Lingering Space

Author/Artist Name

Makayla TappFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Senior

Date of Creation

Fall 11-19-2021

Artist Statement

Lingering Space

Since I was young, I have had a fascination with childhood memories that I should have been too young to remember.. Over the years, these memories have changed and warped, yet the strongest memories that have remained the same are those of my parents, and the spaces they inhabited. As my memories of my parents fade, I begin to lose details, such as the way their voices sounded, the way they smiled, the way they laughed. But the pieces that linger are the spaces I remember them being in, the homes they lived in, the places where we made these memories.

My work is spurred from these past experiences, memories, and my parents, often combining several different influences into one work. I am interested in concepts such as childhood, nostalgia, memories, misplacement, in both personal works and others’.This series of screenprints is about my mother and father and how their absence has impacted my view of the world. For this I composed several screen prints containing imagery that is significant to both myself and the memory of my parents. A muted palette is used throughout the pieces, with additions of color in specific areas to draw attention to them and invoke thought from the audience. In “Lost,” an empty car interior is shown, the driver's side cobalt blue, my mother’s favorite color. Without her as the driver, any passenger would be lost. In “Apt. 2,” my father’s last home is pictured. It is a simple apartment complex with a single illuminated door and windows that belonged to his unit. These are places tied to my parents and are reminders of them, places where memories were made.

My style is influenced by both Micah Bloom and David Ralph who both utilize techniques and themes that mirror my own works. Bloom’s flat color paintings and his use of perspective within his works are similar to my own pieces. His paintings often include settings within the home, reflecting the work I have created as well. Ralph’s series of paintings, “Escape Into Life” focuses on temporary dwellings, such as mobile homes or apartments. His work discusses the existence of humanity and how the dwellings we reside in are symbolic to how we live. Spaces we inhabit have a significant role in the way we live, as we leave pieces of ourselves in them. I invite the audience to take a closer look at the spaces I have chosen to represent my parents’ memory and discover memories of their own.

Advisor/Mentor

Nicole Hand; Rebecca Williams

Description

The exhibition consisted of a series of screen prints in various sizes with muted color palettes, and highlighted by bright color to emphasize specific aspects of each work. The works focused on the specific places that held fond memories of my parents, providing an insight to how these places can be representative of my parents and the loss of them.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Tapp, Makayla, "Lingering Space" (2021). B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499). 51.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/51