Assignment #01 -- Artists' Statements

1. The films I create are steeped in tradition. I utilize classic film form to highlight everyday activity. These activities can be absurd, mundane, weird, and melancholic. Humor and playfulness are devices I use in my films to allow the viewer to relate, to find something comfortable. The things I notice in everyday life, aspects that seem normal or acceptable, can actually be quite bizarre and dramatic and I use film to highlight the oddness of life.  –Kyle Moe
2.  I make films to investigate culture, explore transformational moments, unearth valuable stories, and question traditional paradigms. I create narratives that lead to more questions - that ask audiences to look at their own beliefs and histories with a new curiosity. My films are about emotional journeys, personal transformations and social movements.  When making cross-cultural documentaries, I expose problematic elements, such as the privilege and power of the filmmaker.  I play with experimental fictional narratives where the film form is deconstructed.  –Crescent Diamond
3. "My paintings represent an ongoing quest to understand the human psyche and to reveal that which cannot be expressed with words. I strive to tap into the natural creative energy that is shared by and connects all living things and transfer this onto the canvas; my work is intended to be as subtly nourishing and enriching to my viewers as it is to me. Every time I start a new painting, I take a leap of faith to allow this creative energy to flow through me and the paint, and to communicate something vital to the viewer -- without naturalistic imagery or symbols, but rather with pure visual form, like music." -Leanne Venie

Everyone has his or her own story to tell. The whole purpose of an “artist statement” is to allow the artist to give their audience just that much more insight into why the artist creates their medium and what they are trying to say with that creation.  The question here is “what makes a good artist statement?”  By breaking it down into categories one can evaluate for his or herself if the questions they have are being answered.  The three statements I’ve evaluated I believe to be similar in nature but at the same time speak to that individual artist. 

All three statements begin with the type of art form or genre, then go on to explain what their art means and why the artist creates. Phrases such as these “I create narratives that lead to more questions - that ask audiences to look at their own beliefs and histories with a new curiosity” and “I strive to tap into the natural creative energy that is shared by and connects all living things and transfer this onto the canvas” combine certain conventions and rhetoric that affectively differentiates them as individual artists as well as conveying the internal intentions of the artist as they create. 

Statements such as these “The things I notice in everyday life, aspects that seem normal or acceptable, can actually be quite bizarre and dramatic and I use film to highlight the oddness of life.” and “My paintings represent an ongoing quest to understand the human psyche and to reveal that which cannot be expressed with words.”  Provide the context and social elements as the artist see’s it in his or her own mind. Thus verbally showing the audience the circumstances surrounding the creation(s) as well as how the artist wants their work to relate to the audience.