Artist Statement: Abigail C.
Self Portrait
Advanced Art I used a combination of shading, line work, and value to create my own face. At first, I found it difficult to draw myself but then, I found the experience very unique as I had never embraced certain features and also, I was familiar with the subject. I loved using a mix of different types of pencils to create my piece. My goal was to create a picture of myself that I could recognize. I attempted to capture a soft gaze that could show myself watching others, looking up to role models both as an artist and as a person. I learned that a face is not perfect and that in order for my portrait to look like myself, I had to include things that I did not like about my face; after looking from a distance and seeing everything come together, I appreciated the parts I did not at first. |
Artist Statement: Nicole D.Self Portrait
Advanced Art What is art without a story? Each stroke of paint, speck of ink, or particle of clay represents conscious intention in the chronicle of the whole piece. While I create, my mind resides in the canvass, paper and clay. I allow my mind to wander past the visual representation, into the story of what I am creating. In turn, I want each of my pieces to speak to the viewer and offer a momentary escape from the mundane. Most of my paintings and sculptures tell the tale of adventure. The landscapes are open and timeless. Horses are essential focal images in my collections - whimsical, sharing a place in fantasy and mythology and, yet also magnificent, representing power, absolute strength, and hard work. They reside in the most dramatic, colorful dreams, yet also dedicate their life blood to serving humankind. Horses’ eyes possess mesmerizing expression and their bodies, awe-inspiring movement. A horse embodies wild, untamed freedom - like that found in the spirit of desert Southwest, a common theme in my work - in addition to a deep connection with passion. |
I am inspired by cowboy artists, like Remington and Cox, I strive to create a human connection to my pieces. Like horses, humans embody beautiful contradictions - uncompromising spirit, willful determination, yet tender compassion.
It is an absolute privilege to create, tell a story, and offer others a chance to experience the world through my eyes, a journey that takes many pieces to capture life's true essence.
It is an absolute privilege to create, tell a story, and offer others a chance to experience the world through my eyes, a journey that takes many pieces to capture life's true essence.
Artist Statement: Dayla K.Self Portrait
Drawing & Painting As an artist, I love to take unorthodox approaches to my work. I love the use of color, and vibrant splashings here and there in pieces. I see it in a way of representing myself and my personality. I believe that every artist has or had their own signature style; razzle dazzle; when it came to making their artworks. As I have mentioned previously, the most significant part of my work is that of how representative of me it is. Like mentioned previously and repetitively, I love the addition of color and a sense of vibrancy and an optimistic youthful expression to my pieces. Every artist has his/her specific style; their own razzle dazzle; whether it be Van Gogh’s distinctive brushstrokes or Gustav Klimnt’s distinctive use of pattern-like-areas in artworks; I feel myself as an artist expressed personally by my constant addition of vibrant and bright colors. So my addition and utilization of a vibrant and upbeat color scheme, like my art teacher Mrs.VanCampen states, makes me the artist I am and my artworks a visual expression into my personality. |
I try to carry this out, however at my age, it's hard not to feel the need to change your uniqueness and stir away from your specialties sometimes. That I think is the case with my graphite self-portrait. Distinctively, it's the only one of my projects that seems to be standing out in terms of lack of color even though I had access to colored graphite. That piece in particular is special to me in that it shows a challenge for me as an artist when it comes to having courage and self-confidence. I had many doubts while beginning that project; whether I would be able to draw myself with such detail and make it realistic, or how I would do it with graphite or how I would interpret color into it. But now that I have completed it, and am happy with the way it turned out, it definitely taught me a valuable lesson as an artist. It enabled me to be more confident in the future, and stick to my signature way of expressing myself in my art. I like to think of this specific piece almost like my debut album if I was a popstar. It made me grow, and be more mature, confident and most importantly reminded me of who I was as an artist. Like one of my favorite artists had once said, "Begin by learning to draw and paint like the old masters. After that, you can do as you like; everyone will respect you." - Salvador Dali. Thus, overall as an artist I definitely see myself growing, maturing and becoming more confident in my art thanks to this piece specifically. The rest of my work, such as my skeleton, fruit, chicks and mug, I can for sure see myself in them. They show me as who I am, vibrant and colorful and youthful. The type of person I am - my personality generally - is expressed in these pieces.
Artist Statement: Lilly B.
Self Portrait
Drawing & Painting
The artwork I choose is my self portrait, Lillaay. This piece is a up close, zoomed in view of my eye, a partial of my nose, and my hair. Elements of art such as texture, color, and line are apparent in this piece. I created a lot of value with graphite pencils and made it look like the texture of skin. I used lines to make my hair as realistic as possible, giving it a movement element. While most of my piece is black and white, the eye is the only color. I think it brings a great emphasis to the eye, it’s the first thing you see while also creating an amazing contrast with the whole piece.
I took a very close up picture of myself during art class. I took the picture and put a grid over it and made a grid on a thicker paper and transferred it over a couple times until I got the final one I wanted. I used a range of graphite pencils, and dried watercolor pigments which I personally have and also my watercolor brushes that hold water inside them. I did basic shading for the face and a basic wash, lifting, and some dry brush for the eye. Originally my art teacher inspired this piece since she gave us the basic idea of the self portrait and I took that and ran. The portraits were supposed to be black and white but I wanted to do something different.
There’s no obvious emotions on the face and I think I subconsciously did it. I love looking at the eyes of a portrait; The eye are the window to the soul. Sometimes you can’t tell their emotions and you are trying to connect to that person. My goals for this artwork were that it turned out well. That it actually looked like a human, like me. I have been doodling and drawing for a young age, after I would paint, draw, or sculpt something, it wouldn’t matter what others said, in my eyes it wasn’t good enough. I would see the little flaws. My longest how was to create something that I could put on my wall and not grow to hate, pondering over every little detail. My overall thoughts of my artwork were just wow. I can’t believe that I did that. I guess it showed my that my artwork is good enough and that I could make it as an artist if that’s where my path took me in the future. The final piece is more than I imagined. I’m very proud of it and very thankful for all the tips I got from my art teacher, and my art buddies.
Drawing & Painting
The artwork I choose is my self portrait, Lillaay. This piece is a up close, zoomed in view of my eye, a partial of my nose, and my hair. Elements of art such as texture, color, and line are apparent in this piece. I created a lot of value with graphite pencils and made it look like the texture of skin. I used lines to make my hair as realistic as possible, giving it a movement element. While most of my piece is black and white, the eye is the only color. I think it brings a great emphasis to the eye, it’s the first thing you see while also creating an amazing contrast with the whole piece.
I took a very close up picture of myself during art class. I took the picture and put a grid over it and made a grid on a thicker paper and transferred it over a couple times until I got the final one I wanted. I used a range of graphite pencils, and dried watercolor pigments which I personally have and also my watercolor brushes that hold water inside them. I did basic shading for the face and a basic wash, lifting, and some dry brush for the eye. Originally my art teacher inspired this piece since she gave us the basic idea of the self portrait and I took that and ran. The portraits were supposed to be black and white but I wanted to do something different.
There’s no obvious emotions on the face and I think I subconsciously did it. I love looking at the eyes of a portrait; The eye are the window to the soul. Sometimes you can’t tell their emotions and you are trying to connect to that person. My goals for this artwork were that it turned out well. That it actually looked like a human, like me. I have been doodling and drawing for a young age, after I would paint, draw, or sculpt something, it wouldn’t matter what others said, in my eyes it wasn’t good enough. I would see the little flaws. My longest how was to create something that I could put on my wall and not grow to hate, pondering over every little detail. My overall thoughts of my artwork were just wow. I can’t believe that I did that. I guess it showed my that my artwork is good enough and that I could make it as an artist if that’s where my path took me in the future. The final piece is more than I imagined. I’m very proud of it and very thankful for all the tips I got from my art teacher, and my art buddies.
Artist Statement: Estie P.Jovi
Drawing & Painting The title of my artwork is Jovi. Jovi was a dog brought into not only my life but my family due to my Dads job. We were able to connect with him so well. All just to have to let him go because my Dad had got offered a new job, without the K-9 Handler title. It was very hard to let him go but we were very lucky to have been able to call him ours, even for a short period of time. Losing him had a great impact on my dad and family. I created this piece of art to give us a memory of Jovi. We miss him very much. I had used one tool to scratch off the outline and highlights of my art work. A scratcher that allowed me to make many different lines, thick and thin, straight and curved. although the process wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I challenged myself to include as many details as possible. And that was my goal. I know I exceeded my expectations and gave my Dad another reason to smile. |