Artist Statement
Each piece I create is dependent on the idea of taking personal past experience and turning it into a composition. My primary material is charcoal, utilizing the subtractive process in each of my drawings. My pieces are very emotional and tend to carry a darker tone, coinciding with the darkness charcoal can produce. I focus on expressing an emotion and not just a physical depiction, with an emphasis on thoughts, feelings and personal growth. My work is heavily inspired by my time spent living on Washington Island, WI. Moving off the Island has been difficult but inspires me to reflect on where I came from and to incorporate that within my work. I have always felt a connection to art and have used it as a tool to process myself and the world around me.
The work I that I have created this semester is the continuation of my piece Shifting I, a charcoal drawing completed in March of 2020 that represents the initial start to a shift in both mind and body. Over the past year I have lost a significant amount of weight and Shifting II is the result of that transformation. I have begun incorporating stop motion charcoal animation within my work, inspired by the artist William Kentridge. This process allows me to bring my drawings to life, as seen in Shifting II. The action within the charcoal animation was inspired by the psychologist Carl Rogers and his ideas regarding our ideal-self. Shifting II represents the continuous cycle when it comes to finding the best version of ourselves.
My perspective on life shifted when I realized that every moment lived is an opportunity to better yourself. This new outlook has guided me to become a better artist because it has allowed me to look back on past experience and apply it to a composition.
