VISA 482/483

                 Conceptually I find myself working a lot with the matters of animal conservation, human and animal spirituality and in turn interpreting these themes working with flat graphics that I like to think fall into the realm of pop art. I use a lot of images of animals and mystical beings in my work to draw attention to a more spiritual side of the world. Idealizing normal life around me into illustrative images is a way for me to make the surrounding environment in which I draw from, more exciting, and in ways, more important to me. If I can draw attention to the mundane through using bold colour, thick outlines and a true decorative sense, in my mind I have perhaps done my job in protecting that animal, or making the viewer think about the people I portray in my work.

 

                  Huge artistic influences for me are a number of local artists around BC that I have encountered at music and art festivals. Avrell Fox from Nelson with her strong sense of graphic design throughout her work is a major influence on me. As well as Meghan Hildebrand with her intense and fluid use of colour and wonder, as well as Autumn Sky Morrison and her strong themes of spirituality and the female body. Andy Warhol; although not local - I truly admire as well, and have focused on him and his theories (or lack thereof) throughout the last few years at UBCO. Warhol’s use of design tactics, colour, illustration, decorative, and interdisciplinary approaches has always been able to spark my interest. I am in love with pop culture, design, kitschy trends, fads, computer manipulated images, tattoos, clean careful lines, precision and shapes: I hope to explore and include a lot of these sorts of themes in my work this year. Pop culture, current trends, animal preservation, environmental awareness, spirituality and veganism are all influences that occur regularly in my bodies of work.

 

                  Large acrylic and gouache paintings are two things I would very much like to pursue this year. As well as medium to large scale drawings in the mediums of graphite, coloured pencil, oil pastel and wax crayon. New media and computer manipulation in working with reference material will also have a substantial impact on my production this year. I have been working fairly fluently with most of these materials since I was young, so I feel extremely confident in my ability to produce a substantial body of work with them this year.

 

                  An interdisciplinary approach in my fourth year show would be ideal to combine new media with my paintings and drawing s to enhance and improve the illustrative quality within my pieces. Primarily creating in Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator and other various applications on the computer I hope to amp up my handmade artwork by perfecting the line work, enhancing colour, mixing and achieving the sharpest quality of composition that I can.

 

                  Using these techniques and materials all year I hope to develop my mastery of them. Practise makes perfect, and I believe by completing my work with these various mediums and tools, it will undoubtedly enhance my knowledge and mastery of them even further by the sheer amount of how much I will be working with them. 

 

                  Exploring how to make my work fit into the context of graphic design and commercialism is something I am interested in achieving this year. I would love to make pieces of art that people want in their homes to decorate a room, and look at every day. Focussing on aesthetic, colour, subject matter, occurring patterns, and by creating things that are hip and trendy I think I can achieve my goals. I want to work with mediums that are familiar to the public, and mediums that allow me to produce pieces that people enjoy, whether that be recognizable people (celebrity) popular animals, or overall friendly motifs that encourage the viewer to smile and want to engage with the work for a long time. I guess a large theme to explore this year is the consumerist mentality and developing things that people want to purchase. Also, exploring how subject matter such as an animal or figure, can be intertwined and made harmonious with a primarily pattern filled background.

 

                  Research will be a very influential factor in what I am trying to accomplish because I will need to work from primarily photographs and sources that contain popular places, people, and things. Books, magazines, fabrics, posters, the internet and my own personal collection of photos will all assist me in pursuing this direction. Research will be key in the areas of my subject matter because I want to work with people and animals that we do not see every day in the Okanagan. I will be sketching, planning, and making numerous amounts of studies for my pieces to also use as references and research.

 

                  A large scale, multi medium, multiple piece, exciting, rich, happy, colourful, bright, graphic body of work that the public will want to own is what I am striving to create and accomplish for my fourth year show. This semester I would like to focus on building a concise concept for my pieces to work from, and laying out the ground work and compositions for most of the pieces I will be working on.