Artist Statement For Senior Seminar

I have always been interested in functional objects. For as long as I can remember I have loved to work with my hands. I have worked with family members who have had wood and metal shops. I was intrigued from a young age about making things with your hands and the endless possibilities you have. At a young age I worked in family members' shops and these experiences are what initially sparked my interest in art, and more specifically fabrication. I went to work at a race shop after highschool. There I learned how to weld and form sheet metal. I really enjoyed the process of working with metal and knew I wanted to base my career around metalwork and art. I work really hard to walk the line between art and design and then try to mix function into both of those. In the past before I came to school I worked in fast paced industrial work settings. I worked at a race shop for a year, where I learned how to weld and fabricate various metals. It was at that shop where my appreciation for craft and function flourished. The vehicles we worked on were one hundred percent totally custom one off builds that had to have an exquisite refinement. I found myself constantly questioning if these cars I was working on should be considered art.

Now I am in school at Appalachian State working towards a degree in studio art, with a focus in sculpture. I have found I am fascinated by functional artwork. For my junior seminar class I was very interested in making a four piece body of work of chairs made out of found materials. I used the skills that I have learned from previous classes to achieve this. An important part of this body of work was that I wanted to challenge myself to use only the materials available to me. I only used purchased materials when there was no other option. Throughout this process I have been very passionate about creating these chairs and am glad that I chose to use found objects instead of raw materials. It was really interesting to plan and produce these pieces because I had to work around the fact that I was limited. The meaning behind this body of  work is that there are opportunities to create things all around us. All it takes is imagination and persistence to reach the end goal. I have really enjoyed the process of making these pieces and plan to continue to make functional artwork from found objects.While I still plan to incorporate found objects into my work and reuse things I don't want that to be the only way I produce my work. While the process of using found materials is exciting it is also challenging and I feel like if that is the only thing I did it would inhibit my work overall. Going forward I plan to use the things I have learned so far and dive into new ideas and techniques I have not explored yet.  

I am currently in my senior year and plan to graduate in Spring of 2023. After four years of college art and design classes I feel I have learned and had the opportunity to become a better artist and designer. At this point in my last year here at school I finally have the opportunity to make art that is exactly how I want it to be. There are far less guidelines and parameters as to the concept and content of my work. I am very happy to have the opportunity to dive into the ideas I have thought about in the past but have not had the chance to tackle.  I plan to make a body of work in my last year of school that consists primarily of unique custom knives. I have had a huge interest in knives for years. They were some of the first things I ever made as a kid. While I have made knives in the past I have only ever made one that I would consider “art”. I am working with a mentor who is a knife maker here in Boone this year. My goal is to absorb as much information as possible from him. By doing this I will be able to refine and practice what it takes to make a beautiful knife. My goal this coming school year is to come up with unique designs that contrast greatly to other knifemakers in the industry. Some ways I plan to make my designs different is to use unconventional knife making materials. I have gathered all kinds of textile material, metal scraps, and natural materials that I hope to incorporate into my knife designs. I have also been working on blade shapes and profiles that differ greatly from the typical knives you see day to day. If I stick to my plan by the end of this school year I will have a body of work that shows both progression and my interest in knife making.