be perfect just like life and both things should be subject to change. This also ties into why I want my audience to touch my sculptures. Over time they will be subject to the change that goes on in the world around it just like we are.
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Nova Tabor Professional Practices Portfolio
Nova Tabor
Nova Tabor
Artist Statement
I see my artwork as an outward extension of myself. I am a highly passionate and emotional person, and I prefer to let that come through in my artwork. In my artwork I tend to us a lot of bold and bright colors, and thick dark outlines. I’m highly inspired by cartoons and animation, and I love trying to create the same wild, energetic, and off the wall energy for my graphic design work. My work is outpouring and expression of myself. I attempt to unload my thoughts and emotions in as palpable and genuine manner as possible. When people view my artwork, I hope it evokes strong emotions within them as well. I think channeling energy and strong reactions can be extremely helpful when thinking about Graphic design and advertising.
My focus in art is on graphic design, but I have a strong background in drawing. I try to utilize this background when working on the computer to give some of my work a more natural and relaxed feel. One of the aspects of graphic design that I most enjoy, is logo design. One piece of mine was a logo for a fictional science and research lab. I created the logo by picking two random concepts and fusing them together, umbrellas and spaces. The body of the umbrella functions as a window to space and the stars, but the disconnected umbrella handle helps to keep the image readable.
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Final Portfolio (Tudor)
Samantha Tudor
My desire to teach has been apparent since elementary school when I used to dress up as a teacher for career day. As I grew, my desire to teach art specifically became clear, and I enrolled at Murray State in order to get my Art Education Degree and Teaching Certification.
As an artist, my greatest motivation is the exploration and discovery of the processes related to different media. I am most satisfied when I am learning a new skill or material that will become part of my teaching tool kit. I feel lucky that this fits with my goal of being an art teacher, where I will need knowledge of many things. I have an appreciation for work that displays high degrees of skill, and where craftsmanship is obvious. I like to create larger works of art because they can be viewed more easily and every small detail can be seen in the work.
While my goal over the past two years has been primarily focused on skills, I am also very interested in form and space and how I can use them in my work. I am intrigued by the way I can create interesting objects within three-dimensional space, but also how I can create the illusion of form within a two-dimensional plane. Also, my work is typically representational because it helps me to perfect my craftsmanship. Henry the Humpback is a five-foot-long, paper mache sculpture that I created to learn about paper sculpting. I chose to make the form a humpback whale, so I could tell when I had mastered the technique. With the larger scale of this piece, I decided to play with space by hanging it in the middle of a hallway, creating a disruption to this regularly used place. I manipulate space to resolve my creations.
I find myself interested in artists whose work I consider “intelligent”, meaning that a piece operates beyond simple beauty, but shows real intention and planning for its success. One such artist is Banksy. He approaches graffiti in a manner different from other artists by using stencils as opposed to free-handed spray painting. He chooses a specific environment that he can respond to, and he subverts social and political “norms” as well as the standards of graffiti culture. Artists that plan their work inspire me. Another artist is Guy Laramee. He makes beautiful landscapes carved from books, and the technical level of skill in some of his work is absolutely stunning. It makes me wonder about his process and techniques, and I understand that a lot of thought goes into his work.
Since I am pursuing my Teaching Certification, art is more about community building to me, and I need a strong skill set to build my community. I strive to perfect my craftsmanship in many processes, so I may show my students how to create art that they are proud of. I wish to inspire my students to make art with media that excites them and to pursue a career in the arts.
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Through My Eyes
Tia Whitaker
As a young artist growing up, I was very influenced by my small dominantly African American town in Southern Illinois. My family has always made sure that I was aware of where I came from and what I represent. This would include not only my family, but also my culture and the way that society has historically viewed people of my skin color. My community, my family, and my culture were the first things that I had to look to for inspiration and remains my biggest inspiration in my work to this day.
When considering different ideas for a piece I tend to think about how this composition will welcome the viewer into the world of the artwork at hand: Is this piece meant to be more visually pleasing or do I want my audience to feel like they have just had a full conversation? For example, my “Blue Women” piece was meant to be simply visually pleasing while also celebrating my identity as a black woman using a color that is commonly used in portraying black/brown people in art. As shown in this piece I enjoy creating in a realistic style accompanied by balanced compositions and a full range of values and textures.
Among the artists that inspire me would include the amazing Kehinde Wiley, Kara Walker, and Ernie Barnes. Kara Walker really stands out to me because along with the fact that she is another woman of color, her work discusses issues dealing with inequality and violence in this country; something that I am greatly inspired by. Much like these artists I aim to get my audience to walk away with a better sense of who I am, my work, and my pride in my cultural background.
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Twinkle Bhojwani
Twinkle Bhojwani
Being a young designer, it is sometimes inevitable to not have a fickle mind as I try to grow. I want to create aesthetically pleasing work by pushing my brain to move beyond my first idea in order to develop original approaches to the challenges that arise, and that is why I design. I see poor design that evokes an emotion in me to want to fix it.
The way things are designed, whether good or bad, communicates just as boldly as the message or the idea. I use my designs to evoke an emotion by pushing ideas, manipulating line, experimenting with shapes and colors, and observing detail. I have made it more interesting by having a relationship with my design. My work ranges from the use of thin and heavy typography, sleek imagery, and bold, solid colors. My design stems more towards designing business systems, package design, advertisements, and layout designs. All of my work has a lot in common, for example in most of my designs I lean more towards serif fonts, lots of white space, and the use of typography more than imagery.
Jennifer Morla, a contemporary designer, once said, “asking questions generates more ideas.” I am definitely an external processor, so I tend to think out loud in order to generate ideas. Design heavily influences contemporary society and is influenced by society. When I create work, I do not only think about solving the problem, I also think about changing the contemporary world around me, because being a designer, gives me power. Design gets me one step closer to others seeing the world through my lens.
My work is visually influenced by Herb Lubalin. He would manipulate type in such a creative way, that it would look like an image rather than typography. I like to experiment with fonts more than with imagery, and he is an advocate for this. I am most inspired by his design of the font “Avant Garde.”
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Roby Joe Dream Boat
Roby Blackwell
Love is everywhere, we see it all the time. It is something that I myself have even become obsessed with. Showing love through a surreal childlike eye with a twist of tongue-in-cheek, I desire to evoke the sense of complication through maximalism. My generation really inspires their endless influx of media; how Instagram profiles have turned into perfectly planned out color schemes, with set saturations and grain levels. I make work about millennials, the love within us. Exploring how we portray ourselves on social media, and the fantasy of how we portray this curated life, combined with pop culture is the visual aesthetic I want to maintain.
Color and shape are two things that define my work. I like to use relatable motifs that are child-like, and playful. Using flat shapes gives the imagery a graphic quality to them. Using my love for printmaking, I am now pushing the convention of its possibilities to use it in non-traditional ways. Silkscreen ink is printed on fabric and plexiglass to make wearable print pieces. Using print in an installation way, I want to animate the space— imagine hanging hearts and clouds printed on colored plexiglass to create an over-whelming feeling of innocent yet spunky love.
A huge artist influence to me is Mike Perry. Perry, is based in Brooklyn, NY and is a printmaker, graphic designer, painter, and an installation artist. His use of color, hue, and color pattern combination is genius and inspires me to want make art. Another artist that inspires me is Yayoi Kusama, the famous Japanese surrealist artist, whom has been known for her installation exhibits, and bold patterns. “I, Kusama, am the modern Alice in Wonderland” I sort of want the same thing as Kusama, I want to create a space full of imagination, and full of happiness.
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