The Sigh

The Sigh, acrylic on canvas, measures 12 by 16 inches. Artist’s Statement I am a junior at Linfield College, getting a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. During my time at Linfield, I have played soccer, joined a sorority, and began pursuing a second licensure. Two of my class requirements to fulfill my major were Art 310 and Art 311. In these classes we focused on studying art history and learning about a myriad of artists from 1874 until now. During this class I began loving history of different artists and their work, so it was clear to me I wanted to incorporate what I had learned into my final body of work. In my collection, I aim for people to take a step back and look at historical art in the eyes of the 21st century versus the time period in which they were originally painted. My first piece being a recreation of Starry Night by Van Gogh turned into Smoky Night, which addressed the issues our world is facing against oil refineries. I wanted to turn Van Gogh’s masterpiece into a piece that forced the audience to see what refineries are doing to our atmospheres. As I continued working with social issues, I moved to another widely known piece by Edvard Munch, The Scream. In this piece I wanted to address drugs as emotional pain relievers. In the 21st century, more people are using unprescribed medication in hopes to relieve pain, stay up to do assignments, or for fun. In this piece I placed a prescription bottle in The Scream’s hand, as he is sighing in relief of whatever he was facing. Continuing, I moved to another well-known artist, Frida Kahlo. In this piece I tried a new medium, Photoshop, to create my intended piece. I started with Kahlo’s piece Self Portrait, Dedicated to Dr Eloesser, and from there I utilized Photoshop in order to clear Frida’s skin, make her face thinner, add makeup, get rid of excess facial hair, and remove her unibrow. This piece was created in hopes of showing the audience how the 21st century is more focused on looking perfect and meeting unrealistic standards through social media outlets. My next piece was a personal piece to what I am studying within my education major. This piece is based off of Jana Sterbak’s piece Sisyphus Sport. This piece was a large rock with backpack straps attached to it. As I made this piece it reflected the heavy coursework teachers assign in order to get through all of the required Common Core standards per year. I wanted the audience to reflect on what is required of students through this piece. As our world made a rapid change during the COVID-19 crisis, I decided to rework a Pablo Picasso piece titled Woman Sitting Near a Window. This piece was also a personal piece because it felt so relevant to my life currently. To this piece all I added was a simple white face mask, because the whole world currently is stuck behind these masks to protect us from a virus. While stuck at home after being sent home, I began to become fixated on the coronavirus as all other world issues began to take a back seat to this pandemic. This inspired my final piece recreated after Millworkers, by LS Lowry. This piece originally was a factory full of people and life that I changed into a factory that was empty due to the pandemic, and the eeriness felt so similar to that of the world right now. This body of work has been a very exciting opportunity for me to put together my love of art history and test out my own art skills while using mediums and styles I may not be comfortable with. I took this work on as a time where I could try new things while succeeding and failing in order to find the pieces that mean most to me. Now that I have completed this body of work, I hope to begin to teach students about art in history and about how what they do can have an impact on people everywhere.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/arts_reconnecting/1041/thumbnail.jp