Teacher Name: Megan Greene, Chris Lin
Grade: Senior
Materials: Acrylic paint on Canvas
Dimensions: 16 x 20 inches
Description: This work was is my mom, who’s a flamenco dancer, I captured her with her performance clothes and makeup to show Adornment. Also thinking about expression of the ourselves and how we choose to share ourselves visually being whatever form that is.Working with blocked color compositions.
Artist Statement: I’m inspired by people, particularly women and the expressions they have. My goal is to allow viewers to find their own stories in the work I create or get an idea of what they represent to themselves. I try to find gestures and poses that capture a feeling or emotion such as; sadness, happiness, love, mourning, contemplation or contentment. Growing up in an artistic household and being surrounded by dancers, specifically women, influenced a sort of way of viewing things and how I capture moments I find beautiful. Marking different passages in my life and feeling the spaces around me and interactions I’ve had, tracking myself and others mental strengths, weaknesses, and growth, all formed in my artistic practice. I travel within and beside my work and its natural process.
Painting starts by feeling the gesture, posing myself or my subject, then taking a photo for reference, to keep the feeling.
Mixing, finding warm and cold tones like purples, blues, greens, and reds into the figure and its shadows to show dimensions, curves, and smooth pouches of skin. I think about the gaze, repeated patterns of nerves in the body, or comfort of natural organic plant life, homely items creating a sense of safety. I try to enter the painting and feel its surroundings. I travel within and beside the work and its natural process.
I’ve struggled to find clear meaning through my work, but over time I find an “answer” wasn’t my goal or purpose. The “meaning”—words to describe my work—is pushed a lot in art school and I’m interested in discovering and expanding that process, but at the moment I’m still growing and looking for the right words. I have been told my work impacts others and they are able to find their own meaning through my work which is everything I could want from creating. I find my own coping processes and personal reasons for some pieces, but I feel sharing that isn’t meant for the world, my art will speak for itself and affect some people and not others.