Thursday, January 6, 2011

ARTIST STATEMENT/ CONCENTRATION WEEK 1

Write your artist statement in the comment to this post. You will be doing this weekly. you may write the same thing every week but you must write something.

RESOURCE: http://artiststatement.com/how-to-write-an-artist-statement

4 comments:

  1. French author and journalist Albert Camus once said “A work of art is a confession”: words which I live and work by. I aim for every piece I produce to accurately represent all the thoughts, emotions and ideas rolling around in my head. Though I may not be the most skilled and experienced artist, I find pleasure in the somewhat “in-progress” and imperfect aspects of my style.
    When I begin work on a new piece, I draw from photographs and prints that I’ve seen, the art I’ve studied and the stock of my favorite objects: vintage typewriters, faded polaroids, leather-bound books with yellowed pages, intricate lace, masks and Pamela Klaffke photographs. I also find inspiration in block prints and the thin, fluid lines of intaglio, and see an extraordinary beauty in the costumes and colors of a French circus.
    I have found that my best work is a result of experimentation—not much is premeditated. Rather than sketching thumbnails, I choose to attack the media, working out kinks along the way, a method I have found to be successful, though sometimes time-consuming and trying. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I prefer the unconventional, and will often ignore the better judgment of others, reworking and reworking an idea until it matches my vision.
    Through trial and error, I have found my favorite materials to work with are paper, plaster and printmaking, using paper as an armature, plaster to build up a form and silkscreen prints to establish a final layer.
    I typically like to work in series, stitching—sometimes literally—pieces together using similar colors, forms, lines, materials and visions. I lean towards the organic, shying away from hard, rigid elements, seeking a soft, fleshy, tangible quality in my three-dimensional work. I have in the past created masks that anyone can wear, encouraging human interaction. I love the idea of assuming an identity, the mystique behind masks, and try to capture this whimsical idea in my work.

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  2. French author and journalist Albert Camus once said “A work of art is a confession”: words which I live and work by. I aim for every piece I produce to accurately represent all the thoughts, emotions and ideas rolling around in my head. Though I may not be the most skilled and experienced artist, I find pleasure in the somewhat “in-progress” and imperfect aspects of my style.

    When I begin work on a new piece, I draw from photographs and prints that I’ve seen, the art I’ve studied and the stock of my favorite objects: vintage typewriters, faded polaroids, leather-bound books with yellowed pages, intricate lace, and masks. I also find inspiration in block prints and the thin, fluid lines of intaglio, and see an extraordinary beauty in the costumes and colors of a French circus.

    I have found that my best work is a result of experimentation—not much is premeditated. Rather than sketching thumbnails, I choose to attack the media, working out kinks along the way, a method I have found to be successful, though sometimes time-consuming and trying. I prefer the unconventional, and will often ignore the better judgment of others, reworking and reworking an idea until it matches my vision.

    Through trial and error, I have found one of my favorite materials to work with is paper. With different colors, textures and weights, paper is a multifaceted medium that lends itself to all stages of work. Whether as a base layer or a final, there is usually some form of paper or another in my work.

    I typically like to work in series, stitching—sometimes literally—pieces together using similar colors, forms, lines, materials and visions. I lean towards the organic, shying away from hard, rigid elements, seeking a soft, fleshy, tangible quality in my three-dimensional work. I have in the past created masks that anyone can wear, encouraging human interaction. I love the idea of assuming an identity – the mystique behind masks – and try to capture this whimsical idea in my work.

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  3. Artist Statement
    My art has a certain flow. Often my artwork leans to a more natural side. I like my pieces to appear natural, but I enjoy a whimsical touch. I find inspiration in my surroundings, dreams, the past, music, photos, and contemporary artists. My pieces are rustic but soft, quirky but natural, artful but artless. I feed off of work of others and enjoy viewing the work of emerging artist in my community. I tend to use bright colors and moods and softer, more flowing forms, which leads me to hesitate before adding darker or harsh values. I lean to more rustic, worn subjects, or aged items. The idea of a worn, broken down, or nature eroding man made objects is an idea that appeals to me. I am inspired by 2D and 3D pieces alike and work in a variety of mediums. I especially like working with block prints and pottery. The flow of carving into a block, and the natural grain left behind is something that appeals to me along with the malleability of soft clay. The changing texture at my finger tips creates pieces with a breath of freedom. I create for the satisfaction of creation. My artwork to me is a feeling of doing something worthwhile: I look at my finished work and there is a fulsome feeling of joy with in me.

    Concentration
    Materials: Clay , Wire, paper, wood, burlap, wax, …
    For my concentration I began with the idea of growth and using subjects such as flowers, bees, and seeds, sprouting and pollinating; but as ideas came to me, the concentration became more focused on my own memories of witnessing this growth take place. I then decided that I wanted to take these memories and bring them to life once again.. I want to illustrate memories of a younger me playing in my backyard: blowing dandelions, planting seeds and watching life sprout, standing in awe of bees swarming out of the holes in the play set, and chasing bugs and butterflies. I plan on creating my pieces in a natural way, as if you were viewing them in your backyard but with a whimsical touch. Tough there will be many individual pieces, they will all work together to tell a story of my outdoor adventures as a child and create a sort of embellished habitat. I want elements to be displayed sprouting from the ground, tucked away in dirt, and suspended, or flying through the air, almost as an installation.

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  4. When I create a piece, I want to be able to give people the same joy that I
    find when I think back on childhood. For those people who didn't have the same
    happy memories that I was lucky to have, I want to try and give them a taste of
    something they never had. When I look back, the things I remember most are
    pleasant, and I want everyone else to feel this too. I like to see people's
    faces light up like children's unbridled joy. If any one piece of my work can
    do this for someone, I feel that it is complete and has reached it's purpose.

    Literature and nostalgia are two themes that my artwork rides on. They connect with me personally because literature was a huge part of my childhood. When I think back on storybooks such as J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, and A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, there are rarely any difficult memories that accompany them. I want to be able to incorporate the nascent fractiousness of these stories without actually having to speak out to tell it.

    I like to work with clay, plaster, acrylic casting materials, and natural elements. Modeling is one of my strongest techniques, currently.

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