Collection Title
The Essence of Introspection: Miranda Tynes
Files
Academic Level at Time of Creation
Senior
Date of Creation
Spring 4-15-2023
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
My name is Miranda Tynes and I am a multiple medium artist. I have enjoyed painting, ceramics, and woodworking so far. These disciplines are very different from each other, but it is nice to work a different part of the brain, eye, or hands to create in these different mediums. With painting I work my brain and eyes for color and composition, with ceramics my hands and eyes for form and movement, and with woodworking my brain and hands for the process, physical work and attention to detail. I also like experimenting with adding separate materials to each process. Some contemporary artists who inspire me include Jessica Stoller, Malcolm Smith, and Angela Wang . As for Stoller, we do not share visuals, but I do share concepts with her and the way she speaks about feminist issues in her interviews really hits home. As for Smith, I am inspired by the movement and combination of line and curve in Smith’s works, and how he can tell a really important story. As for Wang, she is an illustrator whose religious imagery inspires me greatly, and the delicate, yet intricate, detail is beautiful and something I wish to add to my work. While I wish for my work to be beautiful, I also use my work as a way to express things that I would usually have difficulty expressing to people verbally. My work is a form of expression and communication about my views. This show is about issues revolving around femininity, self love in spite of the world and doing what is right for you, gender expectations, and how it feels to be pressured by them. On the other hand, the show is also about the gruesome nature of menstruation and playing on the topic of women being “mean” or “angry” when menstruating, but also taking that emotion and turning it around into vengeance for women who have experienced abuse. Outside of the art world, I have always been a very spiritual person, have loved learning about religions, and been fascinated by divine beings. Other influences can be seen in the loose representations of florals in the Art Nouveau period, the intricate delicate beauty of the Victorian period, the rich heaviness of the design of many old cathedrals, the vague slightly mysterious and strange beauty of cubism, and the absurdity hidden in surrealism. These things may not all seem to connect immediately, but I like that they all have some sort of fascinating aspect. They all have that thing about them that just makes you have to keep looking, and keep exploring it, and it stays with you. You never forget it because it has touched your soul in some way. I have so many influences from a time when people could devote their entire lives to creating beautiful works. They had a way to make things intricate with ethereal beauty and did their best to perfect each piece. I hope someday I will be able to do the same, I hope to create something intensely beautiful, so wonderful it can surprise the viewer and they forget the world around them and are fascinated by something's beauty even if for only a few moments of their life. I hope to bring a few moments of wonder to someone, and make a memory they will cherish, and can remember as one of the reasons to keep going. This world is very hard to live in, so I hope to one day have at least one work that, like the many great artists of the past, can bring someone peaceful wonder for a few moments, and let them remember there are some things that make life worth living.
Advisor/Mentor
Sarah Martin, T. Micheal Martin, John Uttgard, Jessica Fife
Description
"Distress" is multimedia on ceramic, 9x 10x 5, 2023
"Retribution" is multimedia on ceramic, 12x 8x 6, 2023
"Temple: Self Portrait" is oil on canvas, 18x 24, 2023
These three works are meant to take three commonly used phrases or experiences, especially among women, and turn them around and hopefully express a more positive side of them. "Distress" is about how, especially women, but also how we all are expected to strictly express our gender one way, and be on one end of the spectrum, either masc or femme. It is supposed to feel whimsical, as I think most of us deal with these heavy subjects with lightening the heaviness in some way, and I do try to process this subject with levity. "Retribution" is about how women are often called "mean" or "angry" when menstrating, and takes this concept and turns it into this figure who protects people from abuse and truly mean individuals, and the pelvis is a more abstract representation of this figure. As for "Temple, Self Portrait" I am adorning a self portrait in bead strands, and my image is an image with clean wet hair and skin. I am trying to switch around the "your body is a temple" narrative. In that you can love yourself, and still adorn yourself any way you wish, or choose not to as well. We are not put here to please others, and we should do what makes us comfortable in these inherently uncomfortable bodies. I also want to promote self care, for us all to spend time cherishing ourselves, instead of hurting ourselves for others or some beauty standard agenda that does not have our best interest at heart.
Photo Credit
Miranda Tynes
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Tynes, Miranda, "The Essence of Introspection: Miranda Tynes" (2023). B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499). 64.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/64