King Exhibition, Group 2

My work explores quiet, intimate moments in natural and built landscapes. I have been profoundly shaped by my experiences with the landscape, and I draw inspiration from moments in my own life, particularly those in Colorado, Wyoming, and Iowa. I seek to capture reflective moments, where I enter into a relationship with the land and experience profound realization. I’m interested in how these moments function as a form of emotional experience, and how interactions with landscape can leave one with a sense of wonder and realization of truth. I’m also interested in how we, as humans, take part in a symbiotic relationship with the land, both physically and emotionally, and in my practice, I explore how the landscape can act as a conduit for emotion. I find a range of emotions in the landscape, ranging from joy and wonder to loneliness and isolation. I seek to capture these sensations in my work, producing evocative objects that inspire an emotional state in the viewer. I aim to inspire an emotional experience in the viewer, so that they, too, can take part in the profound, contemplative connection with the landscape.

Courtly_beau
Old habits die hard A byproduct of an affair
A Double Bastard is what I call myself
A Golden Bastard is what I call myself
Who are you, when your parents were married but not to each other?
Unwanted baby grew into an confused adolescent,
Confused adolescent grew into an estranged adult
Black sheep in a woman’s body.
What was love's purpose?
Love was controlling, fearful, and manipulative.
Love was not trustworthy.
Until...I found
New Love It is warm and welcoming
Slowly, I grow here. I find myself, here.

Mind Games explores the human mind and its response to conflict. Inspired my parents’ divorce, the work reflects on positive childhood memories, disrupted by feelings of sadness, frustration, and confusion. My grandfather, Robert Plutchik, was a scholar of psychology, instilling in me a sharp sensitivity to human emotions. The piece experiments with footage of the human brain, personal home videos, and representational imagery of memories and mind games. The piece involves distinct storytelling elements, yet relays to the audience a visually compelling abstraction of cognizance. Its experimental nature evokes a disassociation from reality, however the piece does, in some way, suggest a deterioration of the mind from beginning to end.

As people have become more aware of the importance and benefit of truly immersing oneself outside in nature, efforts have been made to recreate its effect in urban environments through potted plants, wall gardens, landscaped mediums etc. However, people are fooling themselves if they think it is enough. In my piece, It’s an Illusion, I have gone to various parts of campus and Boulder with a fake tree to capture its shadow in urban environments. These contrived scenes are meant to give the illusion of nature that isn’t actually there. My hope is that viewers might reevaluate their surroundings with a more critical eye, and not fall prey to believing that such efforts will suffice in a world where urban living continues to spread.

I want to bring light to sensitive experiences that both myself and other women in my life have experienced by bringing awareness to the similarities. The main obstacle for many of these women in my life is their relationship with their bodies, and how it impacts the way they perceive themselves. However, one’s body is such an integral part of identity. I allow room for the audience to interpret my work, which brings a sense of mystery into the narrative of each piece. My efforts to share these experiences will lead to closure, for both myself and others that I choose to incorporate into my work. I choose to work with wax, which is a fragile, impermeable material that seemed appropriate for the message I was trying to convey Since both skin and wax are perceived as malleable and temporary. I incorporated screen-printed notes I had kept from when I was going through different stages of my eating disorder. The lithography of a ring my mother gave me when I was struggling the most with my disorder, I still hold onto the ring as it gives me reverence.

13 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 smoke cigarettes. These are college aged individuals who smoke cigarettes. In a time where weed is legal and electronic vaping devices are growing in popularity, these college aged individuals still choose to smoke cigarettes. Cigarettes were not known to be bad for you until 1980 and since the cigarettes popularity, has been on the decline ever since. I choose to do portraits of college smokers based on Ed Templeton’s popular series from the 1990’s titled Teenage Smokers. I also live on the hill, so I wanted to explore a place close to where I live and try to be inspired by the mundane. I was also inspired to do this by Ed Templeton, Ed lives and works in Huntington beach, and shoots at the pier for his Memory Foam project. With that here’s College Smokers, by a college smoker.

In their work, the artist explores the experiences of existing with functional anxiety, depression, panic disorder and onset insomnia. The artist uses photography and mixed media to reflect the reality of these conditions. The work aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of these disorders, and start a necessary dialogue around these complex issues.

Within the piece Somewhere, rendered with a combination of photography and ink on kitikata paper, the notion and aesthetic of ambiguity is celebrated. Through the lens of the camera, the depiction of the vague notion of Somewhere is captured through a young woman standing alone in the middle of a field, her expression covered by shadow. Through the almost dream- like field of fire burned trees, the inkwork lends to creating an accompanying aesthetic, bringing new life to the dead and further lending to the notion of being in a place with no direction or sense of time.

My intention as an artist is to show the world in a thoughtful and beautiful way. My work features a strong use of color that often serves to exaggerate the world that I see. I love to use a mixture of color play and portraiture that is evident in “The Swamp.” This specific work is inspired by the act of storytelling. The subject isn’t necessarily meant to represent a human character; instead, the figure represents the background of another story, one that can only be seen through the expressions in the face, and the impressions of the viewer.