Create the Connection

     I believe that everyone, everywhere needs to feel connected. Think about it. All anyone wants is to belong, to be loved and to love...to be understood.

In order to graduate (like most Colleges/Universities) I had to participate in a Senior Comprehensive Review. As a Studio Art major, I had to create a cohesive body of work that embodied, not only what I felt strongly about, but challenged and pushed me with the skills I had learned the previous four years.

I chose a series of figurative, acrylic paintings that spanned to 10 feet long and about 5 feet tall (being only 5"2, that was a challenge within itself). When putting together this blog/website, I found the photos and artist statement that accompanied the art show. 

My twenty-two year old self wrote in April 2007 the following;

I have always been fascinated with the power of relationships. As human beings, we relate to one another through verbal and non-verbal gestures in order to provide meaning and focus in our lives. It is that human connection made each and everyday that is vital to our emotional growth. As a summer camp counselor, I dealt first hand with twelve and thirteen year old girls who constantly struggled with this human connection.

            Through my acrylic figurative paintings, I reveal the non-verbal gestures that identify the desire one has for a positive and successful relationship. Through a warm smile, a disgusted look, a helping hand, or a cold shoulder, these girl’s interactions are the epitome of the worldwide effort to feel connected; to feel alive.

It's been almost four years (eeks) since that Artist Statement and my "glory days" at Saint Mary's College. Since then, I know I have a better understanding about what it means to desire the connection. 

Maybe it's being in the "real world" and meeting new people in a big city; impressing the "boss-man" with a really great new concept; falling in love with a really great guy; or just enjoying and growing in the already amazing friendships I have proudly kept. Whatever it is, I realize that in order to feel connected, I must create the connection. 

Through painting, smiling, laughing, crying, concept-ing, listening, talking, loving...I try to create the connection. 

So take the time and ask yourself, what makes you feel alive; connected? How do you create the connection?

(see Paintings-Misc. tab above for more Senior Comp Artwork)