Emily Somer: capstone
Date
2013
Authors
Somer, Emily, artist
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Abstract
The artist's statement: I create sculptural narratives about relationships, human psychology, and emotions with clay. I collect from a variety of sources. They consciously affect my design decision or unconsciously influence my imagination. Shakespeare's long-lived popularity is due to the universal subject matter of his work: violent political transactions, social conformity, sexual identity, and gender. 21st century pop music contains similar, repeating themes. The reason for this popularity is the inclusion of, sometimes cheesy, conflicts and emotions every living human has to, or wants to, deal with. The most distinctive themes are forming interpersonal connections and losing that connection. I focus on creature forms because it is easy for humans to empathize with these forms. Humans love when puppies happily greet them. A yellow lab being euthanized is a huge source of grief. My work exhibits the opposite of the minimal aesthetic. The creatures I invent are cute. Cuteness creates a protective impulse. My sculptures capture power through this phenomenon. Instead of displaying a cold dominance the pieces work on two psychological levels. While a small dose of cuteness inspires calm and contemplative feelings a larger amount can evoke harmless expressions of aggression. After finding inspiration, I begin my creative process with sketches. The sketches that are most vivid tend to be derived from personal experiences. The sketches reference a specific emotion or word. However, my sculptures are more universally applicable than autobiographical. I want to be straightforward in my explorations of the moral and ethical issues we all face as quirky humans.
Description
Colorado State University Art Department capstone project.
Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.
Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.