Johanna Shain
This past year I struggled a lot with my identity as an artist because I felt like what I was creating did not fit the mold of what the art world wanted from me. I felt expectations for me to have something really meaningful to say with my art, something almost activist. It seems like contemporary artists always have this deep set issue they're trying to undermine or bring attention to, whereas I'm just an eighteen year old girl making art because it feels natural and therapeutic. It took me a while to realize that there's something meaningful in that simplicity, and that I can look even farther inwards to understand what formal qualities, colors, processes, and techniques speak to me individually. I ended up finding out that printmaking, fine lines, and earth tones (shocker) are what make me want to make art the most. This year I decided I was going to make art that I enjoyed, art that I would want to put up in a space I was in, and I think I did a pretty good job at that.