The Proposed Thesis Statement

The thesis year was amazing in so many ways.  This is the proposed artist statement I settled on and worked from:

I am a dyslexic. As a kid my house was always filled with books, periodicals, newspapers and magazines. I would sit for hours flipping through the large stacks while making up my own narratives and characters from the images and the few words I could understand. I'd study their images, personality, and font style while making note on how they were made. they became my friends even though their pages held words I didn't understand and if I decoded their message, I would be a "reader", too.

Even today when I need comfort, I often run to the library and spend the day hiding away from whatever ails me. I'll pull huge stacks impossible to read by the due date, and victoriously set them by my bed. In most cases, I never "read" a page but just slowly flip through and by some strange osmosis the words filtered into my brain. This action seems to ease my own inner struggle with impermanence and loss. I am influenced by Tibetan scroll paintings which are used by adherents to create a place of meditation though the act of seeing.

It is my goal though this work to investigate and create illustrations how I see the interior pages of books. I hope to explore the contradiction between the black and white authority of the printed word in contrast to the effects of image and color layered over them. Some of the images are drawn from familiar iconography, toys, architectural details, mechanical illustrations and symbols, combined with stenciled scenes, decorative patterns and splatters of paint.