"Self-Portrait" by Breanna Alford '23

Brenna Alford
Studio Art, class of 2023

As a student and an artist, I have been told that creativity is not just something you can have come and go in spurts. Creativity is empowered by practice just like any skill. Learning the creative process has always been a challenge for me, and I find that a lot of my motivation comes from when I am completing an assignment. I surround myself with art classes and assignments to push myself.

While I struggle keeping up with the many different requirements for work at one time, I believe I tried my best to really challenge myself with each assignment. I like to push the boundaries of my assignments and set a goal to achieve. For the work I am presenting, my peers and I were challenged with creating an interesting display of asymmetry. I chose to do a spiral because I was told it would be difficult and I wanted to really push my ability to visualize something and make it happen.

These pieces do not necessarily reflect how I will be constructing my portfolio for graduate school, but I do think they are a good representation of one of the foundations of creativity I have reinforced over and over. I personally have always been intrigued by a few different concepts: spiritualism outside of structured religion; naturalism; a morbid fascination with mortality; and how plants have a unique language of meanings that can be applied to the human body. I am excited to show off my work that displays those themes at my senior exhibition in the Spring of 2023.