Artist Statement
“Creativity takes courage.” — Henri Matisse
If everyone’s life can be seen as an open canvas, then artists’ lives should be the ones that carry the most wild, vivid and original colors. Artists are often time recognized as the most creative group of people out of the society. As a price, it requires them to have strong mental power to support their constant renewing crazy minds. When the world doesn’t believe in an artist, the artist remains trust in himself or herself. Growing up in a Chinese family, I was alway told it’s better to be like others and live an ordinary life. However, I was never the kid that was satisfied of being normal and followed directions. I wanted to be different and I wanted to be seen. My heart cried out for attention. I wanted to the world to hear my voice and be influenced by me. My soul sought for freedom, and I wanted nothing with limitation. Art should be without boundaries is the boundary I set for my art. In my opinion, being able to connect and express through different medias is the most valuable aspect of creating art.
As artist, I can get super close to perfection but I would never call one of my pieces perfect, because there is no “perfect” in art. Art can not be judged in a grading scale, like in a math test. Art has life, and its content and value are constantly renewing, adapting and developing as the society is moving forward. As artists, we should all enjoy the process of trying to approach perfection in our art career and constantly feed on our altering aesthetic needs.
My grandma is a woman that has influenced me a lot in my life. I spent most of my childhood with her. She is such a brave woman. She deals with every day of her life with a sense of humor and she is always passionated about it. From her eyes, I sense the power of women. Her beliefs have shaped me in becoming someone that’s destined to be special and one of a kind. I did my first wearable this semester with my partner Ata Kurtan. It was a jacket that was made to protect him from his biggest fear of clown. I was brave about the decision of making a garment for the first time and was not afraid of painting on canvas with inerasable acrylic paints. My belief was constantly revealed on that piece of work. The best way to solve your fear is to face it. As an artist, I have been always wanting to put myself out of the comfort zone. There, it ’s where I find a new self and find new chemical reactions to happen.
I also deeply value the power of ideas. A garment without a message behind is meaningless. An artwork without a subjective voice is boring. I have always tried to make my work strongly relate to my society and my background. To be not afraid to take a stand in my work becomes my career goal and working standard.
Freedom is emphasized in my work. From the Fear Hoodie to the War and Peace conceptual Jacket, I really enjoy working with different medias. For me, art is connected, and can be faded into different areas: music, drawings, photography, films and 3D constructions. As an artist, I want myself to expose to all kinds of medias that are possible to help me deliver my art. There, I will find myself with a more complete soul as an artist, and one step closer to achieving perfection.
Studio/Seminar Reflection
The three most important things that I have learned from Studio this year are the courage to constantly challenge myself, the craftsmanship in sewing, and the openness to collaborate with partners. Studio is truly one of the classes I feel like I have challenged myself the most. When there was a high pressure, I pushed myself the most which also made me improved the fastest. I eyewitnesses myself move from zero to knowing how to sew. In the process, I have panicked a lot and was also uncertain about what I was doing. However, right now, when I look back I’m amazed by how much I have learned and gained. I have truly gone out of my comfort zone, and eventually at the end of semester I obtained the skilled and made sewing one of my comfort zones. But, I will never stop learning. I will only keep moving forward. Group work was also a very important part of this class. I have learnt so much from my partners and when we were working towards the same goal together we became the most power and unstoppable.
In Seminar class, through abundant practices, I feel I have improved my writing skills a lot. One of the ideas that has been really helpful to me from Lauren was to be not afraid to write “shitty” first drafts. This strategy really gave me the courage to go freely on my first drafts and as I was free-writing great ideas naturally flew out of my minds. The other thing I want to mention is that I became much more confident to speak up in class. I had this constant need to share with my classmates. Integrative Seminar was a class that has made me ensure the belief that people’s ideas do matter to the world. The last thing, and also the most important, I learned to listen to other people. I found becoming a good listener was a great technique to use when I wanted to get helpful feedbacks from others. Listing carefully to my peers’ advices helped me further develop my concepts and go deeper in my writing brainstorming.
Overall, the two classes have all pushed me forward throughout the semester and made me reassure my belief of not being afraid to get out of my comfort zone and be brave about life.
