Naked Arts talk with BFA students (part I) 4/37/11

Shayna Bicknell, Road, 2011

I thought Josh, Katie, and Shayna all did a good job talking about their work.  Josh definitely seemed the most comfortable of the three to me.  I enjoyed hearing about how his ideas developed from one piece to the next: how they are on a similar line of thinking but how the core idea of each piece is quite different from the other two.  I had talked to him a little about his work in the wood shop previously, but it was nice to hear him talk more formally about all of his pieces.  I think my favorite of his pieces was the third one (the tallest of the three).  I don't know why but I just love how he was able to incorporate the wood and the metal together and how they both looked so organic and cohesive.  The forms of his pieces are so beautiful.  I appreciate how much work he put into bending the wood and composing/forming his works.  

Katie seemed a little nervous but I thought she did a lovely job talking about the main concepts behind her work.  I loved how she approached the interiors as a series of color comparisons, letting the forms and shapes appear from these interacting relationships.  This mindset reminds me a lot of Brian Chu's approach to painting.  I liked how she pointed out that her kitchen triptych incorporated both natural and fluorescent light.  Besides the wonderful fuzzy quality of her pieces, I most enjoy her unique perspective and the curving of rooms/ceilings that results.  

I liked how Shayna compared her different approaches to her smaller paintings as opposed to her larger one that was in the show.  It was interesting to me that she felt more comfortable with the smaller works because I often feel like small works can be hard to do, as you have less space to work with and you need to do more with less.  I think her command of color is pretty great--my favorite piece was her large work of the stairwell outside the service building.