Family Photo Series

Doing the pattern pieces from my figure painting class inspired me when it came time to do a final project for my figure drawing class. I had been thinking a lot about my family, and in particular my great-grandparents. I knew my mother’s grandparents very well, and always felt very close to my great-grandfather, as I am sure all of his posterity did. Great-grandpa, or the “Old Man” as he liked to be called had a way of making us all feel special. He passed away in 2007 at the ripe old age of 103. He had stayed extremely clear in his memory all his life, and had told us so many stories when we would visit him on Sundays. He was born in July of 1903 and had lived his life through a century of some of the most dramatic changes the world had ever seen. This connection I felt to him and to his memories of the past have always given me a great appreciation for everything I have, and a love for the history of my family. Thanks to the skilled documenters in my family we have many images of my great-grandfathers family as they were growing up, and I feel that images from old cameras are some of the most beautiful and intimate kind of photographs. In this series there is simultaneously a sharpness, and a haziness that recalls the nostalgia of a memory. All images I used were from my family's photos, and although I am finished with this series, I plan on using my family history and its photo documentation in a lot more of my artwork in the future.

One of the things I remember hearing about is that my great-grandmother would make her own patterns instead of spending money to buy them. She would also use old flour sacks for cloth to construct the clothes. Wow. How amazing that: A. pretty much everyone knew how to sew, especially their own clothes, and B. they were creative enough to use what they had and not be wasteful. I am always so impressed by the ability and resourcefulness of those who came before me. How amazing the women from our past are, and I am grateful for the wonderful heritage they have passed to us. This was a great inspiration to me as I worked on this series.

Family Photo Series
Each piece is 12"x 18"

2010

Vintage Figures

These images come from a project I completed in my figure painting class. We were asked to buy a certain kind of sketchpad and fill the whole notebook in two weeks, each spread having at least ¾ of a figure on it. I have a love for clothing from the 1950’s and had been researching a little about it. This inspired me to go buy used patterns and collage them on every page of the notebook. I then found old images from original patterns from the 50’s and drew one on each page of the notebook. To add more interest and separate the figure and ground, I colored the figures with nu pastels, and cut the pages around the figures. I love the diagrammatic feel and clean interesting lines that are created by the layering of the patterns. In the end I was extremely pleased with the way it turned out. After completion of this project we created one large piece that was inspired by our sketchbook, and I feel that it is also successful.

Notebook

5"x 8"

2010

Fitting the Pattern

24" x 30"

2010

Mom's Mason Jars

Here are some more of my 20 jars that I never posted. My parents bought these three and had them framed. I think they turned out nicely.

Sculptures

These sculptures are some of my older works, but as I continue my schooling, the more I realize how much I enjoyed working with 3-Dimensional mediums and would love to continue to pursue this type of work, along with painting. Next year in school I will be working towards earning my BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and while I want to focus mostly on painting, I will also be taking sculpture classes, so in the future, watch for some of my new 3-D artworks.

Untitled 2010

I recently created this piece in a class called 3-D design. We had to take a linear object, in this case the copper wire, and make it into a 3-dimensional object. Although it is only about 10 inches tall it took over 100 feet of wire to complete. I am very happy with it, and I love the copper wire with the green colored patina.

Contortion 2009

For our project from stone we were required to choose something organic and abstract it. I chose the human figure because that is where I have chosen to focus my artwork. The challenge came in trying to make the figure interesting and display it in a way the world is not used to seeing it. While I was trying to decide how to best accomplish this, I stumbled upon a picture of a contortionist. I love working with this idea, and while I have never felt that I was very good at abstraction, I gained a love for this type of work, and from this project have stemmed ideas for other works, and I am excited about the new direction it has helped me pursue.

Marriage 2009

In this bronze piece we were asked to abstract an important life event. This was a big stretching exercise for me. I wanted to express my love for my husband and my gratitude for our marriage, but it can be very easy to turn something that sacred and beautiful into something corny. In the end I am very pleased with the way it turned out, and the symbolism displayed in this piece is very important to me. I will not go into details about its meaning, because my hope is that everyone is able to take from it their own meaning and importance.