Using concise brush strokes, imagination, observation and exploration, Emily Trespas, Instructor in Art, assembles a collection of three charcoal drawings and ten paintings. Her paintings are in various mediums, from water color to gouache, acrylic and oil.
Q: What do you strive to discover when you are drawing, photographing or painting?
A: In the work that I have here, I was looking for the space between creating an image that would be recognizable. I also wanted to be economical with my mark, to be concise. We call it economy of means, showing something representatively through abstraction. If you separate them [the images], they might not make sense, but when you put them together they start to comprise something that is recognizable.
Q: Where does your inspiration come from?
A: I basically was looking at what I was drawn to. I was in the natural landscape, because I take my easel and my paints and I sit out in nature, so I’m surrounded by it. I picked a different color, and I played with the interpretation of how it could be read. It could be water, or it could be land. When I hang them, I’m not blindly hanging them [the pictures]. I’m thinking about their relationship. Some of these places really evoke this nostalgia.
Q: Are there any messages that you wish to convey to the viewer through your art?
A: I’m just working; I’m doing what I want. I will explore abstraction and representation. I’m drawn to these things. I was part of a paint-out. The breakthrough for me was that landscape could mean a lot of things.
Q: Of all of your works, is there a specific reason that you picked this collection?
A: The way they come together to create a story. I wanted to look at what worked together, what colors worked together, how the content might create connection. One image might help understand another. Why would the artist, me, put a chair and then put these small little studies? It was just a way of inspiring viewers to make their own stories as they walked around, and I hung it like that so it’s a salon style hanging where it’s jumbled in and there’s a lot to look at. It’s like taking in a story all at once or in pieces.
Compiled by Scarla Pan
