Exhibition "Unveiling Secrets" Opening Reception

Unveiling Secrets, March 29 - April 30, 2010


My Daddy helping me install. :0)

These pictures are from the opening reception of my BFA Thesis show at Pratt Institute. This experience had me on an emotional high for over a week. The greatest part about having a show is having my family and friends see all of my hard work; my parents were definitely proud. It's fun to see those who have journeyed with me through out this series come and see the results. I definitely got to see my own work differently hung together on a clean white wall, in a large gallery with open space. As an artist who is used to working in a small studio, it was wonderfully overwhelming to me to see my work on together on the wall. Not only was I able to see my work differently, but I was able read my work differently.

Someone at the opening asked me, which piece is my favorite, and my answer to them was, I don't have one. Each painting reflects a certain part of my journey that is apart of me. Each painting is a memory of a true experience or desire. The funnest part about the exhibition was being able to interact with my viewers and question their thoughts about my work.

If I could do one thing differently at the opening, it would be to take more pictures, lol, but here you go. ENJOY!

**Click on image to enlarge


(left to right) My Mother, Me, and my Cousin Alexis






My roommates and I



Painter Jordan Cooper and Me


My painting teacher, Peggy Cyphers, and I are examining my latest painting Secret Garden



(from left to right) Painter Anthony Morton, Peggy Cyphers, and Me

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Thesis Exhibition: "Unveiling Secrets", Installation

Unveiling Secrets, March 29 - April 3, 2010

This thesis exhibition experience was an amazing one. I learned so much about my self as an artist, and psychologically on the issue of love. How I feel about love really spoke to me from seeing my paintings all hung together in the gallery. Seeing my big paintings, Secret Garden and Caught, in the gallery amazed me on how much life large paintings can bring to a series, and can affect the gallery in a beautiful way. I got a lot of great responses from my peers, teachers, and guest about the series. Three things that they all love is how I use color, the imagery I express in each painting, and the energy that I bring with each brush stroke.

Another thing others admire is my fearlessness to be transparent and expose my inner self for the world to see. This can be a very vulnerable place for many, but for me it gives me the strength to share my feelings with absolute power and control. Their inspiration from observing my work has inspired me as an artist. I have been debating as to whether or not to do more paintings for this series. I will because a few of my trusted peers and teachers say that I should push these ideas further, and I agree.

***Click on picture for a zoomed in image***






Secret Garden, Oil on Canvas, 2010
Pratt Student, Friend, Model James Ward beside painting


Current late painting of series



Please be Delicate, Oil on Canvas, 2010





Caught, Oil on Canvas, 2010




Senior Fine Arts painting professor Greg Drasler sharing his positive thoughts with me about his perspective on the series and my growth.




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"The Metamorphis"

Caught
Oil on Canvas, 2010, 66 x 50in
(Zoomed in Image)

This is a zoomed in photo of this painting. This painting is 66 x 50inches. This is the largest canvas that I've stretched, and painted in years. I had another title other than Caught for this painting, which helped to inspired my story, but changed it because I desire to leave the title a little vague.

I prefer to leave room for the viewer to have their own interpretations of my work, rather than me completely forcing my emotional experience on them; I want them to have their own experience with each piece.

This large painting has brought the best out of me intellectually, and aesthetically. Its largeness of size forced me to consider every area of the canvas in greater detail. I was able to push my narrative more than I have before in my previous work. I not only had to consider the figure, but the atmosphere around the figure in intensely because there is more open space within the picture.

A large canvas gives me more room to play with my subjects body language to help tell the story. My brush work and paint application is the first painting in the series, "Unveiling Secrets", to consist of a lot of translucent color and lose energetic brush work. In Caught, I brought painting back to my paintings.


Unveiling Secrets
East Hall Gallery, 2nd Floor
Opening Reception, March 29, 2010 6-9PM
March 29 through April 2

Regular gallery hours Tues-Fri, 10AM-5PM

Pratt Institute
200 Willoughby Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

Going Deeper

So far my paintings consist of one figure on the canvas in the system of portrait painting, but now I want the rest of my series to be less about the portrait and more about the narrative. To do this I'm going to paint on larger canvases. I've gotten a lot of critiques from Fine Art teachers at my school who have evaluated my work, at Pratt Institute, suggesting that I paint on larger canvases. This will give me more room to express my imagery. Due to the fact that I like to paint the figure a little larger than life size, larger canvases will allow me to put more of the figure on it. This also helps me to add more than one figure on the canvas, which is my intended goal for the rest on my series.



www.clarissahorton.com

Mid Semester Thoughts

Studio: The Circus Attraction

I'm sitting in my room staring at my paintings that I'm working on. I'm finally realizing how much painting involves a lot of staring. I do about as much painting with my eyes as I do with my brush, especially since I'm working with new techniques. Painting can be exhausting for me at times because I incorporate not only my mind and body, but also emotions; it's great.
I'm a colorist, and I love to glaze the paint for blending qualities. I'm constantly working with multiple colors at once. Color affects us all emotionally and mentally. Dealing with a lot of color at once I'm sure affects me psychologically.

Anyways, the more I look at what I've done so far with my series, and think about where it's going, it kind of reminds me of Adam and Eve from the Bible. This isn't an Adam and Eve replica series though because it isn't a dialogue between the man and the woman, but a monologue of the woman to the man. This series is about my own psychological and emotional experience with love while searching for my soul mate.

One thing that I love about my first three portraiture like paintings is how the figures are engulfed in the wildness of leaves and flowers. It's so beautiful to me. It gives me a feeling that the figures didn't just show up in this forest, but live there. The man and woman are present throughout the series as if there is no one else who exist, but them.

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Gouache Leaf Study

Gouache on Watercolor Paper,
Study, 2009

This is a small painting of the elephant ear plant. I did this yesterday for my Painting Process class. This was the first time that I ever made a painting using the medium gouache. I secretly have a fear of painting with different mediums other than oil because that's what I know best, and that's what I'm good at doing. After finishing this painting I fell in love with gouache, and I feel the need to use it more. I want to make more small paintings of plants for my thesis because I'm using a lot of nature landscapes in my series. I like gouache because I can blend my colors like with oil paint. I'm really surprised about pulling this painting off. My teacher liked it, and so do I.

www.clarissahorton.com

1st Painting of Thesis

Oil on Canvas, 2009

This is the first painting for my senior thesis. It's about love and pain. My paintings for this series aren't about any one particular guy. I say this because I get asked that a lot, but this series is on just how loving someone can make anyone feel.

I've decided to let this series consist mainly of self portraits. I want to express myself in this series as a sort of spiritual journey; these paintings will be my journal entries.

Aesthetically, I've tried a lot of new techniques and discovered more about myself as a painter. I created a lot of flat vs. 3D areas, smooth vs. textured, and I even left some areas of the painting unfinished where the under painting is showing through. I want to continue these techniques further in my body of work.

www.clarissahorton.com