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Artist Statement
When I was a teenager my mother had me take a personality test that was being given to state employees to help determine the kind of work they were most suited for. My test indicated that I am a results oriented person who needs something tangible to show for my daily efforts. This has proved to be true for me. Nothing gives me a bigger thrill than making something beautiful. I have explored and excelled at many different avenues of creativity. However, I always come back to art making, particularly painting and drawing.
My current work begins with one of those “other” creative outlets. I love fabric. Sometimes it is the colors and patterns, other times it is the texture that intrigues me. I am inspired by beautiful quilts, both art quilts that are like paintings done entirely in fabric and the traditional quilt patterns that have been a way for women to be creative as well as bringing beauty and comfort into their homes for generations. However, I do not desire to be a quilter, but rather I begin with either a pieced or whole fabric surface on which to paint. Quilting has always been a women’s craft, I am exploring through my paintings my own feelings as a woman in terms of the simple things in my life that bring pleasure and beauty such as flowers in a vase or in my garden, as well as deeper issues such as body image and validation in a world that rejects much of the work traditionally done by women.
C.S. Lewis said “We read to know that we are not alone.” I feel the same way about art. I make art for myself, but also in the hope that someone else will see my work and empathize with it. This is when the viewer and I both know that we are not alone.
Education
2009 BFA in Drawing/Painting
Group Exhibitions
2010
“Statewide Competition 2010” Bountiful/Davis
Art Center
2009 “BFA Show 2009,” University of Utah Department of Art and Art History held at the Rio Gallery
2008 “Student Show 2008,” University of Utah Department of Art
2007 “Student Show 2007,” University of Utah Department of Art
Awards
2010 Honorable Mention - "Statewide Competition 2010" Bountiful/Davis Art Center
2008 Merit Award – “Student Show 2008,” University of Utah Department of Art
2007-2008 Florence Ware Scholarship
Copyright Gail VanWagoner