Final Artist Statement

As an artist I use empathy as a means of purpose in my work, making connections between us and the environment. Discovering and reacting to relationships that exist in our world is imparative to my inspiration, as well as using the expression of conflicts within the self as a theraputic form. My interest in psychological, societal and environmental issues causes further discovery during creative process. I apply and present personal situations in a clear way to induce empathy with viewers. A recent installation of mine consisted of a tree made primarily of beer, wine and liquor bottles, referencing alcoholism internally and environmentally. The artmaking process has practiced and continues to practice my patience and problem solving skills. Transitions of conceptual choices throughout the process challenges and fuels my self determination molding my learning process. I often get excited when I have a particular vision in mind and the challenges of reaching that vision fuel my will to create it. A piece's meaning can form during as well as after I've created it. Overthought of my concepts before creation can hinder the natural evolution of my work. I experiment with new mediums to my work, which exists in forms such as installation, performance, 3D as well as 2D. As an artist its important to expose myself to new challenges and forms of expression. As an artist, I induce an awareness of empathy and proactivity in the resolution of conflicts both personal as well as societal.

process Documented

I worked on the tree for about 4 hours straight and I'm fairly happy with the way its comming along. Luckly I'm able to share the space with my friend Lisa who only needs half of the room which gives me more time to work. I've been using silicon glue which seems to work pretty well. It takes a while to set so I've been duct taping every piece to the wood until the glue sets. I added a few more wooden pieces to give it more height and volume at the top. I think it helped a lot. Heres what it looks like so far...

Artist Statement thoughts

Artist Statement in the making

What comes to mind when I think of Art?

Ideas, knowledge, curiosity, passion, expression, feeling, dramatic, documentation, observation, investigation, materialization, wonder, mystery, process, problem solving

Art is made of inspiration, questions, our influences, and our environment that helps to create us, the right brain

Themes that come up in work repeatedly - movement, environment, and psychology

I enjoy creating art because it feels rewarding and I gain a sense of release from the act of it

The evolution of my most recent work is rewarding to me. The evolution of my ideas is exciting. I enjoy watching the process grow.

Before I make art, I have a concept and think of what mediums would be most appropriate to convey it. I go through a series of thoughts when forming the concept. I ask myself why I care about the idea and analyze the origin of its inspiration. It often takes me several sessions of thinking before I actually start the making process. I’ll often sit over a cup of coffee in a local café and gain inspiration while I formulate the next step.

Stimulations of ideas- people often inspire me. The psychology, energy and movement are elements I often look towards. Life experiences sometimes creep their way into my work. A current piece of mine is about my daily thought process.

I often enjoy using my physical body as my medium. I’ve been active my entire life and have always felt the need to express in a physical way. As a child I was active in gymnastics and often danced around my home. I’m also interested in using wood as a material. I think it’s a beautiful and strong material.

A challenging way I have used my body as a medium is the fact that I’ve pushed my body’s strength limitations in my pieces.

Fragments/ pieces often come up in my work. Red and blue are common colors that show up in my work.

I rarely work in series. I often have one large piece for each concept. I would like to make a strong series eventually.

I often make art in the space it will be installed. If it’s a performance, I often practice it in the space it will be shown. I also like to sketch in public places from time to time.

Observations

A lot of apoxy goes a little way. It dries up pretty fast so you need to use it quickly which means its difficult to hold down the pieces while they adhere to the surface. I may need to use some hemp to hold pieces in place while they adhere. I think I might try out some fabrick like Andrea suggested. Today I joined the wooden structures together and am in the process of adding onto it. I'm trying to not get frustrated and be patient with this. Thats it for now...

update

I've decided I'm going to use the two armatures as supports for one large tree. I'm going to drill more wood pieces to make it taller and come together. I've cut the whole bin of bottles that was given to me and I'll need to cut more. Slowly it is coming along. ...

Nicest Guy ever

So I've been going to the local bars quite a bit lately. I've been going in and asking if I can have some empties. Preferably large bottles since I've been cutting them in half. There has been quite a bit of communication. Most of the time's I've gone, they've told me to come back the next day and they'd have some ready. Today the bartender at Flan O Brian's came to work to find the box he set aside for me was thrown out. I was surprised at how pissed off he was. He cursed a little. Then, he made me a promise. He said his girlfriend is an alcoholic and drinks a lot of wine. I'm jk he didn't say she was he just said they have a huge bin at their apartment full of about 50 bottles of wine they've been meaning to get rid of. He's going to actually bring them to Mass Art for me tomorrow! I hope it works out. I'm really grateful. Also Ulio keeps thinking of better ways for me to construct this piece. He suggested I take the chicken wire off and glue 1/2 bottles to themselves around the wooden structure. So today I got some wood from Nicole Pierce from SIM who is giving away wood she used in her thesis. Awesome Free materials yay ok thats all I have for today I'll post pics soon.