Meet The Artists
Lauren Ihle (Class of 2018)
Interactions and experiences are important to me. The art I create reenacts those memories or feelings.
The experiences I draw upon come from the people I meet, places I encounter, and the music I live by. I
absorb different views, opinions, and common interests when I have a conversation with someone new. The places I go to, the scene stains my eyes so I forever have that feeling I had when I was there. The
sounds from music are poured into my ear, flowing down onto my paper.
My art is unaimed and absolute.
I don’t have a specific style to my art.
My favorite medium is pencil and Sharpie. I have drawn images of bodies, landscapes and other things
that require great detail with pencil. With Sharpie, my pieces are bold and abstract designs.
Carly Maslowski (Class of 2018)
I’m always on the lookout for a good story. Often these stories come from
simple observations. The short adventure of a leaf as it travels across a parking lot.
Or possibly from reading a book or a poem. One line of good words sends me
spinning. These become illustrations, comic strips, short stop motion films, paper
sculptures, in which characters of my own making move through these experiences
as either a voyeur or a participant.
Within these stories, I incorporate a transformation between like things. I
construct similes into reality. The bed covers are like the churning waves of the
ocean, so they cease their stillness and bob up and down. The hands are like the
branches of a tree, so they start to sprout twigs and leaves. Ducks the size of a pair
shoes are like Hermes’ winged sandals, so a character laces them up and takes flight.
These works have a children’s book aesthetic with bright colors, expressive
marks, and cartoony figures traversing fanciful landscapes. I use this as a way to
express a kind of silliness, a whimsy and wonder. But I also seek to infuse a sense of
critical analysis of these stories, a rumination, a slow chewing in my mouth, a quality
of taking seriously the daydreams in my head.
Nick Campbell (Class of 2018)
I find that artists come in many shapes and sizes, my expertise is based around photography and film, my focus being portrait photography, and non-narrative films. My experience with photography has stretched from 2012 until now consisting of mainly senior pictures and portraits with some other miscellaneous jobs mixed in. Film is newer but I have progressed much farther in the shorter length of time, my specialty with film is what I like to call “things to music”. Which is basically images played with music, such as a highlight video, however I have been expanding my film repertoire. The most rewarding thing to do with film is to get the best shot, the most interesting perspective on things both common and uncommon, a view on the world that captures anyone and everyone’s eye. It’s fun to take complex emotions and fantasies and illustrating them, making them a reality using cameras and editing. I choose to create art using photography and film as a way to express myself without using words, it’s so much easier to simply show someone a picture or video and let them decipher the feelings portrayed. Film in particular has always interested me, and I’ve always looked up to those creating art with film, it’s only fitting that I followed in their footsteps to do the same.
Emily Leslie (Class of 2016)
I aim to discover the relationship between the layers of my memories, and my emotions,
and how they interact. There are certain childhood memories that repeat behind my eyes on a
loop. The mind only holds certain memories it finds important while discarding others. We
seemingly have no control over this loop. Except…there comes a moment when you sit down
and a glimmer of a forgotten memory washes over you, while no longer tangible it is still
palpable. Faded, stacked under others barely peeking through. And as we grow so do our layers,
they expand and intertwine. Daily, I rack through my mind trying to catch fleeting memories. I
explore these memories with the textures created by mixed mediums. They solidify the
memories and make them malleable. But the memories are still fragile in the form being
constructed to house them.
Agustin Murillo (Class of 2017):
Throughout my lifetime I have had the opportunity to be surrounded by art. Art is everywhere, I believe we see art every day. As humans we are meant to be in constant movement, but being still and appreciating a moment can help with our well being. I like to capture people and expressions. I chose the art of photography to express these moments, with the hopeful goal of providing the viewer with a unique experience. As a young photographer I like to view galleries with an open mind so I can find some inspirations to base my work off of and create modern ideas. As others like to capture landscapes, animals, or nature, I enjoy to photograph people. Everyone is different. I describe my photography as a dynamic kind of art. While taking photos I must put play a role of an entertainer, director, and producer… simultaneously I must master my settings on the camera to get the best image of my subjects. I enjoy to be challenged, it helps me learn to be more adaptable. Photography is always evolving along with the world and its beings. But the most magical aspect about art, in any form, is when it provokes or influences the viewer to feel something or express themselves in a certain way by what they see or are experiencing. The possibilities of the artist are endless. Being humble and honest is important.
Taylor Hager (Class of 2017)
I create art to show people that they can see and be more than they think they can. Through pop/mass culture, the environment, sexuality, violence, abstraction, and dark humoristic themes, I want to break the passivity of the spectator to realize that what they see in front of them is more than just art, it’s life itself. A variety of media is used to create many styles in these pieces of art. My work is based on inspiring these real life situations to wake the viewer up out of their daily routine. It is not enough to talk about how to change what is around us, I live proactively to prove that life is more than what anyone imagines. You can see my art on my online portfolio here at http://taylor-hager.wix.com/artist.
Paul Nordquist (Class of 2016)
I strive to capture the experience of physically being a part of an environment. Photography allows me to capture moments and places similar to how we experience them in reality. I shoot in digital and film, while keeping editing and post production work to a minimum. I edit to preserve the reality of the environment, while still expressing the mood and aura of the expirience.
The work often draws from the relationship people have with an environment; taking in the view of a lake, city, mountains, etc. It provokes the urge to go to outside. To take a day off from staring at a screen and see what this beautiful world has to offer.