Until recently I created art with one goal in mind - to make it aesthetically pleasing. I even joked that my artist statement should read, “I make pretty shit.” But eventually that wasn’t enough for me. Art fed my soul but my soul was hungry. So I started experimenting in my art-making. What if I focused on an emotion and used that to guide my choices instead of simply asking myself, “Does this look nice?” And so “Adventures in Online Dating” was born.
We’re all familiar with rejection and I’ve had plenty in my life. As my assemblage materials (second-hand, thrift store items) could also be considered rejects of a sort I decided to focus on this feeling. I reached into my “vault of unpleasant memories” and chose a single event from amongst the many stored there. I focused on that event and the emotions it evoked to guide my choice of materials and composition as I worked on the piece. It was an eye-opening process to say the least!
I felt a greater connection to this piece than anything I had ever created before. I found I could only work on it for a few hours at a time because I experienced emotional fatigue. And most interestingly, having worked through the event as I created the piece, the sting of rejection has lessened considerably. Art therapy for the win!
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