Painting

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180171

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Open Access
Alden Weissfeld: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Weissfeld, Alden, artist
The artist's statement: My art is an exploration of color and form as it relates to the unseen beauty found in the small corners of the world. I start my exploration through photography of a microcosmic world. The pictures I take are manipulated to the degree that the original subject matter has become completely abstracted. The changes I make to the images are concerned with finding and enhancing the unexpected textures and colors. Transforming the mundane and ordinary such as: burnt milk on the bottom of a pot or rust cascading down the roof of a small outdoor fire metal pit into images full of life and energy. To me, this imagery serves as an interesting challenge, I find that the search for the right textures (i.e. the difference between marks) mixed with the right color (i.e. the vibrancy, hue, and overall effect of a color) satisfies my inner need to create and explore. In the end, all I can say is that my art is genuine in its intent.
Open Access
Alisondra Stephenson: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Stephenson, Alisondra, artist
The artist's statement: My work is primarily about the residue of human touch that builds up in ourselves and in the objects and spaces around us. I create airy, low-contrast oil paintings that use specific lighting and color variation within white tones to create empty interior spaces with an atmosphere that feels reverent and melancholy. My interest in memory and association started with painting figures directly, describing intimacy and connection in tiny moments or gestures, but as I continued to explore these ideas, my interest shifted to the echoes of those experiences, the fingerprints of attachment, brought on by instances of loss and isolation in my own life over the past two years. My more recent paintings have become more concerned with developing a visual language to talk about absence, loss, and the things that are left behind. Through experimentation, and with the restrictions of a limited color palette and value range, I’m trying to suggest memory and transience. As I continue working with these motifs, I’m looking for objects and spaces that feel weighed down by memory, to the point of almost becoming figures in their own right, with their own agency and gravity in the world.
Open Access
Amanda Krupp: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Krupp, Amanda, artist
The artist's statement: Roads, trails and paths connect places and ideas that are separated by distance. They are physical paths which can be seen. Pathways are a conduit for our inner lives of thoughts and emotions. Many of my current oil paintings start with the idea of place. I grew up imagining this red road, both symbolic and of actual paths traveled on and near Creed Farm in Bellvue, Colorado. Sometimes the road is bright and clear, and at other times it is muted or obscure. Either way, the journey is better when encountering other fascinating beings along the way. The elements that attract me as a viewer, and my work as a creator, are line, contrast, color, repetition of shapes, and texture. My work does not intend atmospheric perspective in a naturalistic way, rather, I tell the story with contrast and color and line. In my weaving and surface designs I especially like enigmatic patterns, reiterating shapes, and tactile-inviting textures. Special thanks to the Creed family for allowing me to visit their farm.
Open Access
Amanda Rooms: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Rooms, Amanda, artist
The artist's statement: As a multimedia artist whose primary focus is sculpture and installation art, my goal is to let the materials guide my process in creating interactive artworks. My current body of work combines sculpting and painting, centered around my generation’s experience with unsolicited videos found through social media. These videos, which have content viewers don't consent to consuming, contribute to a lost sense of innocence. Unsolicited content is burned into the consumer's memory. There is no agency in viewing this unregulated media. The work I create focuses on conceptualizing how these videos affect us. The forms in this body of work aim to capture desensitization, curiosity, and discomfort these videos come with.
Open Access
Amanda Sward: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Sward, Amanda, artist
The artist's statement: Moments of my life in nature are expressed through my paintings. Mark making gives me the ability to reveal new emotive and expressive qualities in my art; adding a new discovery process to my paintings. With each brush stroke and each new color, my paintings take on a feeling of when I am surrounded by nature. Focusing on the movement I feel when I am in nature, I am exploring the abstract world of painting. Nature inspires expressive gesture in my marks. In this body of work I focus on abstracting the natural world. Our world is imprinted by nature, I am expressing form from moments in nature and how each affects me. The natural world is always changing and moving, in my paintings I will continue to study this and how it affects me.
Open Access
Angela Natrasevschi: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Natrasevschi, Angela, artist
The artist's statement: Ekphrasis is traditionally the process of poetry that describes or expands upon a work of visual art. My work investigates this through the alternative process of exploring the relationship between my painting and poetry practices. These medias are simultaneously developed to focus on the conversation between the painting and poetry, as they inform each other. Through this process both medias become one piece, each counterpart inextricably linked. I am interested in the way a poem and painting that are created together can contextually influence each other and how this can direct discursive and non-discursive experiences of visual information for the viewer through this relationship of text and image. In my practice this conceptual framework does not direct scale and content. These are fluid, and are solely directed by the motivations of individual pieces. Although, the reoccurring themes in content I am continually interested in exploring are geological forces, organic, abstraction, and investigation of the human body.
Open Access
Annika Lahr: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Lahr, Annika, artist
The artist's statement: My series of oil paintings explores the relationship between gender roles and societal expectations from a feminist viewpoint. I explore concepts of femininity and masculinity within western hegemonic ideals and interoperate ideas of the gaze through my work. I am interested in the preconceived perceptions of gender that influence ways of seeing. I aim to present these issues within my paintings by combining realism and abstraction, two art styles that I reference particularly in their abilities to have conflicting interactions and multidimensional elements. Organic versus the structural and rigid implications of form I feel reflect a level of feminine and masculine stereotypes. In relation, Cubism and Surrealism especially influence my practice because they question our means to understand life outside of our reality. Color interactions, form, and movement are all technical elements in the production of my work. Experimenting with these elements allow me to question how images can be distorted and altered to have multiple meanings. My process involves compiling recognizable imagery, specifically of the human body, natural environments, and symbols which are then layered and merge together as one image. My interest in the human form comes from the idea of self-awareness of our own bodily autonomy and how this serves as a form of reflected gender identity. My reference images later develop into the physical painting which then offers a certain level of intimacy with the viewer. Viewer interaction is particularly important to me as the distortion within the paintings can vary from short to wide distances. Spatial awareness can offer a chance for the viewer to recognize patterns of seeing. On a broader scale, I am motivated to understand audience perception of my work and I question the ways they interoperate the narratives hidden within each piece. Through my studies of feminist viewpoints, I have gained a deep sense of personal understanding of my own gender identity and my creativity allows me to explore these feelings through an introspective process. While I aim to express my own experiences, my work is not meant to express a single narrative. Ambiguity is a constant motivational concept in my series, and I hope to inspire others to search for their own level of introspectiveness. I am interested in developing this series further to create a communal discussion around gender issues and pushing the limitations of traditional painting with new non-conventional ideas.
Open Access
Beatrice Rudolph: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Rudolph, Beatrice, artist
The artist's statement: My love for horses, birds and the natural world has dominated my work until recently, when I found myself drawn to a subject I would not have normally investigated. Watching my father suffer and die of ALS, compounded by personally experiencing a series of abnormal illnesses forced me to examine the topic of disease. Because of these events, medication has become an integral part of my life. However, I find this in conflict with my kinship with animals, who had to be manipulated and abused to develop medicines that help myself and many others survive. This led me to examine animal testing and drug advertising in my work. The portrait series I painted is of my father. It is meant to depict in an abstracted way the stages of ALS as he lost motor function, and in a way, who he was. These paintings are small and intimate. I used a portrait format to capture his likeness and personality because as he suffered from the disease, he not only became physically weaker, but his personality seemed to diminish. By gradually restricting my range of motion and eventually switching to painting with my non-dominant hand, I hoped to better understand what he had gone through. It opened my eyes to the level of frustration that he must have experienced, as the neurodegenerative disease took over. The drug advertisement series is based on my own personal experiences. These paintings resemble a style often used in the early 1900's, where the connection between the selected imagery and the text was often unclear to the audience. The compositions were simple, with limited backgrounds and often a single figure, relying heavily on text to convey their meaning. The format seemed perfect to display the contradiction of my need for medication and my love for animals, because the advertisements themselves seemed to be contradictory. These pieces are my way of sharing my coming-to-terms with the reality of my existence. I continued my investigation into animal testing by creating works that demonstrate the connection between the tests conducted and the reality of the human experience. The diptych is based on a dark-light box test and the circular piece on an elevated zero maze test. Both rely on using a mouse's aversion to light as a parallel to depression in humans. By drawing attention to this through color and other emotionally loaded devices, I hope to start a conversation about the validity of tests like these.
Open Access
Benjamin Stanford: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Stanford, Benjamin, artist
The artist's statement: Throughout the course of my academic training, I have always found myself drawn to the human figure. While I continually push myself to explore new ways of approaching the figure, I find the aspects of tradition and craftsmanship to be a place where I feel at home and comfortable in the creative process. While capturing the likeness of my subject is of high priority, I try to strike a balance between deliberate rendering of form and intuitive response; providing a space where formal considerations interweave with the beauty of the human figure, culminating to something that is more than just a portrait. The human presence is something that is not solely encapsulated by physicality, but is a landscape that forms around emotions, values, and spirit. I strive to excavate these qualities and bring them to the surface. Rarely, if ever, are we allowed opportunities to have an unbroken extended gaze at another person. My art is an invitation to have that experience. In many ways, painting becomes less about simply portraying what I see, and aligns more with the process of translation. This notion of translation not only allows me room to set up a corresponding dialogue through the use of color and atmosphere, but provides a space where the portrait not only reflects the sitter, but inevitably becomes a portrait of the artist as well.
Open Access
Brieanna Hirsheimer: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Hirsheimer, Brieanna, artist
The artist's statement: I am interested in creating a sense of confusion in my viewer. Whether that be from questioning whether or not the piece is digital vs. painted, or a physical sense of vertigo as they are looking into an optical illusion. My paintings display a mixture of illusion, illustrative motifs and patterning that resemble digital art. I experiment with spray-paint, acrylic, oil, as well as collage. One aspect of my current work involves graphically painted subject matter occasionally resembling pop art. With this, I have found a new interest that meshes traditional styles with graphic design and pop elements. My recent work has been heavily influenced by optical phenomenons. With these illusions my goal is to create a visually intriguing space that the viewer wants to jump into. A space that has never been seen before but looks inviting, yet suggests the viewer be cautious. Evoking this complicated set of emotions is compelling to me, I want my work to cause the viewer to sift through these feelings while looking at (what seems to be) a rather simple piece. On top of illusion, street art, pop art, and graphic design also play a significant role in my work. It is rare that we connect these styles when thinking about the world of fine art as they are usually depicted as more simple and straightforward. It is my goal to stray away from this concept and move towards the idea of meshed styles as a form of fine art. These styles being looked at in this light have been a recent conversation, and I enjoy pushing that line in my own work. I have found that bold outlines and intense, bright colors seen in these types of art have become a staple in my paintings.
Open Access
Britta Horsfall: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Horsfall, Britta, artist
The artist's statement: Along Highway 1 from mile marker 72 to 58, I'm reminded of who I am. Big Sur, California has been my safe haven for the last six years, welcoming me back time and time again; each trip becoming its own mile marker in my journey. God has His hand on that coast, I'm sure of it. Dense rolling fog, steep cliffs, trails littered with coastal sage, waves that deserve their own seven minute segment in The Endless Summer. Tide pools, saltwater bedhead, pants rolled up with feet sunk ankle-deep in sooty river beds. The kind of laughter that warms you from the inside out. When I am there, I am myself. This series comes from a frustration that simmers just under the surface of my college career, whispering continually, "Not yet." It is the lust for a chapter that is both past and yet to be. Functioning as my mile markers, giving me order where my memories are fluid and fading. I want to be there, but I am not there. A blend of painting, weaving, and hand stitching culminate as my collection of love letters back to the sea; reflecting on weekend surf trips with dear friends, moments of self discovery on hidden beaches, and the subtle electricity that fills the air as whales migrate north. These are my people. And this is my place. These are my tomorrows and my yesterdays.
Open Access
Brody Olson: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Olson, Brody, artist
The artist's statement: Where you are now may be fine, but that doesn't mean it will always be that way. Nature is an unpredictable beast that can't be tamed, we must always be aware of what's yet to come. Dark clouds surround our planet, no matter where you live or what language you speak, nature will have an impact on you. People have always found a way to adapt to the storms and being able to find beauty and peace during the hard times is something magical in itself. I intend to show you how inspiring nature can be during times of rough weather. This work is based on different experiences and moments that I find myself in while venturing into the wild. I paint using my photographs and sketches to re-create these different journeys. Through the processes of painting, I am able to reminisce on times that are of value to me. I hope to give people a glimpse of what is still out there when you escape the busyness of life. If you venture into the wild, you may just find yourself surrounded by wonderful moments.
Open Access
Candace Bowen: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Bowen, Candace, artist
The artist's statement: My work revolves around ideas of femininity and how these ideas are affected by the threats women currently face. With my age and student status, I am part of one of the largest target groups for sexual assault; which makes these threats closer than they have been or will be in my lifetime. I have experienced this fear and know how consuming it can become. Going out to bars, agreeing to a blind date, walking across campus at night, or even walking into your own home alone can result in a horrifying situation that can forever change a woman's life. With this in mind, I try to create paintings that contain the essence of femininity combined with the real fear women face in everyday situations. In my paintings I use real stories and accounts of fearful situations to create my setup, combining everyday "feminine" objects and things associated with innocence; makeup, perfume, angels, stuffed animals, jewelry, etc., alongside objects of self-defense. Often these scenes take place in an intimate setting, for example the bedroom of the storyteller. In doing so, I try to bring the sense of constant worry and fear women face, even when in the comfort of their own homes. By devoting the time to convey these images in a very realistic way, I attempt to give these items the respect, dedication, and commitment that demonstrates the importance of this issue. The fact that women must live their lives in this way is absurd. This topic is not something I feel I can just photograph or document; it has to be given the time I take to paint it to emphasize its significance. I hope that by dedicating my time, passion, and artwork to this topic, I will bring about the discussion and importance it so desperately needs to encourage change.
Open Access
Carolyn Stern: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Stern, Carolyn, artist
The artist's statement: As an artist viewing the world, I am intrigued by places I have not explored. As a kid and even now, I am always curious about what is beyond the hill in front of me and then what is beyond that. I will look out on a view and wish to be on the next hill over so I can see what the world is like from over there. I recognize this tendency as an insatiable craving to know and to see it all. Unfamiliar landscapes carry a sense of peace and mystery that I am attracted to and interested in encapsulating. Even though I know humans have traversed over virtually the entire world and no landscape remains unobstructed from humanity's influence, there is still a sense of intrigue surrounding a landscape that appears seemingly free of development. Naturally occurring formations and growth create a visually stimulating world that is complex, yet harmonious. These forms, as well as the feelings evoked upon experiencing nature, have inspired my current body of paintings. Within my work, the visual language used translates the landscape from realistic to the daydream world of color, brushstroke, and texture that encourages the viewer's own internal investigations of place and the desire of the unknown.
Open Access
Ceara Tellez: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Tellez, Ceara, artist
The artist's statement: Although human emotion can be displayed in a multitude of ways, body language and facial expression do not always get to the heart of what needs to be conveyed. My artwork is a combination of representational, imagined, and abstract imagery that are used to emanate feelings of unease or uncertainty. Through a careful exploration of color, each painting is created with a specific palette in mind that is developed to evoke the emotions within us that are often suppressed. I begin each painting with a singular image, and from there it becomes a reactionary process which combines imagined elements with images from still life and photography. My first source image is selected based on an in innate feeling towards a form, figure or object. The long open times of oil paint allow me the flexibility to render, scrape, wipe away, or adjust the forms that I am working with. A constant evolutionary process of painting sometimes results in layers that are completely painted over, unseen to the viewer, and only known to myself. It is through this process in which painting captivates me the most. The mystery of the unknown and the unseen combined with figurative imagery allows me to create an enigmatic reality.
Open Access
Charlie Dillon: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Dillon, Charlie, artist
The artist's statement: My paintings are a love letter to my friends and to the world around me, written in bold colors and intimate scenes. Through the permanency of paintings, I hope to make solid these snapshots of temporary moments, and with it capture something fleeting and usually lost to our bloated phone camera rolls or foggy memories. I am fascinated by the role that mundane technologies act to mediate, disrupt, or otherwise alter moments in our memories, whether that be something more direct like a phone camera recording a scene, or more indirect, like being on Twitter instead of being emotionally present in one’s life. Growing up with technology as both a barrier and a condenser of space, I’m interested in this mediation in connection to time. I aim to explore what power we give moments by tactilely and visually considering them with paint, through these forms of attention. With this, my practice involves collecting images from these quick moments with little or no staging. Currently, I’m excited by building compositions and color palettes to convey the everyday chaos and intimacy of my early 20s, which feels like a second coming-of-age, or an Adolescence 2.0. These paintings convey this transitory period; the disorder of it through partially obscured figures and the uncertainty through dancing around the canvas with brushstrokes and colors. Within this, I’m interested both in the cues that demonstrate individually who a person is; such as fashion, mannerisms, expressions, and gestures, while also being interested in more formal elements and building compositions structurally and with colors that convey universalities and common feelings or moods through these small, specific moments. Through these pieces, I am considering the reverence and power given to mundane moments by deliberately painting them for hours.
Open Access
Claire Paquette: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Paquette, Claire, artist
The artist's statement: My work revolves around the concept of the stranger. The stranger is someone who is unknown to us and thus can be alluring and apprehensive. I paint these people as a way to crystalize a fleeting moment and to immortalize them forever in paint. Studying my reference photos is not only an act of striving for visual accuracy but also a way to study the essence of the individual. This parasocial relationship allows me to observe people more freely without the requirement of social engagement. I am just as much of a stranger to these people as they are to me. Yet, by isolating these specific moments I aim to contradict the nature of time and memory. By fully rendering the people within my paintings I deem them to be the focal point while leaving the background to be less important and thus more loosely painted. This contrast further emphasizes my relationship to the subject and the closeness I strive to have with them. Artists that have served as particularly potent references are Edward Hopper and Mamma Andersson. Both of these artists toy with their compositions in a similar manner, exploring the dynamic between what to fully render and what is pure color. Their influence guides my own exploration within the confines of paint as a medium. My paintings aim to confront the viewer and force them to contemplate their own relationships with people they encounter everyday. It is a common belief that people are these enigmatic, complex beings that we will never fully understand. However, when studied further there are fundamental bonds that unite us all. We are all linked by shared experiences and a common humanity that is able to transcend our differences. This connection serves as a way to cultivate empathy and through the act of nurturing these relationships comes the ability to enrich our lives in profound ways.
Open Access
Courtney Wells: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Wells, Courtney, artist
The artist's statement: Focusing on aspects of the human condition in correlation to intimate relationships with one another, my work comments on the psychological and subconscious processes that impact how we interact with each other. A common interaction that people struggle with is intimacy and vulnerability. From research done, people start to feel uncomfortable in their personal space if a person encroaches within 18 inches of their body, depending on the relationship. My studies involve the figure and that uncomfortable space that can at times feel heavy, dense, and sometimes empty. The interaction (or lack there of) within the figures of my pieces represent the uncomfortable feeling of intimacy and the intimidation of being vulnerable within those 18 inches physically and/or mentally. My pallet choice comes from the duality of the good and bad aspects of being close to someone. The intense passion yet fragility of being vulnerable. Red can be passionate but also signify anger. Blue can be calm but also melancholy. Painting is an intimate process within itself. The psychological aspect of my work reflects in the nonverbal communicative elements. My figures' facial expressions, gestures, and the vignette of flowers indicate this nonverbal discomfort with closeness. In some cultures, peonies symbolize bashfulness and shame in regards to intimacy. Peonies have become a common theme in my life since childhood; in the month of May, they blossom every year in my grandparents' garden. With holding this symbol near and dear to me, it has become a motif within my work to give a personal lens of these feelings.
Open Access
Cristi Steyaert: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Steyaert, Cristi, artist
The artist's statement: In our contemporary society, the subject of addiction has been a suppressed topic of discussion. The awareness of the impact of addiction that affects an individual and those who are in that individual's life is never spoken about. Advertisements or campaigns focus on communicating the message of "Do not use because drugs are bad" which overall is not an effective way to show the damage of addiction. My work focuses on the impact of addiction and how it creates damage and destruction. I explore this through the medium of acrylic and working on different surfaces such as masonite board and glass to see how I can visually communicate the dangerous aspect of using an illicit substance. I also explore how the representation of this subject is communicated through natural rendering of the human body or aspects of the human body in a graffiti styling. The focus of these works is to show the audience and make them comprehend what it is like to be in the position of the addictive individual. I want the audience to explore the subject matter by bringing awareness to a subject that as a society we tend to ignore if it does not concern us. An example of this is the usage of broken glass to show the destructive element of what addiction can create. This work reflects the artist's personal experience with family members and significant others who have used a substance or multiple substances. In addition, I bring the experience I have gained while working the field of addiction counseling with at risk youth as a source of inspiration for these works. The impact of addiction is a real dilemma that is growing in our society and it is overlooked. As an artist who is inspired by those who are personally currently dealing with or in the past have dealt with this in their life, I feel it is my job to create these works. I want to show the impact of addiction and bring awareness to others but to also show that there is a human element to this subject. There is more to an artwork than just the subject matter of an individual being rendered, there is a story and a cause for why it is being created. I want my audience to explore this and explore the person behind the substance.
Open Access
Demery Ward: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Ward, Demery, artist
The artist's statement: A proverbial "they" let us eat cake; it didn't feed us, so these paintings are made of my slice. Generally, my work incorporates materials which relate to euphemism, allusion, and word play. Cake is a common metaphor for money, especially in excess. In this series, I focus on closed social circles surrounding or within establishments for which a seeming excess of wealth is a prerequisite for participation, construction, or employment. Having a passing-for-middle-class appearance grants me limited access to areas where I am both inside and outside of borders created by class and gender distinction. The scale of these works is meant to reference photography because of its integral role in my process. Combining photography and unconventional materials allows me to embody the journalistic as well as emotive truths of my observations. The surface quality of the cake gives an illusion of traditional, expensive materials while upholding ideas of artificiality and toxicity. Classic compositional devices separate and expel those who do not fit under the frame's hegemony. Reflecting on my experiences at the university and in Fort Collins, I have come to believe that projecting a utopian ideal onto this town is dangerous because it negates realities of hierarchical superiority and aggression. By depicting moments I felt unable to relate to those actively participating in their environments, I address lurking iniquities resulting from utopian negations. Commonalities exist between these environments and their occupants: a uniformity of artificial color and figural postures which suggest exclusivity and alienation.