As a child I was fascinated by authors such as Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, and Roald Dahl.  Their exaggerated stories about interesting characters and fantastic worlds encouraged my wild imagination.  Pablo Picasso’s Cubist work, Clause Oldenburg’s soft sculptures and large-scale projects, and Tommy Simpson’s whimsical furniture pieces use the same idea of skewing reality and encouraging viewers to step back and look at life from different perspectives.  Picasso once said, “I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.”  How boring would art be if artists only imitated reality?  Bold imagination and fearless originality are qualities to be treasured. 

I feel most successful as an artist when my work encourages a lighthearted and playful response.  I view my surroundings through excited, childlike eyes and am constantly inspired by the simple shapes and bright, amusing colors I see.  The idea of functional art especially intrigues me and has directed me toward more three-dimensional forms.  I want to create interactive pieces that serve both aesthetic and practical purposes and relate to the viewer on a personal level. 

I enjoy both the freedoms and challenges of working with mixed-media. Although I choose my medium based on the individual piece, I tend to incorporate fabric into most of my work.   Fabric has an appealing quality that viewers can relate to.  It is easily manipulated and provides an immediate result, which allows me to start from scratch by making my own patterns and experimenting with different shapes and forms.  This process often requires several scraped projects and revisions, but I get satisfaction from being involved with the development of the piece from beginning to end. 

During the creative process, I am much more concerned with how my work comes across visually than intellectually.  I make my decisions intuitively and although I believe there is always an unconscious feeling affecting the artistic choices I make, I am not always able to put it into words.  In retrospect I can say that most of my undergraduate work deals with direct, accessible ideas.  By keeping my titles brief and basic a viewer can interpret my work in various ways; I often find viewer interpretations are more intriguing than anything I could say.  If one were to ask me why I chose a certain color or constructed a piece a certain way I would not necessarily have a profound answer for them.  Most of the time, like Picasso, it is just the way I imagined the piece.

I hope my work will inspire viewers to revisit their childhoods for a moment.  I want them to play and learn and not worry.  I want to encourage an uninhibited perspective on life, even if it is only for an instant.   

Kyla Crawford

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