Aqueous Design
Format
Senior Art and Design Exhibition
Faculty Mentor Name
Monika Meler
Faculty Mentor Department
Studio Art
Abstract/Artist Statement
For my senior project I did a series of prints that capture my connection with water as a swimmer and as a person growing up in the Pacific Northwest. In the prints I am working with design, decoration, color, and abstraction. They are a combination of relief and monoprints. Water is constantly changing and moving, which is a metaphor for my life as a swimmer and student, to a retired swimmer and graduate.Growing up, I was inspired by the Pacific Northwest Native Americans who have their own visual language of shapes and color to tell stories. Using their aesthetic as inspiration, I wanted to create my own language that would help me tell stories of my own life.I printed on thin, Japanese paper. The thinness of the paper created different effects when held up to the light, but also changed the colors when the layers were created. The multiple layers in these prints and how they react to the light reminds me of how water changes when the light hits it, or when it washes up on shore, and there are designs and layers in the foam, kelp and sand. The colors of the prints are important because they change when laid on top of each other, and that is something I cannot control, but accept. This acceptance mirrors the acknowledgement that water is similarly chaotic and difficult to control.
Location
Reynolds Gallery
Start Date
18-4-2012 6:00 PM
End Date
18-4-2012 8:00 PM
Aqueous Design
Reynolds Gallery
For my senior project I did a series of prints that capture my connection with water as a swimmer and as a person growing up in the Pacific Northwest. In the prints I am working with design, decoration, color, and abstraction. They are a combination of relief and monoprints. Water is constantly changing and moving, which is a metaphor for my life as a swimmer and student, to a retired swimmer and graduate.Growing up, I was inspired by the Pacific Northwest Native Americans who have their own visual language of shapes and color to tell stories. Using their aesthetic as inspiration, I wanted to create my own language that would help me tell stories of my own life.I printed on thin, Japanese paper. The thinness of the paper created different effects when held up to the light, but also changed the colors when the layers were created. The multiple layers in these prints and how they react to the light reminds me of how water changes when the light hits it, or when it washes up on shore, and there are designs and layers in the foam, kelp and sand. The colors of the prints are important because they change when laid on top of each other, and that is something I cannot control, but accept. This acceptance mirrors the acknowledgement that water is similarly chaotic and difficult to control.