Studio Art

Artist statement:

My sustained investigation is an exploration on how the music I listen to makes me feel and what the songs mean to me. When I listen to a song, I listen to the words that are being sung and how it fits the melody to better understand what the song is about. It’s hard for me to explain in words what I’m feeling when I’m listening to a song so I turn it into an image to help me describe it.

Artist Statement:

My sustained investigation is about my emotions and thoughts on my experiences in life. I focus on images that tell a story in my mind to help me have a better understanding of my feelings. Also, my artwork is used as a journey of self reflection to help me learn from the past and move forward with my future.

Artist Statement:

My sustained investigation focuses on my interpretations of my own thoughts and experiences. This is used to help me see my emotions clearly, and to create a story or elaborate on that subject. My pieces are open to those who can relate to my experiences in their own way.

Artist's Statement:

Clique On Image - Teenage girls often struggle to find their own style. In their search for individuality, they may try trends that fit the group with which they want to associate. However, struggle further to be unique within that group.

Containment - This self-portrait shows me on the outside and demonstrates my attempt to be confident in my physical self. The abstract portion of the piece shows the jumbled thoughts that I have and includes some symbolical images of things that have affected me or inspired me. I feel that despite the clutter, it gives off a sense of serenity which I attempt to have but oftentimes fail to achieve. I titled this piece "Containment" because everybody has the choice to act or behave based on self destructive thoughts or you can recognize them and make change. My sustained investigation was the question of how to be an individual and now I am asking how one can be the best version of themselves possible?

Pleading to be Pleased - This piece is about oneself fight with their inner demons and how at some point you have to either fix or accept your faults that you think you may have. A common thing I see with my friends is they compare themselves to others to put themselves down. The two boards represent a mirror reflection where on one side I am confident and strong and in the other I am vulnerable and surrendering to my "inner demons". No matter how hard I try to be the former, I will always lack some confidence in myself but that doesn't mean I'm not strong. It also includes mirror selfies that are symbolical of the idea that people only see what you want them to, you never know the thoughts going on inside them. All the girls in the images have been affected by the media and the insane standards we see.

For my three sustained investigations, I was prompted by the idea of the certain type(s) of emotion(s) you feel when listening to (a) certain genre(s) of music.

In my first piece, I tested listening to a rather sad song. Just from listening to the song, I was prompted to make a rather messy and scatter-colored background; a feeling of loss and loneliness.

My second piece was another sad song, but it emphasized a happier meaning to it. I felt a more colorful feeling, although the scribbled out pictures hung on the background were still showcasing that hard to remember memories were present, possibly the feeling of not likely to remember how things use to be with a certain person when they were around, where it made you happy or sad.

And for my last piece, I listened to a love song. This song helped me envision darker and lighter shades of blue, purple, and pink; typical colors that are coordinated to being in love.

I think this investigation was interesting to try — on myself, mostly — to see what one would feel when listening to a specific genre of music to see how they would envision it on a piece of paper.

Artist Statement:

I intend to try to recreate the calmness and clarity that I feel when surrounded by nature in my work. People when surrounded by civilization tend to act more materialistic and self centered, while in contrast when surrounded by nature their priorities realign to value camaraderie rather than motivated by materialism. The scenery of cities tend to trigger this switch and plants such as those found in the calm places of nature inspire calmness. I intend on attempting to use images of plants to recapture this calming effect of nature. These observations are what are guiding my work right now.

In my investigation I explored op art patterns and designs, taking the 80’s as inspiration.