Artist Statement

Over the past year I have been building upon the idea of body image and the effect that it can have on self-esteem and health. I started mainly focusing on the "ideal" as presented by the media and evolved into dealing with eating disorders and the harsh effects that body image can have on oneself.

As my feelings towards my body and the idea of the "ideal" shifted, I began to struggle with what I was trying to get across. I wanted to have people see that they need to be happy with who they were and how they looked, but as I became unhappy with how I looked and felt- I could not produce happy images.

My struggle with my subject matter and my struggle with being an artist as well- turned me to a different path. If I was going to be stuck- I should make sure that I was making things that simply made me happy. I no longer wanted to think about art- no longer wanted to focus on the meaning behind my work. I didn't want to share anymore-

I am no focusing on color and texture- and abscureing the image. Making a raspberry appear to be an inner human organ. The free forms- the large brush strokes. the looseness of the organic.

Outside of painting- I am putting together my "happy place" -- As someone who misses her hometown constantly, I thought that working with images of my home would help me get through my struggle. I have pieced together some of my favorite places- to produce a new place. The first of something I think I might continue to pursue- is being done in crayon on a litho stone.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art the other weekend- and I forgot how much I do actually love to walk around museums. I am not someone who views art very often. Its mostly because I am not a fan of the majority of work that is being shown, but also because I don't always find that much joy or education from galleries.

But then when I do go, and I am staring at a Degas painting and then discover his sculptures. And Cezanne is staring me in the face- I love it and say why don't I go more often.

I was looking at the prints-and I was just in love and said to myself, this is why I am an artist. But its like for me, the moment I step out of there-that inspiration leaves me.

I got in trouble. It was funny because I am very abide by the rules- look over the policies. But when I dressed in my cute skirt and polo and entered into the museum, I felt that I was in line-in the perfect attire with my little notebook, all ready to discover something new. Except that I brought with me a pen. As a printmaker, I am used to using pencils for everything- but I just never thought for some reason that I wouldn't be able to bring it into the museum. It makes sense now as to why- some people are clumsy and some people are rebels and others are rude.

My then forced search for a pencil at the information desk, ruined my groove. I was in the zone-I was loving the art work. I had my path all figured out- down the galleries on the right, up the center, down the left. I will say all the galleries I walked through after this incident-I just wasn't into it.

Luckily the pen scolding occured after the degas and cezanne.

The Funny Hats

I wrote this little story one day at work two summers ago. Its funny how the story is a lot better then the illustrations I have for it, shouldn't it be the other way around?


One nice day,
In funny hat town,
The funny hat people,
Started dancing around.

The danced under the sunj
And under the moonlight too!
And continued till the next morning,
When the sky grew blue.

Later in the day
A grey cloud came by
The funny hats stopped dancing
And began to cry.

"Why does this rain cloud
Spoil our song,
Why can't this grey rain cloud
Just move along!"

They sat in the funny hat house,
And watched for the sun.
Until one funny hat said
"Maybe there is another way to have fun?"

"We could play hide and seek,
Or dance on the beds?
As long as we are careful,
And don't bump our heads"

So the funny hats played
In the house all afternoon,
And soon after supper
Out came the moon!

The jumped with joy
and ran out under the stars,
They danced and sang
And ate ice cream bars.

But soon it got late
And it was time for bed,
"Goodnight my funny hat children,
Sweet dreams" their mother said.


I have a sequal in the works-its about the first day at school.

Time Out

Do you ever just wish you could ask for a time out. A chance to pause life, so you can rethink, reorganize, regroup...and then continue on when you are ready. I've been asking myself if I could have a time out a lot recently- Its hard when you are a junior, with one more year to go and three years behind you-and you wish that you could just time out, change gears, and regroup. Just have a day, or two, to focus on nothing else by rethinking your life. Because come junior year- you are pretty set in your path. You can't get to a year before graduation and just change everything. What if I woke up tomorrow and told myself that I would really love to be an elementry teacher when I graduate. Or that I would really enjoy the HRIM program. It's to late though-unless you want to spend another three years in school for your undergrad. Which I can asure you is not the case with me. I have been ready to leave since I got here.

I just need to pause. I try to pause- I halfway pause. But then you get some important email, or a friend calls with a crisis. And you just want to say NO- this is my time out!

Geez-its annoying when people complain.

My Work

Disney

So this may sound a little silly- but when I was wandering around Disney & MGM studies over my spring vacation- I was mesmorized. I started thinking how much fun it would be to work on the planning and designing of an amusment park. All the small details, like temperature and color, that make the world seem so believable, and really give the visitor the desired feeling and emotion. How in certain rides that wish to provoke a chill up your spine, they are able to not simply because of the surrounding objects, but because of the temperature and lighting. I just think it would be a really awesome job. Plus- I love disney.

My New Route

After a lot of brainstorming and talking out my objectives with my professor- I have decided that what I really want to tell the world is to be happy with themselves. I decided that the whole message I was trying to share last semester when I had imagery that focused on the self-conscience self and the pressure that some feel in regards to body image, was to be happy with yourself. This semester I want to focus on that, the happiness that women should feel with themselves. Really- the happiness that everyone should feel, men and women.

I am having trouble of course figuring out how to portray this. The Dove campaign has given me some inspiration- but I don't want to simply copy what they have already done. Hopefully I won't fail at excecuting this idea.

Inspiration!

I have been inspired, and it is pretty exciting. In my most recent art history class we looked at the work of Goya. I had never before seen his etchings and was mezmorized by his prints. It was not so much the content of the work-social ills and superstitions aren't my ideal subject matter. It was his markmaking and use of the aquatint that made me so excited to go back to my own plate.

http://eeweems.com/goya/artpage_index.html

Finally-An Artist Lecture I like

As someone who is not the usual fan when it comes to video installation-I loved this piece by Nina Katchadourian. I still do not know if it is art, and after discussing her work in my Issues in Contemporary Art class- I was still unsure. But I certainly think that this is a piece that everyone should see, just because it makes you smile.

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/accent.php

Searching for Inspiration

As a printmaker, I have never really looked into what is going on in the art field right now. I did a simple google search and found this website.

http://www.washingtonprintmakers.com/index.html

Some that I found interesting were:
Martha Oatway
Deron DeCesare

And so it begins

Well, another semester has started and questions of what will I do this semester arise. Last semester I began to work with a subject and carried it out through all my studio classes. The topic that I worked with is still very much an issue in my life now, as it was last summer and fall. So where do I take it? I always find that often, I do the same thing, over and over, and bore the audience. I don't want my work to be boring, when it has impacted my life so much. The end of last semester proved to be successful. I made work, I made art, that really put out there what I was feeling and dealing with. The topic though, is one that I know people get sick of. I myself am sick of it, but some things in your life take a while to go away. And so I brainstorm. Think of the extremes that I could take with my topic of choice.
I give myself such boundaries though-I often feel that I think I am just afraid of what everyone will think. Which in a way, is the issue that I have focused on. This one ideal figure is always presented, and what do you do when you aren't that ideal. There are those that continue, just being them, because they have the confidence to know that they are so much more. Then you have the other group, that strives to the point of exhaustion, to be that perfect figure. And then there is me. A middle variable, who at times knows that they have something that is unique and has no need for change. That they are more then just what the ideal stands for. And yet, at the same time, they want to be the perfect.