Here's a space to put what's going on and how it happened.
October 4th, 2010 (Proto Artist Statement)
So I have been looking at reflections my whole artistic life and don't just mean my own in the mirror. I love the way glass in windows and doors can show you your reflection superimposed on what is beyond the glass.
I love how your reflection in a spoon bowl can be upside down.
I love that in magazines you used to (and sometimes still) can see the lights and even the camera
that took the picture reflected in the eyes of the model or something shiny in the image.
I love seeing reflections in puddles and bodies of water.
I love mirrors and objects that distort reflections...
I love the double and triple meaning of the word
r-e-f-l-e-c-t-i-o-n.I think noticing these moments of bouncing light and reproduced images brings a richer texture to my perception and enjoyment of my life and my eyes.
(Edited Artist Statement- for a body of work I did with conté)
Tricia K. Smith
Everyday beauty is the reason I
became an artist. The regular places I go, the average things I do and see
sometimes leave me reeling with wonder and struggling to comprehend the awesome
power of the familiar to surprise and fascinate. I am an observer. I can’t stop
looking at the effects of the pools of fiery golden sunlight streaming into my
home at 4:45 on a fall day. I am transfixed by the way the light transforms the
objects in the room and the color of the walls, the extreme angles of its warm
glow through the window in the dining room onto the floor. It makes me want to
paint, take photos, or try to find some way to capture this moment and share
its gorgeousness with others.
I have recently rediscovered the
joy of working with Conte crayon. In working with this medium I have been
struck by its intense hues and fluid ability to blend. For me these Conte
drawings have taken on the properties of paint, with half the time spent at the
easel and less than half of the time cleaning-up. This medium fits into my
“work flow” because of the nature of the time I have to dedicate to my work and
it also has the vibrant hues I see in light. Because of the medium my subject
can vary with my inspiration. In the end they are just drawings and subject to
the same ethereal nature of intangibility that my subjects pose to me when I am
trying to capture them. The chalk-like quality of the medium requires that the
works I make are more immediate and cannot be endlessly reworked. It also lends
the work a sense of impermanence, which tends to be reciprocal to the subject
matter. The subjects I am drawn to have a strong relationship to light (usually
sunlight) and reflection. My choices are influenced by the time of day, the
weather, the time of year, the location and what it is I see regularly. I tend
to choose things that are familiar or mundane. How they become the subject that
I choose is completely incidental.
Through making this work I have
come to believe it is imperative that we as humans can find beauty in the
ordinary. The ability to recognize the transformation of common objects,
places, or people into extraordinary moments of light, color and atmosphere is
a gift we can all receive. Without this ability I feel we become more and more
difficult to please, more oblivious and begin to loose our ability to feel
grateful for life, everyday.