crossroads

This is one of the four pieces that I entered into and was exhibited in the 2023 120˚ Intercollegiate Art Regional at Saratoga Arts.

The prompt for this project was to make a still life out of wood with two traditional still life paintings as reference.

The two traditional pieces I chose were:
- Janet Fish- incredible still life pieces of glasses and bowls
- Audrey Flack- 'Wheel of Fortune'

We discussed how abundance is often front and center in still life pieces, so as a direct contrast to that I reflected on the idea of scarcity with this piece. This was also made in my final month of my undergrad so it very much channels reflections of who I have been and who I am to become, including many references to various discombobulated parts of who I am. I also tried to mimic the sense of transparency in the glass that Janet Fish paints. And I pulled the rich symbolism and saturated colors from Flack’s piece. It was interesting to find a middle ground with the colors— the light pastels of Fish’s, the dark yet vivid shades in Flack’s, and colors that are pleasing to me. I do think the vivid pastels (if there is such a thing) I came up with worked well.

This piece taught me about:
- Dimensionality and “the bigger picture”
- Negative space
- Colors!
- Precision
- Planning ahead and multitasking

I really enjoyed how much I was able to try stuff and experiment with this piece, especially joinery. The prompt was quite vague, so I was able to play in all that space!