When I was younger everything was mysterious.  Something as ordinary as a dining room table turned into a boat or a jungle.  Just by looking at the Candy Land board game I was sucked into the Peppermint Princess’s world.  In the coat closet, I spent hours looking at the shoes and hats imagining where they had traveled.   And at supper time, if I had to sit at the dining room table I traced the patterns on the Oriental rug beneath me.  I was never rushing, I had time to just look at objects around my house and yard and get lost in my imagination. My work is about connecting with this childhood wonder, using the imagination, and entertaining ourselves with the objects from our homes and backyards.

            I remember art class as the time of day when kids went a little wild.  We didn’t have to be quiet or sit still; we could tell stories, sing, and color teal dolphins and portraits of girls with big jewelry.  It was great and I was making noise like the rest of them, while simultaneously concentrating on the paper in front of me.  When I was really getting into a work I would lick my lips and bite them so fervently that I would get large, ugly rashes around my mouth.  I still consider my experience with art making as a social and fun recess time and continue to get lost in my drawings.  Thankfully, now I have figured out a way to enjoy creating art without enduring an unsightly face. 

            The content of my work is inspired by childhood wonder, fairytales, storytelling, and the common objects that surround us.  I take the overlooked and turn them into something odd and fantastic. This semester I have managed to combine things that make me happy: jelly fish, ceiling fans, clean laundry, a mermaid light fixture, inner tubes, letters, grape jelly, duck feet, goggles, potted palm trees, an argyle sock, a lounge chair, gold fish, keys, underwear, old phones, a cowboy hat, sombrero, feathers, forks, globes and all the other ordinary (yet silly) things around us, as well as story telling, and drawing.                  

            In my work I strive for a feeling of lightness, like the weightlessness to a child’s world.  I want to provoke the feelings of flying and floating and the spaces that only live in our minds.  Lightness is about shedding the weight of the world, not giving up, about overcoming the little things that we all stress about, quitting worry, being freed, love, dancing, singing, imagination, trying new things, and seeing other people’s perspectives.  Lightness is something that is magical, it is like thinking happy thoughts and then being able to flip and fly. Weightiness is associated with stress and worry and these feelings are not a part of the narratives that I am creating.

            The subject matter in my drawings are objects from the everyday world.  I look inside a jar of raisins, at spider webs, telephones, the sky, an orange, and faces.  It is interesting for me to notice the small things.  I notice the patterns and decoration in things like a grape jelly jar, pebbled ground, oriental rugs, or wood grain.  I find these ordinary things fascinating.  I have been joked for the way that I walk with my head cocked to the side like some googley-eyed dreamer amazed by the surroundings.  I imagine that I am seeing things that everyone else is missing           

            In my work I play with colors, scale, and juxtaposition.  The colors that I choose are not the natural ones; instead they are brighter and richer.  The scales are not true to life and so a coffee mug can be larger than a television.  Even though, my subject matter is the common and mundane, like the things that we find around the house, through the pairing of such ordinary objects they can transform into the surprising.  Most objects when taken out of context or juxtaposed with something odd appear to change and become new and interesting because we are able to see them differently.               

            As I work on a piece I am making up stories and creating imaginary situations.  I do not want the viewer to know my story for the art work, but I would like them to stumble upon their own.  I am creating open narratives and for this reason, there are more questions in my work than answers.  Is the space indoors or out?  Are the objects solid or flimsy, floating or sitting? Is there supposed to be a connection in the objects? By questioning what is going on in a piece, I think that people naturally try to create explanations and their mind will come up with their own interpretations, connections, histories, and stories for a picture.  I want to force the viewer to use their imagination by just looking at the everyday things around them.

              I am inspired by fairy tales because they are fun, exciting, sweet, scary, and comforting but also because they are about trying to understand the world around us.  And they don’t have to make sense.  I can make up crazy worlds where I can have all the things that I am interested in come together and float. 

              I am also interested in how memories, stories, and the imagination live in these objects of the everyday.  I believe that stories and imagination are essential to happiness because they entertain as well as bring people together.   The goal of my artwork is to motivate the viewer to think about what the objects in the works mean to them.  They do this by searching their memories and ideas regarding the specific objects, which potentially could lead to them making up their own explanations and stories for the artworks.

             The artist that I relate the most to is Amy Cutler.  Cutler works mostly with gouache and color pencils.  She creates enchanted fairytale images that depict women in strange situations (Tyson, 1).  Cutler draws and paints people and objects in a very detailed way (Drawings 1).  Her figures wear very detailed and sometimes highly patterned clothes.  They are funky and retro and crazy like something that I remember from a childhood book my mother would read to me.

            While Cutler realizes her figures and objects with so much attention she leaves the setting blank.  Her images are surrounded by blank white paper.  This leaves the interpretation very open in that the figures could be “anywhere or nowhere” (Tyson 2).  “Her images also rarely go off the page so it is as if they are contained in the space of the paper” (Tyson 2).  Space and placement affects the feelings of her works, sometimes her objects and figures dominate the space and other times they feel like they are dominated by it. Cutler’s blank ground inspired me and let me know that it was acceptable to leave so much white in a drawing. In my drawings I am also leaving out any sort of background or setting so that the objects completely stand out.  There is nothing for the viewer to look at except for the drawn objects.  This allows me more control and gives me more influence to say, “Hey, you, look right here, fans are pretty cool.”  This also allows for more possibilities for the viewer’s interpretation because the objects can be understood to live in any time or place.    

            Amy Cutler’s art work is very personal and in it she says are cryptic parallels to her life (Honigman 3).  Most of the women that she draws have her face and are experiencing something that she is going through.  I have not considered including myself in my works as directly as drawing self- portraits but some of the objects in my drawings are connected with personal experiences from the past and the present.  Although, my personal stories are sometimes imbedded in the work, like Cutler, they are not important.  

             Amy Cutler presents an open ended narrative (Honigman 2).  The white setting is one obvious aspect that makes the narrative open ended.  The figures are mysterious-what are they doing, what is happening to them, and who they are, are some of the questions that arise.  Also, the pictures do not resolve the stories (Tyson 1).  The works are fabricated in such a way that the narrative can go many directions and mean many different things.  I love this about Cutler’s work and have been inspired the most by this aspect.  I also strive for the mysterious and for the narrative that is left for the viewer to determine.  

             By using references to fairytales and leaving the stories so open and ambiguous the viewer is asked to use their imagination (Tyson 2).  Cutler is asking for active participation of the viewer (Tyson 2).  She brings the viewer closer because they can easily bring their own interpretations and their own personal lives come out through the stories that they project. It is important for me to involve the viewer in my artwork as well.  I definitely strive for this kind of dynamic in my own work.  I want people talking about their own interpretations and the stories that they imagine.

            The magic in the everyday that I put into my works reminds me of stories that my parents used to read to me and for this reason my drawings are connected to and inspired by children’s books and fairy tales.  The white grounds of my drawings are like the white pages that my mom would let me turn and while my subject matter are part of the real world; the crazy situations in the drawings turn them into places of amusement and mystery found in stories. 

             Children’s books are about exploring one’s world and can make the everyday more interesting and enchanting.  However, the stories in a book have already been decided by the author.  In my work, the stories have not been decided, a few characters are introduced but the rest is left up to the viewer’s imagination.  The viewer is given the freedom to take the narrative in any direction that they so choose.

                        The open ended narrative calls for the viewer to become a story teller.  Story telling is important because it makes us happy.  Story telling brings people together for a personal and spontaneous moment.  Right now, there is too much computer time, text messaging, and television consumption.  These things all seem to separate people from one another.  They do this by convincing them that it brings them closer, while having them spend less time in the physical together.  A phone conversation is great, if there is no other way of communicating, but it lacks the total experience of actually being with someone and talking to them.  You miss out on facial expressions, gestures, smells, and touch.   

            Sometimes the story telling experience is shortchanged.  Instead of sitting together as a family and talking to each other, many families might watch television.  This is different because an outsider is controlling the stories.  Also, the narratives in television are so simple and so easy to absorb.  They are hardly ever open ended, and they leave nothing or very little to the viewer’s imagination.

            My artworks evoke ideas for story telling.  I want a viewer to look at one of the drawings and to be inspired to tell a story.  It would be enough for a viewer to tell the person next to them what they imagine is happening or for them to share questions that might get the viewers talking.  I just want to get people together, in the physical, to talk, to share ideas, and memories, and stories.  I want this because I think it gives people a sense of feeling connected.

            Visually, I am interested in the illustrations of some story books.  They always have so much potential in them, because they are part of a great narrative.  They are usually simple and yet full of actions.  I really want this duality in my own works.  I want my overall work to be uncomplicated and yet woven into it there are many ideas.

I am also interested in the colors found in fairytales and the colors in the illustrations.  They are always so rich and vibrant and almost magical in themselves.  At the same time they are also very connected with the earth and its natural colors. 

            In particular my work is inspired by the stories, poems, and drawings of Shel Silverstein.  They have always been a favorite of mine because they are ridiculous, imaginative, and they make me laugh.  His work is positive, hopeful and encouraging ways to look at life.  Reading his works reminds the viewer about a child’s perspective and really makes it seem like it’s the only way to live.

             Shel Silverstein’s poems and drawings are all very silly.  Anything can happen in his stories and for example in his book Where the Sidewalk Ends: one man has twenty-one heads, hippos fly, a tree grows out of a little boy’s head, kids fly through the air as they are used for baseballs, a camels wears a brassiere, bears live in Frigidaires, kids swing by their moustaches, and three men fly in a shoe.  I like his work because anything can happen in the worlds that he creates and I see this in my own works.     

            Silverstein’s works inspire imagination.  They help us to see the silliness and the endless possibilities in the situations that we meet.  They teach the reader to not always expect the expected, but to look for other explanations.  Silverstein also has us looking at the world with fresh eyes which is another aspect of my work that is connected with Silverstein.  

            The language and drawings that Silverstein uses are all very simple.  They are easy to access.  There is a feeling of lightness that is directly related to this simplicity.  His words flow and the style of the drawings are all very airy, weightless and carefree.  This goes back to the mood of his and my own work which is very silly and positive.    

            Not only does he entertain the reader and make them laugh but also encourages one to go on adventures and to not hold back.  He makes the world seem so interesting and mysterious that it just would not make sense to sit in front of the television.   

            The moods and themes of Silverstein’s work definitely influence my art work.  I want my works to be about imagination and enjoying the world around us.  I like to think that my drawings are similar to something that could be in one of his books, but with mine the viewer just has to come up with the story.  I also like to think that the narratives that I am creating are something that kids and adults can tap into to.  I want them to be like a children’s fairy tale but also more like Silverstein’s poems because this would mean that my work had a certain feel, movement, and rhythm to it.    

            Another artist that I relate to is Wayne Thiebaud.  Wayne Thiebaud is well known for his bright paintings of cakes and American diner food and these are the paintings of his that I am most interested in. Thiebaud uses bright warm colors and also outlines his objects in cool or contrasting colors as a way to make his objects glow (Hurwitz 2).  He paints them in a way that creates an inner radiating light (Hurwitz 2).  Thiebaud’s bright colors and easy subject matter are pleasant to look at.  They are about the pleasure of looking and he gives great attention to these familiar objects, which is exactly what I am interested in.  

            Thiebaud is also very controlled and interested in the formal aspects of composition.  He worked with the same objects over and over changing slightly the composition.  He varies the number of objects and the way that they were organized (Hurwitz 2).  I think he was interested in how small changes like these were really not small at all.  Thiebaud’s work is also about his materials.  His paintings are very personal and you can see his brushstrokes and the way that he applies his paint in his paintings.   

            Thiebaud’s repetition of the same objects sometimes links him to Pop Art (Hurwitz 1).  His artwork was about images that every American sees daily but I think that his art was more about the uniqueness and interest of it.  Although he would do a painting of five hot dogs, each hot dog would be different.  This shows that he enjoyed looking at his surrounding and he noticed them.  Although he showed the uniqueness of each object they were all rather simplified and sometimes became part of a large pattern (Hurwitz 1).

            Thiebaud’s work was not about making objects that were photorealistic or illusions.  He painted what he had seen in his life, what he remembered and what had visually interested him.  There was no huge symbolism or ideas behind it.

            Thiebaud’s Three Treats from 1969, shows his play with warm and cool colors.  This work is an example of his repetition and how this becomes almost pattern like.  In another work, Pie Counter from 1963, the repetition is much greater and this becomes a strong aspect of the work, the repetition becomes increasingly soothing.  Even with the increased number of the same objects I think he is able to maintain the individuality of each common object.

            This idea of making the common object something that is unique and interesting is also very important to me.  Thiebaud takes food, something that we constantly are surrounded by, and instead of appreciating them for their taste or their necessity for life, he appreciates their visual qualities.  My artwork is about doing just this, noticing the ubiquitous objects and finding curiosity in them.      

            I am also interested in the way that he deals with light and light sources.  Sometimes, a very strong light on still life objects can make the work look cold and very constructed, like they were set up in a studio.  I try to make the objects that I incorporate in my work have an inner light.  I think this helps me to make the viewer more aware of the importance of the objects.     

            Another artist that I find inspiring is Tom Wesselmann.  He was a part of the Pop movement and made art from everyday objects and his surroundings.  He worked with collage and took images from magazine advertisements, billboards, logos, and found objects.  His work challenged the line between high and low art by “denying the uniqueness of the modern art image” (Whiting 71).  The art and the critics of his time were very exclusive; there was a definite distinction between museum art and consumer art before the pop movement. 

            Wesselmann’s still lives depicted your average post world war home of the time.  He made works showing bathrooms, kitchens, and other spaces in the American home.  He was described as a “visual reporter of American life” (Amaya 257) and he also described his own works as “a slice of life (Lippard 111).”

              Wesselmann made art from a feminine view and the feminine side of consumption in that he used sources from women’s magazines and he was described as “taking on the task of arranging the domestic interior” (72).  He also used advertisements that were specifically domestic and geared towards women.  He likened the “formal arrangement of modern painting and the practical arrangement of the modern kitchen and between appreciating fine arts and managing a suburban household” (72).  So, the line between art and life for Wesselmann seems to be nonexistent.

            Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #31 from 1963 and his Still Life #12 from 1962 are of particular interest to me.  Both of these still lives instantly relate to the viewer because they depict common things and common situations.  Still Life #31 directly incorporates the mass media by including a television.  It also includes a reproduction of a ‘high art’ still life painting by Matisse.  Wesselmann quotes this high art form by repeating images from it in his collaged interior space (68).  Not only is he taking a reproduction of a high art work and treating it like all the other found images by positioning it in the same space, he is also working it into the image by repeating some of its forms which furthers its integration.  In Still Life #12, Wesselmann juxtaposes a found image of an apple with a painted one.  He also includes a real metal sign which is a depiction of coke bottles.  “He constantly switches from ‘reality’ to ‘art’ and confuses the two” (Amaya 230).  All of the different sources and mediums help to challenge what is decided as art “this makes a sort of drama or confrontation even though they somehow come neatly together” (Amaya 230).

                        My work is about looking at the things around us because the everyday surroundings are intensely interesting and visually stimulating.  Although, Wesselmann’s works made these common things so interesting he said that he used collage because “I don’t have enough interest in a rose to paint it” (Lippard 111).  This is definitely a difference between the two of us.  I can not stop staring and being entranced by these things because I am visually interested and that is why I include them in my work.             

            Wesselmann’s collages include your everyday objects.  Lippard describes Wesselmann’s works as “depicting everything previously considered unworthy of notice” (Lippard 82).  His common objects are very strange because he doesn’t render them from life, but he sources them from magazines and many other places.  The different sources of the objects make it so that the objects have different lighting, show different perspectives, and show differing scales.  In my own work I am doing the same makeover for the ordinary object.  I turn the common objects into something odd, like some kind of spectacle in a museum. 

            He is able to create crazy spaces that are made only from images and objects that are normally found in a kitchen.  He does not even include odd things that don’t belong; the things that one usually finds in a kitchen begin to seem odd.  In my work I like to pair things that don’t usually live together and this is how I try to capture this strangeness.  Who knew that there were such interesting things even there?  

            During my SMP, I had so many ideas and too many directions but all of these experiments lead me to the important discovery of the medium that was just right for me.  I made an assortment of works using printmaking, graphite, soluble graphite, collage, Xerox transfers, and colored pencils.  The printmaking, while I enjoyed the process, was a little too mechanical, it was very repetitive and also was not as satisfying creating the same images over and over.  Collage, while important for figuring out composition and relationships, did not allow me enough control in the art making.  I was always looking for the perfect street lamp or rocking chair, but the magazine images never seemed to have the objects the way that I wanted.  So, after collage, I started using Xerox transfers.  I searched the web for images, which allowed me more options with the images than from the magazines, and I also took pictures with a camera.  The transfers were great because they allowed me to make many works quickly.  But finally I realized that drawing was the best way for me to connect directly with each object that I included in my works, and it was also important that each work be completely unique.  I was able to control exactly how they would look, because it wasn’t decided by a magazine, it was completely my own creation.  The act of drawing requires me to observe the objects closely and to study them, and I like the time that it takes to actually realize the objects when starting on a white piece of paper and just using pencils.

            The first semester of SMP I also realized that most people, myself included, if given the choice of having any superhero power, they would choose to be able to fly.  Not only is flying the obvious choice for a super hero power, but it is also about being weightless and carefree, as mentioned earlier. At this time I was really searching for images of feathers, people on trampolines, people diving off cliffs, astronauts, insects, birds, any winged creatures really, and jelly fish (because they fly in the water).  I made some drawings of astronauts, one winged, but I felt like the subject matter was not exactly what I wanted because they weren’t as much about the magic in the everyday, but rather just about the animals and objects that already can fly.  So I then decided to create works that allowed anything and everything that is around me to fly and float. 

            My work this year concerns everyday objects, childhood wonder, and story telling.  In the end I strive to create weightless worlds where the story is open ended.  It is about being carefree and weightless, like when I was younger thrown into the air by my uncles or even now when I cartwheel.  I want the viewer to see the lure of the everyday, the intrigue in the common, and the magic in the unexpected.  In my works I use fairy tale language because it is a place where anything is possible and  I want to remind the viewer about their direct surroundings, and how Life is more exciting when just anything, even your own home, can lead you into an adventure.  Common objects have the potential to trigger the imagination as well as being sources for an infinite supply of magical or even factual stories.  For these reasons, I believe that stories are everywhere; you just have to share them.

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