Linda Bigness lives in the
abstract and chose the artists for this exhibit from her own personal
engagement with the artists and their works.
Each of these artists brings us their own interpretation of their work
through engaging canvases, prints, collage, sculpture, and in some cases
through their own words.
Bigness states: “It is my reason to be; that the art of the abstract is a reflection of what I am and what I see in others, as exhibited in their own abstraction of ideas, emotions, and life experiences." This exhibit represents a lifelong desire of Bigness' to curate a range of abstraction that crosses into the extraordinary from the ordinary. In doing so, she feels she is giving back to a community of artists and to the public viewers through humanizing the sometimes elitist world of art.
Bigness's background may have a lot to do with her way of perceiving the arts as it has been difficult at its lowest point and exhilarating at its highest. Sometimes her adventures in life have verged on the edge of fictional fodder that could contribute to a pretty interesting novel. Maybe this will happen in the future as Bigness has already started a novel of sorts that in many ways will reflect her life's experiences as it has intertwined with her art. Part of her experiences has been to work with the children of the Say Yes program at Franklin Elementary School in Syracuse, New York. The works you will see in this exhibition reflects her involvement with the children as she teaches them about the processes of creativity as it applies to making art. Her artist statement reveals the direct relationship of this experience in the words she writes.
The Experience
In the beginning is the stimulus, the desire to make sense of the why and how these children came to our shores to be embraced by a strange land and stranger still our culture. Displaced and forever removed from what is familiar must be an incredible challenge for these children to overcome. As I engaged the children with different art projects, I came to realize a common theme amongst them was that of identity. Each child without exception, from Nepal, Thailand, Somalia, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Laos, Puerto Rico, Korea, China, West Africa, Sudan, Haiti, Iraq and yes America, found a way through their own mark making to interpret who they are. From the colors they chose to their subject matter each child brought some of their own identity and background into the process. During the eight months of daily observation of the children coming together to make art, I noticed a pattern starting to develop. I observed this pattern, progressing and changing, as the days and months passed by and it was these changes that began to affect how I saw their art. The children were beginning to inter-mix their identities through the exchange of their own experiences. As they spent more and more time together creating, they began to share their experiences with one another through their art and conversations. This is the part of the process, the experience; I took from this observation and made it my process to work through with the abstraction of surface using the lines, color and pattern garnered from the children’s artwork, dress, mannerisms and stories.
Linda Bigness 2012-2013
Bigness states: “It is my reason to be; that the art of the abstract is a reflection of what I am and what I see in others, as exhibited in their own abstraction of ideas, emotions, and life experiences." This exhibit represents a lifelong desire of Bigness' to curate a range of abstraction that crosses into the extraordinary from the ordinary. In doing so, she feels she is giving back to a community of artists and to the public viewers through humanizing the sometimes elitist world of art.
Bigness's background may have a lot to do with her way of perceiving the arts as it has been difficult at its lowest point and exhilarating at its highest. Sometimes her adventures in life have verged on the edge of fictional fodder that could contribute to a pretty interesting novel. Maybe this will happen in the future as Bigness has already started a novel of sorts that in many ways will reflect her life's experiences as it has intertwined with her art. Part of her experiences has been to work with the children of the Say Yes program at Franklin Elementary School in Syracuse, New York. The works you will see in this exhibition reflects her involvement with the children as she teaches them about the processes of creativity as it applies to making art. Her artist statement reveals the direct relationship of this experience in the words she writes.
The Experience
In the beginning is the stimulus, the desire to make sense of the why and how these children came to our shores to be embraced by a strange land and stranger still our culture. Displaced and forever removed from what is familiar must be an incredible challenge for these children to overcome. As I engaged the children with different art projects, I came to realize a common theme amongst them was that of identity. Each child without exception, from Nepal, Thailand, Somalia, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Laos, Puerto Rico, Korea, China, West Africa, Sudan, Haiti, Iraq and yes America, found a way through their own mark making to interpret who they are. From the colors they chose to their subject matter each child brought some of their own identity and background into the process. During the eight months of daily observation of the children coming together to make art, I noticed a pattern starting to develop. I observed this pattern, progressing and changing, as the days and months passed by and it was these changes that began to affect how I saw their art. The children were beginning to inter-mix their identities through the exchange of their own experiences. As they spent more and more time together creating, they began to share their experiences with one another through their art and conversations. This is the part of the process, the experience; I took from this observation and made it my process to work through with the abstraction of surface using the lines, color and pattern garnered from the children’s artwork, dress, mannerisms and stories.
Linda Bigness 2012-2013
