Nature Artist Statement

My intent with this piece was to show the relationship between man and the restrictions we place between us and nature. Nature parks always have signs posted to keeps humans in line, that are intended to keep nature pristine and preserved. But so often these signs can seem extreme, in that they spell out very explicit instructions on what you can and can’t do. So I wanted to push that to the extreme and place a sign at a park that restricts humans even touching and interacting with the nature. It just pushes this distance from something we claim to want to preserve even further. On the flip side, I wanted to show how we restrict nature itself as well. For example, any wildlife or animal preserve you visit will likely include fences or cages. And any way they spin it, we all know it’s for the safety of humans so they don’t get too immersed in nature because what happens may be dangerous or scary. But we don’t realize that these boundaries for our safety also restrict the wildlife itself in ways that may harm it or alter its natural state of being. So I decided to push this to the extreme as well, and restrict an animal’s basic nature because it can be “dangerous,” to show how ridiculous this is. These pieces were then placed side by side to show the self-imposed space we keep between us and nature and all the ridiculousness of it in a comical way.

Nature: Final

Nature: Research

These photos really express my thoughts for my project, in that they show this almost fear of nature, and restrict humans or the natural element accordingly, like how the dogs are only allowed off their leashes in a certain area, and even then not if they're going to poop or do anything gross like that, and so these limitations of natural processes really got me thinking in changing park signs to limiting nature or one's experience with nature.

Nature: Research

Andy Goldsworthy, another example of man's manipulation of nature, although his is much more natural. Also his sculptures and photographs are just stunning and I've geeked out over his work since high school, the ice and the eggs made of stones are so impeccable and wonderful.

Nature: Research

Kate MacDowell
Ceramics

Nature: Research

Maya Lin has been one of my favorite artists for a long while when it comes to dealing with nature. I had the incredible opportunity to see some of her work when her exhibit was displayed at the Orlando Museum of Art and just the scale of the pieces is so overwhelming and can't possibly be imagined by the pictures you see online or even on her website. I really like the way she shows man's interaction with nature, and Synthetic Landscape and Serpent Mound are some of my favorite works of hers. It really made me think about how humans influence the nature around us, which turned me towards my concept of the restrictions concerning nature.

http://www.mayalin.com

Nature: Research

Maya Lin
Serpent Mound

Nature: In Process

Fixing some shadows

Nature: In Process

Nature: In Process

Gradient Mesh

The most beautiful apple.

Illustrator Cupcake

Nature Project: In-process works

For my project I have been messing around with photographs that depict nature taking over a crumbling interior, like nature taking back over what man has made, which are the first two photographs, and even a photograph of a girl looking over this scene observing the process. But then I've also been messing around with flipping a clearly manmade space into a nature scene and doing the opposite for the second photo in the diptych, which is the last photo shown here. I'm not yet sure which direction I for sure want to go in, but these are my ideas so far.

Lynda Tutorials Tracing Bear

Illustrator Skull

Nature Project: Let's take some photos

Many many outdoor photos, far more than 10 for sure

And 10 indoor ones as well

Artist Presentation Images