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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.
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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
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Rebecca Goldman Art Work
Rebecca Esther Goldman
Aristotle once said that “the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”. To me this means that we do not create art in order to show the objects or subject matter as is, but instead to show what the subject matter means to us or how we interpret it. The work that I create isn’t necessarily representational. Instead it takes a more abstract form of the object that I’m trying to interpret.
Color explored in painting is another way to express emotions and a sense of feeling. Using a variety of colors to create previously unknown to me colors on the canvas. Important to me are the different effects paint can have. I also explore the use of line and value in my work so the image demonstrates a more three-dimensional look. Different textures, cross hatching, exploration of patterns are all important to me. I am very interested in psychology. I wish to continue exploring surrealism. One aspect of the surrealist movement that I am interested in is dream analysis. Some surrealist artist that I enjoy/ admire are Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte.
Assisting individuals through art therapy, is the career path of my choice. I believe that art can be something that can help others heal and gives others a voice that they may not necessarily have on their own. I want to use art, and help other people create art in order to heal themselves.
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Sara Hutson: Senior Work
Sara A. Hutson
I have a great love of both music and art. As I have sampled different medias, I have been looking for one that will allow me to reconcile the two, and so I have taken an interest in creating package designs and album artwork for CDs. This also allows me to work in my love of illustration and typography, and combine them into a product that is a bridge between art and music. For my imagery, I target scenes of familiarity. I like to work with things we see so often that they blend into the background because they automatically connect to the viewer. Then I like to twist an aspect of it so that is once more abstracted, and takes more time to decipher.
I am also interested in the use of mirrors for their challenge of space and complexity of meaning. In my research on mirrors, I have become fascinated by their ability to be a bridge between reality and fantasy. Mirrors possess the unique ability to reveal truth, they can confuse by extending a space, they can create infinity, or they can be small windows into a space that we can never truly inhabit. I hope, as I work with CD package design, to find a way to work in mirrors and take on a greater dimension of thought and composition in my work.
My influences include (there is definitely a graphic designer we have studied that I know designed hundreds of albums. I wanted to look at his work, but I cannot remember his name.) Also, Al Hirschfeld, for his descriptive line work in his illustrations. I adore the fluidity of Louise Fili’s typography, Saul Bass’s illustrations, El Lissitzky’s unique abstractions, and Lucian Bernard’s combination of typography and illustration. In terms of mirror artwork, I like to reference Michelangelo Pistoletto, for his incorporation of the viewer; Yayoi Kusama, for her creation of infinite spaces; and Robert Smithson, for his mirror concepts.
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Justin Malik Drawings
Justin A. Malik
All my life I’ve loved to draw. I can date it back all the way to elementary school. I was that kid who would draw pictures inside of books just out of boredom. I can’t really say what got my initial interest in it though; the idea of drawing just came to me. After doing this for a bit I soon discovered this newfound love for anime and manga not only for the stories but also the art and this is what really sparked me. I loved the design of characters and settings and so I wanted to draw something that looked like that. It started with me just using notebooks I had for classes and then I moved on to actual sketchbooks and that’s when my pictures started to look like real works of art and I became proud of what I was doing. From here on I just wanted to keep getting better. I was more driven by the end product rather than the process. Hence why I never really liked having people watch me while I draw. I typically don’t want people to see what I’m working on until after its completely finished. I’m not entirely sure yet the kind of work I want to do but I do know I want it to involve drawing somehow. A lot; or should I say all of my drawings have been inspired in some way by anime so I would love the opportunity to work in a field related to that.
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Rachel Schmidt
Rachel E. Schmidt
My BFA show, titled Spider’s Lace, is based around a set of rules and values that each person has to learn individually from wholly different life experiences. I conduct interviews with friends and family to pinpoint a lesson both me and the subject of the interview have learned and combine the separate experiences into one story. Because the story exists in a place beyond any one human character, they become animal fables. What better way to understand ourselves than stepping back far enough to see ourselves as beasts?
The show is meant to be an experience that gives the viewer a sense of discovery as they move through these fables via illustrative prints, sculpture installations and performances. Design elements are incorporated to give the show a cohesiveness by unifying the different stylistic aspects of the separate works with a common branding scheme. A mobile website accompanies the works of the show, identifying each story and installation with a unique icon that links to a webpage where the viewer can hear the story with both my voice and that of the person interviewed to make the story. The true unifying feature of the show is the audio- the spoken story is familiar and personal, thus comfortable enough to be learned.
Creating the fables around personified animal characters makes them universally familiar and understood. The media and style of each print installation is entirely dependent on the myth. The prints range from black and white linoleum cuts, to soft and colorful lithographs, and the installation are anywhere from massive fabric books, to little wooden boxes. For my prints I’m looking at artists like Joanna Mueller, who uses animal and ancient North American myth symbolism to achieve a narrative-like effect.
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Logan Weihe's Artwork
Logan M. Weihe
My work is non-objective and abstracted as it references the human form and also invents new forms, combining the matured physicality of the human body and our beginnings (smaller pieces i.e. cells, atoms). I am interested in the seemingly endless problems that the human body can solve as well as working towards understanding its limitations both physically and mentally. The intersection of contrary ideas and the forcing of harmony between them fuels my creative process. The idea of opposites becoming one entity both formally and conceptually is rich for me, as I want to explore those points of friction and resolution.
My current work involves a process of arriving at a general concept about the body that peaks my curiosity and then working intuitively with the paint to explore this idea. As I create, I am continuously learning more about the specific scientific process that I choose to inspire each piece. I am also learning more about using color, composition and scale to connect with the viewer. Jenny Saville’s grotesque depiction of the human form and the visceral quality of her work coincides with my interest in undesirable reality and experimenting with the size and weight of my marks. Lee Bontecou’s work inspires mine in the way she creates cellular like organic forms, often dealing with space that becomes a sort of vacuum. Additionally, Frantisek Kupka’s non-objective work combines the energy and building up of shapes to create forms that I strive to achieve in my painting.
From the sheer number of processes that occur each second within us to the fleshy quality of our bodies, my attraction to the human form comes from my search for the power or force that created our bodies in all of their complexity, whether it be God, chemistry, chance, or something that is not meant to be explained. I strive for my audience to be fascinated with themselves and to see their own body as something remarkable, in its intricacy and flawless execution of thousands of processes.
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Transience
Savannah Young
I’ve always been attracted to organic beauty and the inherent transience of nature, as well as the dichotomy of life and death and how one cannot be without the other. I’m interested in bringing the narrative of life into my work as well as paying tribute to the complex beauty of what occurs naturally in the world around us. I often focus on one subject in depth to give emphasis to their story in particular, whether it be a place or a living thing.
When conveying these ideas I rely on descriptive illustration and concise line work, because of my attraction to the definitive nature of line and stability in a piece that it can imbue. The medium I prefer is ink, which allows for precision and, when desired, adequate rendering. I enjoy the instant gratification and am able to enhance a drawing by means of detail and contrast. I typically choose subject matter that pertains to nature; whether it be organic decay, animals, insects, or plant life.
I want my audience to think when they see my work, and to read into the detail as they would a novel; finding the bits of information that I include to inform the viewer of the main subject. For artistic influences, I’m most attracted to the linear language of Art Nouveau. Specifically, the lyrical quality of Alphonse Mucha’s line work. I’m equally as inspired by artists like Christina Mrozik for the ability to create substantially beautiful work that is heightened in effect by her subject matter; she paints and draws flowers and animals that are unnatural in position, often with bone and muscle exhibited in a borderline biological analysis.
What attracts me to these things is how they’re able to pull attention to the beauty that is already around us, and create a dialogue between viewers and the things they ignore that live alongside them. If I can give an old story a new face for someone, it would be a greatest success.
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Image of Art work
ruochen zhou
I am still trying to show the freedom in my works that an artistic life provides to me and also find the process of making artwork is a way to release inner stress. At this time, I still focus on the sculpture, because making sculpture is perfect for creative expression and release of tension. In this semester, I change the style about the way I make art, there are more rotate, line combination, hang spring and materialism on my project, I think that is more suitable to show the meaning of freedom.
I still enjoy making other things as well to balance myself, there are more graphic designs blend into my life, I like that so much, and I want to combine the 2D designs and the 3D sculpture. Because of my traditional Chinese upbringing, I strive to make my artwork as perfect as possible. Since I keep get more and more American culture, there is big problem coming, which is I always think too much and takes more time when I make stuff. That is let me cannot put force one idea, I consider this as part of my work style, but I feel awkward to simply the idea at all the time. Even though I value tradition in the making, the result is not always a traditional form or expression. I prefer the unconventional, the slightly weird. And I found there are a little bit funny in my work, maybe that is the way I also can think about it.
Because I keep watch the ART21 video every day, so more and more artists’ information I can get. There is a sculptor who name is Damián Ortega; He uses objects from his daily life, to make spectacular sculptures which suggest stories of both mythic import and cosmological scale. He often suspended from the ceiling or as part of mechanized systems; that is similar to what I do in this year, same technique and focused on one idea.
Because of my work style, I still have unique character and behavior. I add unconventional things to my projects, not keep to a traditional method all the time, but sometimes being crazy. I keep asking, learning, searching, and doing, and that is the period where I stay right now.
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Ruochen Zhou ART WORK
RUOCHEN ZHOU
I am still trying to show the freedom in my works that an artistic life provides to me and also find the process of making artwork is a way to release inner stress. At this time, I still focus on the sculpture, because making sculpture is perfect for creative expression and release of tension. In this semester, I change the style about the way I make art, there are more rotate, line combination, hang spring and materialism on my project, I think that is more suitable to show the meaning of freedom.
I still enjoy making other things as well to balance myself, there are more graphic designs blend into my life, I like that so much, and I want to combine the 2D designs and the 3D sculpture. Because of my traditional Chinese upbringing, I strive to make my artwork as perfect as possible. Since I keep get more and more American culture, there is big problem coming, which is I always think too much and takes more time when I make stuff. That is let me cannot put force one idea, I consider this as part of my work style, but I feel awkward to simply the idea at all the time. Even though I value tradition in the making, the result is not always a traditional form or expression. I prefer the unconventional, the slightly weird. And I found there are a little bit funny in my work, maybe that is the way I also can think about it.
Because I keep watch the ART21 video every day, so more and more artists’ information I can get. There is a sculptor who name is Damián Ortega; He uses objects from his daily life, to make spectacular sculptures which suggest stories of both mythic import and cosmological scale. He often suspended from the ceiling or as part of mechanized systems; that is similar to what I do in this year, same technique and focused on one idea.
Because of my work style, I still have unique character and behavior. I add unconventional things to my projects, not keep to a traditional method all the time, but sometimes being crazy. I keep asking, learning, searching, and doing, and that is the period where I stay right now.
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Ruochen Zhou Thumbnail
ruochen zhou
I am still trying to show the freedom in my works that an artistic life provides to me and also find the process of making artwork is a way to release inner stress. At this time, I still focus on the sculpture, because making sculpture is perfect for creative expression and release of tension. In this semester, I change the style about the way I make art, there are more rotate, line combination, hang spring and materialism on my project, I think that is more suitable to show the meaning of freedom.
I still enjoy making other things as well to balance myself, there are more graphic designs blend into my life, I like that so much, and I want to combine the 2D designs and the 3D sculpture. Because of my traditional Chinese upbringing, I strive to make my artwork as perfect as possible. Since I keep get more and more American culture, there is big problem coming, which is I always think too much and takes more time when I make stuff. That is let me cannot put force one idea, I consider this as part of my work style, but I feel awkward to simply the idea at all the time. Even though I value tradition in the making, the result is not always a traditional form or expression. I prefer the unconventional, the slightly weird. And I found there are a little bit funny in my work, maybe that is the way I also can think about it.
Because I keep watch the ART21 video every day, so more and more artists’ information I can get. There is a sculptor who name is Damián Ortega; He uses objects from his daily life, to make spectacular sculptures which suggest stories of both mythic import and cosmological scale. He often suspended from the ceiling or as part of mechanized systems; that is similar to what I do in this year, same technique and focused on one idea.
Because of my work style, I still have unique character and behavior. I add unconventional things to my projects, not keep to a traditional method all the time, but sometimes being crazy. I keep asking, learning, searching, and doing, and that is the period where I stay right now.
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