Hidden Beneath the Falls 

Amanda DeLessio

Through the combination of augmented reality and traditional painting, I challenged myself to create a project that focuses on the effects that nature has on one’s mental health by bringing nature into a space that severely lacks it. This design was inspired by the challenges of maintaining social relationships, both with others and with the natural world, that many faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this time, I was a part of the mass group of people who were directly affected by forced lockdowns and social isolation. Unable to directly interact with the natural world negatively impacted my mental health as well as that of my peers. Thus, through this project, I want to show the viewer the positive perspective that comes with interacting with nature.

The layout of this project was inspired by the creation of green spaces, or small parks or other forms of natural spaces that reside either within or close to areas of mass urbanization (e.g., cityscapes). The goal of this project is to create a space where the viewer can interact directly with my creative process in order to reflect on a time when being in nature helped the viewer to feel emotionally restored.

In conversation with these complex emotions, I wanted to establish a safe space where people can reflect on their memories of nature experiences (including nature walks, camping, or participating in some sort of outdoor activity). This piece uses both traditional acrylic paintings as well as the emerging technology of augmented reality in order to create such a space.

About the Artist

As a multimedia artist, with a primary focus in acrylic painting, pencil sketching, digital painting, and animation, I create fantasy-like landscapes and immersive spaces to establish an emotional connection with the viewer. In many of my pieces, I use the study of light, color, and layers to create inviting spaces for the viewer to directly interact with. In a sense, my goal is to invite the viewer to become a part of my creative process and allow them to build a positive connection to art. I also use my work to establish a space to engage with emotional concepts, especially through the lens of my own personal experiences.

There are many things that influence my work including stylistic influence from artists like Impressionist Claude Monet and contemporary digital painter Viria. This includes the use a lot of stylistic elements like light brush work, light colors, and layers to create images that focus on audience perception and memory recall. Aside from these artists, I also draw a lot of inspiration from nature itself, either by referencing design elements seen in nature or by directly interacting with it in my work.

Recently, I had the opportunity to create a body of work that focused on creating new environments for the viewer to interact with, many of which incorporated the combination of traditional mediums with augmented reality. In each, I used my study of light and layers to help guide the viewer into the piece, leaving them with a quick impression of the landscape or character they were interacting with. In the future, I plan on establishing a portfolio of works that focuses on storyboarding for animation projects, as well as expanding on experimental study of mixed mediums and immersive spaces.