Myra

Bookmaking is a large portion of my artistic practice. From a young age, I have been making books. Many of my projects have taken a book format. Really, it has been one of my obsessions.

Many artists keep a sketchbook, as do I. These art books are a continuation of a sketchbook. I find ways to work them and complete each page, making the book itself, a work of art.

CELLS is an ongoing project where I explore what makes up our natural world. I have always had an attraction to what makes up our universe. Inspired by the universe, more specifically what makes up the universe on a cellular level, I make images based on how I imagine it looks. I take from natural shapes, such as organisms, plants, animals, transforming them until they look like CELLS. The idea that I am just a grain of sand, on the beach of the universe, speaks to me. to investigate through drawing and painting, different cellular makeups.

Fascinated by hidden messages, codes and ciphers, I was rather excited when I discovered the visual elements of asemic writing. The following works are an amalgamation of asemic writing, codes, as well as an old nursery rhyme form the 1800’s that I found different techniques to represent, discovering new forms of visual Translations.

I used to be a dreamer: someone who believed in magic. As an only child who grow up without technology, I learned how to manipulate and exercise my imagination. With my wild imagination, I would manifest different universes around me: vibrant, bright and ever-changing. To this day, this idea is an important point of inspiration for all of my work. MENDING… is a project about healing. Healing from the past, and finding oneself after trauma. After a trauma is experienced, there are often broken pieces left behind. We then focus on picking up the fragments, hoping to piece them back together. Inspired by this concept, I moved to see how I could represent this idea. Color has always been my form of visual candy. Using imagination, visions of color scapes, like little portals to different universes manifest themselves. Using ink, paint and water, I created large and vibrant drawings. Cutting them down smaller until they fit into my palm made them seem intimate. These smaller pieces were part of a bigger whole. Fragments that were once whole. As the next manifestation, my love of human anatomy, cells, as well as the microscopic view led to many different experimentations. Mimicking X-ray and other forms of body scans, allowed me to find a visual language worthy of a metaphor. Black dots began to represent something that was not meant to be there, symbolizing the damage sustained. From this I wanted to create a safe environment. Thinking about what is a safe environment, all that came to mind was a blanket. A blanket that is a nasty, gray and worn. Though it has been a symbol of a safe environment, the blanket is one with negative memories. As a symbol for healing, I used knitting and crochet to create a patchwork blanket. Using vibrant colors and different textures, I created a positive and safe environment for myself to heal. The blanket, like the process of healing, is unfinished. There are gaps, holes and mistakes and imperfections which represent my experience of healing. I am not yet healed, and neither is the blanket. Fragments still remain. They are still MENDING…

In moments where I feel creatively blocked, one of my favorite activities is to grab a pencil, sketchbook and head to the Cinema. In whatever movie I am seeing, I take out my materials, and when the movie starts, I start drawing. Using blind contour lines, I attempt to capture the people, objects, or environment that take place in on the big screen. Once the movie is over, without looking at the drawing, I go home. Later when I open my sketchbook I assess the marks that were made. I then go in with ink, and color, filling out the rest of the composition. The colors often reflect the mood of the film, or a color that was often depicted in the film.

Confinement is a project that was born durning the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like most people, I experienced anxiety, stress a lack of motivation and fear. Trying to find a way document this time, I created a journal, and recorded my thoughts and feelings, as well as things that I found inspiring. Living alone for confinement was quite difficult and this journal was a reminder and a pathway to sanity.

Inspired by Christian Marclays’ “Records” album, I created a visual dictionary for each sound. I then created drawings based off of my dictionary. As I listened, I notated. Using a variety of mediums, I attempted to mimic the sounds. Using my synesthesia, I create connection between sound, color, texture and taste. This helped guide me in creating these eight medium size drawings, one large drawing, as well as one painting.

This project is inspired by my love of music. Using my synesthesia as a tool, I listened to a playlist I created specifically for this project. Seeing the colors and shapes that formed, I made the following drawings.

These are my paintings. Though each one is different, my process is the same. I am in a constant search to manipulate color, movement and texture. Painting is hypnotizing, and I often find myself pulled into a trance. I will loose all track of time.

This project is an experimentation of color. I used plexiglas as well as plastic film, and painted on them with acrylic paint and ink. I was interested in seeing different layers, and how the colors interacted with each other when they were back lit.

I explored this idea during the first lockdown due to COVID-19. I was low on supplies, and wanted to create a colorful space. I placed the plastic film onto the windows, and then I added the paint. The sun would then shine in, and cast colorful shadows into my home. This was on a small scale, however I imaging this as an installation. There is a large gallery with white walls, floors and ceiling. One wall is a window, and it has been painted in this style.

These are drawings that I created by using tape and ink. The first drawings are made using the perforated edge of the tape as a tool. I then took inspiration 100 Action Drawings- from Richard Serra Verb List, Actions to Relate to Ourself 1967-1968. This is a selection of 100 action drawings. Each drawing is one verb, representing the word. 15cm. X 21cm.

The next project was inspired by the remaining pieces of tape. They were covered in ink already and the patterns the ink was creating really interested me. I dipping tape into the ink, letting it dry and then sticking the tape to paper. This created landscapes within the boarders of the tape. I then bound each page of tape into a book with only the squares of ink tape.

I have always been fascinated by my own nightmares. I have vivid memories of my childhood nightmares. Like some people, mine are reoccurring. I created a hand bound book, that I filled with illustrations of some of my most vivid nightmares. Using black ink, black pens as well as white ink, I tried to recreate the images that play over and over in my dreams.

This work is inspired by a reaction to a word. Animality. My reaction was that I didn't understand what it meant. I wretched my brain in wondering how I could create art form a word. I felt confused still not fully understand the definition. With this feeling, I decided to create a drawing based off my reaction to the word. I used the confusion and frustration to compose a large format ink drawing, representing what I understood.

My fascination with nature, and the makings of our universe, also extends to the human figure. The anatomy of the human body has been an interest of mine since I first took an anatomy class. Seeing the hand drawn diagrams, which detailed our inner workings was so alluring, that I hoped that one day, I could do the same. Though I did not pursue this passion, I still find great joy in exploring the human figure, and finding interesting ways to represent it.