Brandon's statement

I’ve come to love the process of creating and learning at the same time. The struggle to learn new software one particular day, for instance, is always offset by a newfound ability to present my vision to others a little more clearly. I love to learn because it helps me create. And I love to create because it helps me learn!

Robert's statement

Stories are very important to me. I usually find myself reacting more strongly to fictional stories than to things that happen in real life. By controlling the way a story is told, the audience is pushed into feeling however the storyteller intends, assuming the storyteller knows what they are doing. Events or characters that normally would not be interesting can be made interesting by the storyteller's techniques, and stories can make people feel that they've experienced things that they really haven't, like fighting in a war or turning into a cat, or even getting to know, or even love, a person that doesn't exist in our reality. I also like using stories to expose people to new ideas or to my viewpoint of the world, and to make them feel what I feel when I come up with stories.

At the other end, art can put people in a position that they might not otherwise ever occupy. An individual image can create an entire world in the mind of the viewer and put them in that world. I particularly enjoy the horror genre for showing people scary or disturbing things/ideas, I think because of my view of the world and a desire to show the easily-satisfied, mindless zombie masses the truth (although it's also true that I tend to find most kinds of monsters visually and conceptually pleasing). I also love science fiction for showing worlds that currently do not exist but are theoretically possible, or even likely in the future. By the same token, I only find myself interested in fantasy when the storytelling techniques are strong enough; things have to be based in reality or I don't feel a connection. Basically, art can give people strong experiences that they otherwise would not have, potentially affecting them for life.

Everything outside of that would simply fall into pure aesthetic pleasure with nothing more behind it (not that there necessarily needs to be).

Betsy's statement

As an artist and as a person I am interested in the beauty of the every day, mundane world around us. I want to remember the sort of magic and wonder each day held when I was a small child, like the way a sunset can turn a dull room into brilliant fiery gold or the hush brought by a snowfall. While I may be an adult I do not have to leave behind what it felt like to be a child existing in a land of fantasy and wonderment, and I feel my art reflects this. The things that we see every day are often the most beautiful, and with my art I try to express that feeling of beauty without forgetting the reality that created it.

Meagan's statement

I like to make art that is about other people. I like to draw
strangers in restaurants and record candid conversations. I don't
really care if that is creepy. I like to see how other people
construct a self through narratives. I like seeing what people will do
in different situations; I like doing experiments. I want all of this
stuff to be intimate bordering on embarrassing for me and for them,
but in a nice way. I like it when people try to explain things they
believed when they were little kids. I like that lo-fi shit. I like to
do interviews. I like letting other people make art.

Rae's statement

Typically a sculptor, I find myself drawn to materials. I enjoy struggling with material, responding to each media’s unique properties and characteristics as I wrestle it into a new form. Typically, I reject intermediary tools that separate my hands from material, preferring to handle media as directly as possible. Tools, including computer programs, seem coldly efficient to me. There is something sterile and unfeeling about clicking a cursor on a glowing screen, something awkwardly alien about holding a cold plastic drill that tethers me to an outlet. When approaching something as intangible as video, which exists only in the digital realm, I must think in an entirely different way. Concept overrules aesthetics, and my discomfort forces my attention inwards.

Starting with one of the most basic and fundamental themes of self-introspection, this video examines identity. Referencing portraiture and role-playing, I am exploring the relationship between individuals as they mirror one another and assume aspects of the other. My interest is in posing questions by creating a visual loop that confuses and disorients the viewers, leaving it up to them to come to their own conclusions.

Tammy's statement

I really enjoy nature and all the abundance that mother nature offers to us on a daily basis. I also enjoy abstraction and love photographs. I think that we live in such a self-inflicted busy, look at our phone, addicted to Facebook, check email 100 times a day,etc. environment that we can easily take for granted all of the beauty and the wonderful textures, colors, reflections, shadows, light and even the smell of rain. I am fascinated by the elements of the earth.
How each individual perceives life is based on their experiences but I believe that a person's perceptions and awareness can be awakened to appreciate the most minuscule and amazing wonders all around them.

Jess' statement

I find myself drawn to simple overlooked beauties; the bare human figure, the mark of a pencil or piece of charcoal, the shading of a smooth, worn rock, or the organic nature of pasta boiling. Often times they are seen as boring, or hold no interest in relation to the graphic nature that has become the world around us. Everywhere we turn, there are images demanding our attention, over the top, bright, bold, and intriguing. Visual culture has gotten progressively saturated with ‘attention-getting’ ploys and images, and I think it is the overload of this that attracts me to simplicity.

I have explored multiple mediums, techniques, and concepts and was able to grow and develop my own personal style and preferences to the point where I would be confident in any independent work I may explore. I find using unusual and different materials intriguing. I’m interested in aesthetically pleasing and traditional forms of artmaking, and view art as fun. I do not plan on changing the world with my art, I do not even plan on changing anyone’s opinions about any specific idea with my art. I think that by making lighthearted, enjoyable art, I will attract an audience that is fun loving and enjoyable to be around.

A word I often use to describe my work is ‘loose’. I feel that not only do I wish my work to hold the essence of things naturally beautiful, but believe it should be a natural process as well. The fact that I love my sketches so much also alludes to the idea that I love the feeling of looseness. Sometimes I prefer the look of the sketch over the final piece that the sketch was made for because it holds more of the essence of what I am trying to portray, rather than visually describing it. When my work is to the point where it needs a little boost to look “complete” is when I like it the most. This has been true for almost my entire college career and I still to this day am not sure why that is. I think to capture the essence of an object, you cannot tell the whole story; that is you cannot show the object in fine detail because then there is no element of obtaining a feeling of understanding the object if it is perfectly and detailed described for you. I do not want my viewers to “get it” and move on quickly, I want them to take a moment to appreciate the beauty in the line and simplicity and although there is little shown, still understand the essence of the piece and feel the movement within it.

In sum, I find interest in nature and in the natural overlooked beauties that surround our everyday life. The flashiness of graphics and visual culture we see everyday are too much for me, and I like to go back to the basics and reveal the essence of simple, natural, subtle beauty. Some of my best work can be found in my sketches, or studies, of these naturally beautiful things because I prefer the look of looseness over precise, taught, “complete” works.

Drew's statement

I believe my art is based on all of the movies I wanted to make when I was younger but never had the resources or knowledge to be able to make one. These ideas from my childhood are mix in with my concepts and abilities that I have now as a college student. I always like to incorporate childhood playfulness into my work and life, which allows me to not take myself to seriously and enables me to laugh at myself.

Along with laughing at myself I have always liked making others laugh or a least smile. It is healthy to laugh and I believe that as we get older responsibilities and priorities change and people forget that with work there should be fun. My mission in my work is to try and get people to take a break for a moment and remind them of a simpler time like childhood.

Ellen's statement

I am an artist because I consider art and creativity to be one of the most enriching activities a human can participate in. Occupations in the medical field or food production are necessary to keep people alive; art is the reason people want to be alive. As an artist, I want to provide life fulfillment to others and myself through creation, participation, and presentation.

I hope to be able to evoke emotions through my art by creating sensory qualities or environments. In other cases, I hope to entertain or intrigue audiences, or instill a certain curiosity within them. There are images and instances in my life that seem to be highlighted in my mind, and I want to share these ephemeral instances with others. By sharing them, I prolong the existence of these special moments. I can construct narratives through art, and others can relate to these narratives with their own experiences.