Drawing

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180166

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Open Access
Abigail Galvin: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Galvin, Abigail, artist
The artist's statement: Through documentation or metaphor, I seek to understand how both our sense of agency and our sense of restriction are deeply tied to an awareness of our own bodies. The result of this process is two interrelated series of work. On one hand, I use abject elements of the body to analyze issues of identity and control. On the other hand, motion and interaction explore an ecstatic sense of freedom and connection. In all of the work, the human body is focused on as an interface where these conflicting senses merge and create tension.
Open Access
Abril Maranon: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Maranon, Abril, artist
The artist's statement: My work as an undergraduate student has consistently explored sociopolitical issues and gradually shifted towards making politics less intimidating to the viewer. This has created a body of work that attempts to interact and open conversations about real problems in our community. Unfortunately, as the political environment stands now, what we consider true is so easily manipulated, and the distribution of information is not equal. When a hesitance to talk about politics with others is added to the issue and we use our stance to attack, this creates hostility and prolongs the problems we are trying to solve. Through optical effects and illusions, my works explore issues like human rights, censorship, and the current political environment. Using mixed media, watercolors, gel sheets, and other materials, this body of work aims to invite both sides of the political spectrum to talk to each other. My current project is my Perspectives series, a watercolor series and installation that uses optical effects and illusions to explore politics. This is a two-part series, with each part exploring a different facet of American and international sociopolitical issues. The first part explores Either/or arguments concerning human life. It uses stereoscopic anaglyphs to explore how one political alignment is used to shut down another. Part two discusses censorship and international parallels concerning how we are allowed to talk about politics. The Ishihara color blindness test is applied to this part of the series, speaking to varying degrees of censorship in supposed democracies, including the US. In their base forms, these methods are fun and encourage interaction. However, the principle of these effects was also a source of inspiration for me. These methods can describe what is going on in politics right now without necessarily being intimidating to viewers. I am interested in exploring how we come to understand the truth and how this understanding can be blocked or distorted based on the information we consume. The way these works are installed is also meaningful in that it gives the viewer a sense of choice and responsibility. Throughout the series, the viewer is offered gel lenses from which they can view the works. These either enhance or delete details rendered on each canvas. Each piece always ties back to the presence of media and how that frames our opinion on the subject. The source images used for each project have been pulled from the news or articles with specific political views. The thought in mind that media creates the frame and forms public opinion. Whether you see your own beliefs or are open to receiving opposing viewpoints is entirely up to you. Ultimately, this body of work is meant to open conversation, one’s own willingness to listen to others is a deciding factor in how this work impacts the viewer’s perspective.
Open Access
Amanda Thomas: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Thomas, Amanda, artist
The artist's statement: My artwork is an attempt to find spiritual order in an ever chaotic and imperfect world. My work tends to focus on control and stability, however in more recent works I have learned to embrace the results of automatic and both unconscious and conscious drawing decisions. My body of work assimilates control and chance, and some pieces reflect both simultaneously. I create works focusing on organic animal forms, utilizing them as a vessel for my emotions and thought-processes, as well as placing spiritual emphasis on them. Humans often connect to animals in certain ways, reading particular emotions for different species, therefore creating spiritual outlets through those animals; I utilize this to my advantage in my works, forcing emotions out of them that could only be done by depicting certain animals. Concurrently, my work explores the relationships that humans have with not only the animals that I depict, but with other human beings. The void of emotion that has become ever present in human interactions intrigue me, particularly my own lack of emotion towards others. I am interested in sharing imagery that I feel strongly connected to in order to record viewer reactions, so that I can experience the full range of emotional connection and witness it in others. Through these drawings, I feel closer to my audience and I hope that they feel close to me.
Open Access
Aryn Benavides: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Benavides, Aryn, artist
The artist's statement: My work has a heavy emphasis on language and the use of the written word within art to comment on social issues. It is meant to expose contradictions of what we perceive as good, bad, and uncomfortable, also while revealing my personal thoughts on violence, isolation, alienation, and worship. Within my work I want to question issues of violence, through the destruction of paper through burning and senseless acts of tragedy. I work on concepts of isolation and how it can relate to space and the illusive imagery or writing hidden within patterned paper, and the alienation of objects and space. Also how we worship people who we consider to be unique or influential while processing what they have left behind. I aim to explore my personal thoughts on the human connection to one another with handwriting as an expressive form of line, and to explore the formal use of line within a 3D space.
Open Access
Ava Schuetter: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Schuetter, Ava, artist
The artist's statement: My name is Ava and as a multimedia artist my work allows me to navigate through what I struggle with. Between the materiality and process of creating each piece, I can confront what is troubling me and understand it better to continue growing as a person. I wouldn’t say this process allows me to fully overcome everything I face, but rather gives me the space to approach it in a comfortable, therapeutic way. Recently, I have explored themes of mental illness, gender, sexuality, and family. Currently, the work I am doing centers around my existence within domestic spaces. A commonality between all my work is material and sourcing materials second-hand is a large focus of my practice. I believe there is value in continuing the life cycle of objects that already exist, rather than buying something just to be used once. This largely stems from my fears for the future of the earth, but I draw some satisfaction from reimagining what something can be used for. For instance, using an old, gifted window to become an interactive wall installation about my experience being a woman. Or my most recent work, where I use scrap fabric from second-hand stores to applique an imagined view of my current bathroom. Both are very different materials used in a similar process to help me understand more about myself.
Open Access
Brian Pena Garcia: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Pena Garcia, Brian, artist
The artist's statement: As a Mexican immigrant I've had to witness and experience a lot of mistreatment while living in the U.S. Feeling the pressure of being the absolute perfect model citizen in a country that doesn't respect or care for my existence is exhausting. With no financial sustainability or support medically, I've seen my family and other immigrants struggling year after year. Even though Undocumented Immigrants pay Billions of dollars in taxes every year, we are still not accepted as citizens. For my project I would like to explore the feelings and sentiments I have felt through my life in growing up in the U.S. as a Mexican immigrant. Throughout my years of watching the political climate in constant fear, to my personal experience of racial discrimination, I want to create illustrations in ink that demonstrate the aspects of being an immigrant in the United States. Some examples of concepts I'd like to explore are the experiences in the work environment. Being underpaid, working more hours, and having no choice in where to work are a few points that describe the situation of work for undocumented immigrants. Another aspect is the ability to see family from their home country. Undocumented immigrants usually don't have the money to travel, and if they did it would be impossible to leave the U.S. because they would no longer be able to come back. This causes them to not be able to see their family. This is an experience I had to go through in my family and witness this pain in my parents. Pieces like "Thinking of Mexico" explore this feeling of diaspora that Mexican immigrants deal with when it comes to being in the United States. Only experience my birthplace through memories while experiencing the unjust systematic discrimination and oppression in the U.S.
Open Access
Callan Zink: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Zink, Callan, artist
The artist's statement: My work transforms introspection into image by way of intuitive mark making and emotionally driven color choice. By reflecting on memories, emotions, experiences, or simply trying to capture an idea, a sense of presence is developed. This process feels like a ritual at times, pairing music with materials to build an ongoing language of symbols and meaning that stretches across multiple works. The resulting compositions are both personal and idiosyncratic while remaining ambiguous. As a body of work this approach develops into a mythos or collection of concepts that is open to interpretation. In that sense, each drawing is akin to a spell, or moment in a larger narrative. That energy is captured by an alchemical approach to material use. By integrating dry and wet media, mixing colors from dirty containers, and letting textures develop on the page or by impulse, there is a conscious spontaneity. This feeling of electricity coincides with an active reflection on life events and personal questioning, the result is a work that often holds answers for me. My work grows alongside me and is a representation of my growth as a person. As I continue to create, I develop better methods to visualize and make sense of myself and the world around me.
Open Access
Carlos Moreno Loachamin: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Loachamin, Carlos Moreno, artist
The artist's statement: The body of work I have made in my four years at CSU has been a ramping evolution in the exploration of contemporary American mental health struggles, the notion of the sublime, and the beauty in such raw emotions as shame, guilt, and exhaustion. This evolution has primarily taken place through material exploration. Beginning with pen and ink on paper my freshman year, I have ventured into different media as I've painted, sculpted, and animated pieces which grew imbued with flashes of self-flagellation, exhaustion, and the buckling weight that follows when one holds onto torturing ideals for an excruciating amount of time.
Open Access
Cesar Ita: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Ita, Cesar, artist
The artist's statement: My interest in drawing comes from the passion I have for representing the subtle yet distinct varieties of color and line through the use of varied media, especially colored pencil, acrylic, and ink on paper. Color and line are the two elements of art I excel in. I mostly draw non-representational subject matter with an emphasis in expressing geometric shapes. Architecture is a source of inspiration for me because I like structure. Another source of inspiration for me is the sublime. The sublime represented in my artwork is influenced by the Fibonacci number sequence as well as the phi ratio. Identity is another concept that I like to represent in my art through the rendition of abstract masks. Sacred geometry is another source of subject matter frequently spotted in my art. I like to experiment with patterns found in mathematical logarithms and play with quantities of a given element such as line. Chaos theory, metaphysics, spirituality, and psychedelics are heavy influences found in my art. I also like to experiment with the concepts of masculinity and femininity. A famous African American drag queen in a blonde wig once said, "Use every color in the crayon box." I will do just as this drag queen-RuPaul-said because life is not meant to be taken so seriously. And for that matter, art shouldn't be taken so seriously either. My ultimate goal as an artist, especially as an artist who draws, is to show the world that art can be anything you want it to be. Art has no rules. Art is the most freeing thing that anyone can take up. Long live art and long live the human condition of one who considers theirself an artist.
Open Access
Chase Moore: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Moore, Chase, artist
The artist's statement: My work is primarily concerned with transience. Drawing from history and personal experience, I try to recreate lost moments in time. I am inspired by the idea of travel, both on a personal level and a societal. Drawing from America's history of transculturation, westward expansion, and cultural blending, I attempt to weave in the narrative of my own life which has been largely defined by instability and travel. I use the mediums of drawing and printmaking, focusing primarily on expressive and chaotic line work. Another theme that influences my work is urbanism. I am concerned with the ideas behind architectural styles and the cultural forces they may represent. I also draw incredible inspiration from the built environment.
Open Access
Daniel Guerrette: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Guerrette, Daniel, artist
The artist's statement: My work is largely centered on our cultures willful ignorance of the impact we have on the world. It is meant to show the disjunction between our cultural ideals and the reality of our social structure. In my art I seek to highlight the easily dismissible details that are underlying symptoms of our culture of self-obsession and materialism. I believe that by exploring these small details we can see for ourselves the ways in which our actions serve to support our cultures willful ignorance. In coming to know ourselves we can begin to make changes that can have larger effect on the world. I see my drawings as a critical examination of our society and our cultural American way of life. It is intended to make the viewer consider how and why our society functions as it does. If we allow it, an attitude of growth and waste will become permanently ingrained in our culture. By questioning the motives for and the consequences of our actions I seek to bring attention to our cultural norms and to examine the influences we are having on future generations.My work is meant to force the viewer to question the imagery they are presented and in turn to question their own role in the growth of our American culture. With my drawings I intend to illustrate the results of our cultures attitude of willful ignorance and to highlight our impact on the world. My desire is to help the viewer make informed decisions about the ramifications that their actions have on local scale and the impact they can have on the world as a whole.
Open Access
Devan Kallas: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Kallas, Devan, artist
The artist's statement: My works are tied together by the line of intimacies and are deducted by the space of neglect. They take various forms and range in topic but all stem from a sense of self and emphasize importance of the temporary. I am motivated by the boundaries of a contemporary self, pushing and poking at the limits of comfort, if it's not made with an uncertainty it is not made at all. Most recently my art has seeded from a politically charged idea and manifested itself with a poetic movement. Each piece has a specific motivation and intent; I believe each is made with purpose not just simple aesthetic appeal.
Open Access
Dorie Keck: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Keck, Dorie, artist
The artist's statement: I always feel at home with either a book or a pen in my hand. Actually, it is when stories and art are combined that I feel the most at home. Stories and art are like two sides of the same coin; both introspective and have massive potential for creativity but where stories have almost unlimited page space for exploration, art is limited to a single viewing plane. The drawback for stories is that within this limitless vat of vocabulary, the core of what is being told can be lost. This is why I believe stories and art function best in tandem, with the universe of possibility for exploration pared with the stagnant picture of a feeling. My drawings and illustrations are homages to the most treasured stories from my life; both those read in books and those that I have lived. I touch on what I feel is the essence of these stories as well as how my memory has shaped them since my initial experience. This ends up turning into a mix of rose-tinted idealisms and stoic reflections of the past which never feel correct until at least the second full iteration of the piece. A lot of my process is trial and error. Recently, every piece that I embark on gets fully finished before I realize that I want to go in an entirely different direction and start anew. However, I wouldn't have it any other way, as though this process I have learned more about the works themselves as well as myself as an artist than I ever would have if I got it right on the first try.
Open Access
Duncan Parks: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Parks, Duncan, artist
The artist's statement: My work addresses ideas and themes of analysis, the way we inhabit space and interact with domestic objects, the distortion and growth of forms, automation of process, and the use of craft processes in contemporary art. In the fall semester of 2012 I started working with the idea of deconstruction. This approach now underlies the majority of my practice. I was working with the image of a potted house-plant because it represents a dull vernacular facet of a domestic environment. A banal starting point proved important to exploring the way complexity develops as something is taken apart. Converting the domestic object to hand built polyhedra dislodged its immediately recognizable state. While the new object was considerably less complex than a houseplant it presented the information of form and composition that would normally be overlooked. I am fascinated by the way form and concept breakdown. The process of analysis produces a simplified version of the original idea, while simultaneously providing a more abstract and complex understanding. My work seeks to address this idea of reduced complex ideas of processes down to tangible objects and collections. This also mirrors the role of consciousness; consciousness - being aware - is a matter of simplification; to be aware is to be aware of something; this something is always a reduced version of what is really perceived by the direct senses. Systems also play a large role in my work. My process requires some kind of process in place to move forward. I invent varying levels of rather trivial systems to explain each aspect of my work and studio practice. In this way the works have a conceptual space they reside in. It provides a point of reference for analysis how the work functions. The use of systems also directly relate to the way I look at growth, decay and distortion of forms. Each piece starts with a simple set of rules to guide a number of processes. In some cases these rules relate to material concerns or technical processes. In other cases they restrict the way a concept can be used to guide decisions. These processes are repeated to expand the work and altered to accommodate the way the project develops. The use of systems to explore growth and decay relates to my interested Matt Shlian folded paper work. In a formal and technical sense it relates to work I have made in paper. Conceptually his approach interested me in how it addresses systems and repetition. He creates work because he is not sure what the result will be. It's a necessity to explore a process to experience the unknown result. It also ties into the idea of generative art. By using a simple set of rules and a large scale of iteration. In the piece Permutations I used an orthogonal grid and four rules to direct the form of drawings. By using the set of rules each drawing progressed or stopped. To explore all the possible permutations each drawing was traced after each mark was added. This allowed the drawing to systematically expand into all the possible forms the grid allowed. My interest in the use of craft processes really addresses how the hand of the artist is present in my work. Work made through means of digital fabrication and automation should be considered a collaboration between a person and a machine. Each must bring different attributes to the work for successful work. This is the point where digital fabrication becomes fascinating because it results in work that neither an artisan nor a machine would be capable independently. Craft also applies to the skill and precision to work in meticulous detail. This relates to way I look to Marco Maggi's work. He approaches each piece with an extreme sense of control and the ability to dictate each mark on the piece. He also use materials that are not that are not traditionally considered fine art mediums. I am extremely interested in the way process can transform material. That's not to say I am not interested in transformation of form, concept or idea. I don't know why. It's the ability to transform the blank into the object, or the drawing; this process that occurs between a work being a collection of raw media and a support to the creation of a work. It also relates to the idea of imbuing an item with value and personality through handling or manipulation I am interested in the meaning and form of domestic objects and the narrative they create. Domestic objects also express this idea of transforming something ordinary into an object of value through handling. Building a narrative of objects also provides a challenge because it is telling a story but removes all the typical signifiers of storytelling. It forces the viewer to better consider the way the objects express meaning and interact. The way we occupy space is fascinating. By existing we create form. To see is to create what is seen. The space, people, objects, and architecture and the space they inhabit and do not inhabit are constantly building compositions. Do Ho Suh work in fabric architectural spaces addresses ideas I am interested in. His work looks at how architecture functions when removed from primary setting. Normally a house separates the inside from the outside, providing shelter for its inhabitants. By constructing the house from silk it loses this function of protection and simply addresses. It looks at the significance of the structure and how it changes when dislodged from its ordinary environment. The house without its standard function becomes an expiration of space. My working process functions in a variety of ways. I am in a constant dialog between form, technique and concept. The work typically begins as an exploration in one of these three. I normally start a piece with a processes in mind. Each work evolves out of an overgrown experiment of technical approach. I work through the technique to explore what kind of feel or personality it gives to an object. While my work addresses a wide variety of idea concepts my approach of systems and aesthetic sensibility give the pieces continuity. Through analysis, deconstruction, and material experimentation I seek to understand the way ideas and concepts are connected.
Open Access
Dylan Trinkner: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Trinkner, Dylan, artist
The artist's statement: In the macro, these works exist in constant dialogue, a continual state of revolution based both on and from the concept of chance; a concept which transcends our existence and is found as an active and underlying origin of all organic and inorganic infrastructure. Approaching chance in its absolute is inherently in relationship with the notion of intangibility, and in turn the sublime, as artifacts created in and of itself. In the micro, these works are in direct conversation with manifestations of chance in human society, specifically through the lens of a Gestalt based holistic perspective.
Open Access
Elise Ribaudo: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Ribaudo, Elise, artist
The artist's statement: Much of my work is focused around material exploration and experimentation. I'm always testing new unconventional materials and methods of creating. A common theme throughout my work is the distortion of the familiar into the unfamiliar, whether it be through materials or imagery. I want viewers to be intrigued yet disturbed when they look at my art; to simultaneously want for more and for less. This collaboration of the beautiful and the grotesque reflects my perception of myself and the world around me. I see myself as a complex and confusing mess of different layers, much like my work. I've always found art to be my most effective means of communication. Art allows me to express and explain myself when words fail me. Creative expression is a power that I am so grateful for; one that I want to share with as many people as I can. I want others to see the beauty in the grotesque the way that I do. There is always something beautiful to be uncovered, and there is always something ugly to be uncovered. My work is about finding them both and exhibiting them to the rest of the world.
Open Access
Emelia Christensen: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Christensen, Emelia, artist
The artist's statement: My work is concerned with the symbiotic relationship between my personal human spirit and mentality and the natural world in my local community. I need to be in touch with the Earth-the incubator for our existence, and through the processes of my work, I am returning to my roots as an organic Being. I look to Taoist mentalities and Buddhist meditation for inspiration. Taoism responds to the lessons that the natural world teaches us, and in Buddhist meditation - I am specifically looking to release suffering from my mind that has been disrupted from the stress the material world has put onto us. Through the process of making meditative, repetitive marks, I am exhausting my body and mind into my work, releasing the tension and suffering. By incorporating and repurposing organic material, I am eluding to the idea that our natural state of mind is to be in balance, and to go with the "ebb and flow" more peacefully. When in nature, it becomes easier to respond and access the state of mind, and we learn to let go of the material world.
Open Access
Emily Pfanstiel: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Pfanstiel, Emily, artist
The artist's statement: I create illustrations based on altered realities. My latest series tackles a long-term experience in one's mental fog, due to grief. This concept was then split into bodies of work dissecting the recognition, recollection, and relinquishing of grief. I find great significance in the use of memories and their deterioration over time. Whether caused by physical displacement, a migration, or a grief of loss, I use these moments to visually demonstrate how individual realities are impacted by psychological pain. Often those in bereavement carry the collision of past and present to their experience of everyday life. This projection is where I feel most compelled to approach the corrosion of a memory. When we hold nostalgia for moments of time, this is often attached intrinsically to an item symbolic of those memories. With memory, my images contain personal references to objects of attachment, or the social life of objects. There are connections to our environments that continue to bring us fulfillment after they have served their purpose. My media works to demonstrate the context of erasure and disintegration. Alongside the medium, I work with fading a recollection of memory, adding graphite in layers as a rendering technique that disorients the viewer. I am drawn towards ink, watercolor, and graphite-based tools. Textures of paper and its application to the narrative play an important role, as my erasure techniques connect with ideas of loss or the absence of something important. Text is also used to quietly support this idea of the finite construct of time. Working with limited material keeps my process evolving deeper into experimentation. Some pieces are fused together as a storytelling element, with a variety of color palettes, materials, and textures to connect into a singular moment of expression. These media allow each composition to evoke the impression of events fading into the fog of memory, or the loss of a moment altogether.
Open Access
Erik Reynolds: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Reynolds, Erik, artist
The artist's statement: In general, my art is a visual expression of change in my world. These changes are often highlighted through the process I take to get from concept to completion. I do very little sketching or planning for my projects, instead that process part of the work and is integral to the final piece. This dynamic way of creating has led me to mostly work in series because a series allows me to explore how one idea can morph and change over time. I start with a conceptual phrase that I try to keep each piece aligned with. As that concept becomes more fleshed out, the image gets more and more refined. Most of the time, by the end of the process I have moved so far away from the original concept that the original concept has evolved into a different idea all together. However, this new idea contains the same roots as the previous image, and thus is contained in the same conceptual idea. It's a type of narrative; not a narrative for the viewer to be absorbed in, but one that allows the viewer to consider the different possibilities of a single event. The majority of my work is done with pen and ink, though it may be many different iterations of that tool. Technical pens, brush pens, calligraphy pens, dip pens, fountain pens, all are contenders for the different kinds of marks they are capable of making. In many ways my work relies on the exploration into these different marks and how they interact and support the other materials. The interplay between marks is where a lot of the change I search for is found, out of the rough and chaotic nature of a single mark blooms an endless number of collective ideas.
Open Access
Forest Squier: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Squier, Forest, artist
The artist's statement: Throughout this semester I have become more and more intrigued with empty space, letting the paper just be as it is. There is something fascinating about emptiness, seeing past an object and into a world of the unknown. It exists in contradictions, it is beautiful, absurd, and terrifying, and yet it doesn’t exist at all. My work is inspired by my environment. I chose to use natural subjects like pine cones or flowers because they are things that I have encountered myself. Everything here is something that I have collected or observed. When I go outside I do not know what I will stumble upon and what will serve as inspiration. Most of my practice is informed by botanical illustration. It is methodical and rational– its main purpose being to depict a form with scientific accuracy. For me, there is an aim to being true to form, but also a relaxed intention. I approach my work through the practice of botanical illustration, but then I think of how to break the rules. The goal of my work is not to be viewed as tools for science but for dialogue between what we do and do not know.