{"id":901,"date":"2021-03-16T13:35:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T13:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/?p=901"},"modified":"2025-05-23T19:17:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T19:17:40","slug":"preview-gracyn-bird-and-bodies-of-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/2021\/03\/16\/preview-gracyn-bird-and-bodies-of-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Gracyn Bird and Bodies of Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the next couple <\/span>of <\/span>months<\/span> we will be featuring previews of artwork<\/span>s created by Dickinson College senior Studio <\/span>Art<\/span> majors.\u00a0 The senior studio exhibition will open at The Trout Gallery on <\/span>April 30<\/span>th<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn Bird, <\/span>a <\/span>Trout <\/span>Interpretation<\/span> A<\/span>ssistants who <\/span>is<\/span> also one of the talented Studio Art senior<\/span>s<\/span>,<\/span> sat down with Emily Benson, another one of the Trout\u2019s Interpretation Assistants<\/span> for a virtual interview <\/span>to <\/span>talk about he<\/span>r senior Studio Art project. <\/span>Gracyn was in her <\/span>studio space, <\/span>which is <\/span>her home<\/span>,<\/span> speci<\/span>f<\/span>ically her kitchen and bedroom<\/span>. As a result of the partially virtual semester<\/span>, many Dickinson studio art students are working from home for at least the first part of the semester. <\/span>For her project, <\/span>Gracyn has been working on a series of oil paintings<\/span> exploring <\/span>the psychology of <\/span>intimacy<\/span> and hopes to complete ten by the time of the show <\/span>opening<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emily: Gracyn, it is so good to be meeting with you virtually to <\/span><\/b>talk about your art<\/span><\/b>.<\/span><\/b> I would like to start by asking<\/span><\/b> how you go about starting a new painting? What is your process for creating a piece?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> Usually I start out in my sketchbook. I like to look through <\/span>reference pictures I have saved for ideas\u2014reference photos are an artist\u2019s best friend! If I have a pose in mind that I can\u2019t find a reference for, I might take a picture of myself so I can see exactly what I\u2019m thinking. <\/span>Once I have a rough plan, I\u2019ll start painting. I b<\/span>uild up a lot of layers with oil paint, starting with a really thin wash of color called a ground<\/span>\u2014this helps me pick colors that work well together <\/span>more easily <\/span>than working on a white canvas.<\/span> Then I<\/span> \u201csketch\u201d out the figure<\/span> on the canvas <\/span>using paint <\/span>and <\/span>keep building up layers from there<\/span>. It usually takes me about a week to finish a painting, but I\u2019ll also be working on two or three at the same <\/span>time,<\/span> so I don\u2019t get tired of one thing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gracyn Bird, \u201cSketchbook,\u201d Marker on paper, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Emily:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b> The Studio Art senior seminar is a full two-semester class, designed to give students the opportunity to fully develop a project.\u00a0 <\/span><\/b>H<\/span><\/b>ow <\/span><\/b>has your process evolved since the beginning of last <\/span><\/b>semester?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> I started out thinking about self-portraits, since I knew I wanted to deal with <\/span>the human <\/span>figure<\/span>.<\/span> As <\/span>time went by, I realized that what I wanted to focus on was one part of my identity\u2014being a woman. <\/span>This <\/span>opened up<\/span> a lot of ideas and I started working with the full body instead of just shoulders-up portraits as I had started out. <\/span>Last semester, when I ran out of blank <\/span>canvases<\/span> I started painting on top of old paintings that I\u2019d done years before. Sometimes, <\/span>I could see<\/span> the old paintings showing through what I <\/span>had <\/span>painted on top of them. This was kind of a happy accident because it led to some cool effects and got me thinking more about how memory can be physical <\/span>as well as menta<\/span>l. With <\/span>painting it can be literally <\/span>shown through <\/span>a <\/span>layered<\/span> paint<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gracyn Bird, \u201cTwo of Us\u201d Oil on Canvas, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E:\u00a0<\/span><\/b> Moving onto some of the more technical aspects of your work<\/span><\/b>, <\/span><\/b>I notice that <\/span><\/b>you <\/span><\/b>use<\/span><\/b> a lot of <\/span><\/b>pastel colors and <\/span><\/b>emphasize <\/span><\/b>light and shadow<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/b> How do you decide your color palette and what process do you use to achieve these effects?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> At first, I was just using colors that I liked\u2014I’ve always been drawn to soft pastels and I find them com<\/span>forting. <\/span>But a<\/span>s my work started taking on more complex and sometimes darker undertones, I liked the contrast that these <\/span>light<\/span>, pretty colors <\/span>created<\/span> in<\/span> images that were <\/span>strange and sometimes uncomfortable. Lisa <\/span>Yuskavage<\/span> is an artist whose work <\/span>h<\/span>as influenced mine a lot\u2014she uses color in a similar way <\/span>to create a <\/span>strong sense of space and atmosphere<\/span> that kind of disguises<\/span> or misleads the viewer in interpreting<\/span> what\u2019s really going on in the painting<\/span>. I like to think my pieces take place in a kind of dream world, or in someone\u2019s memory, where things aren\u2019t quite restricted by reality and <\/span>the space is ambiguous. The viewer can fill in the blanks <\/span>about<\/span> where a scene <\/span>is taking place and <\/span>its<\/span> context<\/span>.<\/span> I like to use shadows and ghostly hands to suggest the presence of someone else, but they\u2019re also not quite there. It\u2019s like the figure is responding to them, but they only exist as a <\/span>memory<\/span>.<\/span> W<\/span>hen<\/span> there<\/span> are <\/span>multiple<\/span> hands in one piece, it\u2019s like those memories are blurring together.<\/span> It\u2019s like you\u2019re seeing these experiences through rose-colored lenses.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gracyn Bird, \u201cfor you,\u201d Oil on Canvas, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E: Could you speak more <\/span><\/b>about <\/span><\/b>the<\/span><\/b>mes of vulnerability and memory in your work, maybe even how <\/span><\/b>they <\/span><\/b>appear<\/span><\/b> in your process <\/span><\/b>itself?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> I think <\/span>all of<\/span> the pieces I create are showing a vulnerable moment, whether that\u2019s physical or emotional. The figures I paint are nude, but <\/span>not necessarily in a sexual way. There are <\/span>definitely <\/span>sexual<\/span> themes<\/span> in some of the pieces, but I also want <\/span>these <\/span>works <\/span>to<\/span> be open to multiple interpretations. I <\/span>realized that people <\/span>sugges<\/span>t <\/span>a lot of <\/span>their <\/span>emotions through the<\/span>ir<\/span> hands and <\/span>eyes, and I think there\u2019s a lot of vulnerability in the way the figures in my paintings are looking at something we can\u2019t see, and<\/span> in<\/span> how <\/span>those ghostly hands are touching them. <\/span>I also like oil paint because unlike other mediums like acrylic or watercolor, the paint can be both opaque and transparent, depending on how you use it. <\/span>I associate transparency with fading memories and opacity with something that\u2019s concrete in the present, and a lot of the paintings have moments of <\/span>both. <\/span>I think there\u2019s vulnerability in my process too, <\/span>since the figures kind of look like me and there\u2019s still some remnants of <\/span>self-portraiture<\/span> there, especially when <\/span>I take references photos of myself.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gracyn Bird, \u201cCarrion,\u201d Oil on Canvas, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E: <\/span><\/b>What do you see as the<\/span><\/b> most <\/span><\/b>prevalent<\/span><\/b> themes <\/span><\/b>in this body of work<\/span><\/b>?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> I want to capture how women function in relationships\u2014whether that\u2019s a relationship with a partner, a friend, a family member, or even themselves. <\/span>I think there\u2019s a lot of <\/span>ambiguity<\/span> in<\/span> relationships, especially <\/span>in <\/span>toxic relationships, where an interaction might not be completely positive or negative and can be interpreted in several different ways. Y<\/span>ou can <\/span>read a<\/span> single<\/span> gesture as being comforting, or <\/span>angry, or controlling, depending on your own experiences. <\/span>I\u2019m <\/span>a really introspective<\/span> person, so these paintings take place not during the actual events, but in the <\/span>figures\u2019 <\/span>memories. <\/span>I always think back to when <\/span>artist <\/span>Jillian Tamaki said in an interview with CB<\/span>C<\/span> that \u201c<\/span>w<\/span>omen’s<\/span> bodies are literally one of the most political things on the face of the earth.\u201d<\/span>1<\/span> So<\/span>,<\/span> when I started thinking about physical and emotional vulnerability, that inevitabl<\/span>y<\/span> led me to think about <\/span>how I\u2019m <\/span>interacting with<\/span> the canon of female nude<\/span> portraiture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gracyn Bird, \u201cDeadwater,\u201d Oil on Canvas, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E:\u00a0<\/span><\/b> You still have some time before your show opens. Have you thought of titles for the works in your <\/span><\/b>show?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0 Are you planning to start anything new before it opens?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gracyn:<\/span> I have a really big canvas that I\u2019m trying to work up the nerve to start on<\/span>! <\/span>Titles are tricky, but<\/span> a few of my favorites are \u201c<\/span>Viole<\/span>(n)t,\u201d \u201cbitter\/sweet,\u201d and \u201c(w<\/span>)hole heart<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Be sure to come see Gracyn\u2019s and the other <\/span><\/b>senior\u2019s<\/span><\/b> final exhibition at the virtual opening or in person on April 30<\/span><\/b>th<\/span><\/b>!\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit Gracyn’s site HERE.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the next couple of months we will be featuring previews of artworks created by Dickinson College senior Studio Art majors.\u00a0 The senior studio exhibition will open at The Trout Gallery on April 30th.\u00a0 Gracyn Bird, a Trout Interpretation Assistants who is also one of the talented Studio Art seniors, sat down with Emily Benson, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4322,"featured_media":907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[301782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artful-conversations","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/trouttalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}