an asseveration of art

I’ve been creating sketches and works of art ever since I was a child. The sketchbooks I worked in have lived with me since their conception and are laden with images from my childhood. The art reflects images from my daily life, dreams I had, and struggles I was working through.

The reflective intrapersonal nature of my art continues to this day. Art is a way for me to synthesize complex experiences and feelings into visual forms. The works I create are meditation tools for me, often expressing irony by incorporating bright colors and contradictory images into (what is often) darker subject material. As a lover of words, I also tend to integrate writing into or alongside my work.

Over time, my depiction of the human being (my favorite subject) has become distorted and cartoon like, a reflection of the idea that we are ever changing and ever imperfect. I tend to personify inanimate objects and abstracted animals in my art as well; everything I see or touch has vitality to it and I try to convey that.

Art for me is not precious in and of itself; it is the process that is most important to me. Whenever I exhibit my art, it is my intention for the viewer to do more than just see... I want for people to be able to touch, write, and otherwise interact with my art and express their own responses. I love dialogue, especially on topics that matter to me and that I have been working through.

Recently, I have been working through the departure of my husband and my own response to it. How relationships change. What it is like to be in love again. I’ve been exploring what I really want to leave with the world with via my short life (I am at the biggest decision making point in my life). I’ve also been working through recent discoveries about the American penal system and some of its major failings.

As I create more art and work through these themes, I would like to also be thinking (in advance) about how I could most effectively produce an exhibition that will cause people to re-evaluate something I feel is ineffective about the way(s) in which we live. This includes new mediums, words to incorporate, ways to have an audience participate, location, etc. I would like for my next exhibit to be one that I can show at a couple different locations (Juneau AK, Bellingham WA, and Park City UT).

I will post some recent art as soon as I can get it scanned in. -Donna