Rachel Schmidt’s installation “Out of Balance” is a mixed-media work exploring environmental degradation and climate change themes. The installation features a series of abstract paintings and sculptural elements that are arranged in a way that suggests a disrupted natural landscape. The installation’s centerpiece is a large, suspended painting resembling a swirling vortex of blues and greens. This painting is surrounded by smaller, circular canvases suspended from the ceiling, creating a sense of movement and imbalance. In addition to the paintings, “Out of Balance” includes various sculptural elements made from natural materials such as driftwood, rocks, and feathers. These elements are arranged to suggest a disrupted ecosystem, with rocks piled haphazardly and feathers scattered on the ground. Through “Out of Balance,” Schmidt seeks to raise awareness about the urgent need for environmental stewardship and the consequences of neglecting our planet’s natural systems. The installation invites viewers to reflect on their relationship to the environment and consider how their actions can contribute to a more sustainable future.

http://www.rachel-schmidt.com/#/video-1/

Yayoi Kusama is a renowned Japanese artist who has made significant contributions to contemporary art. Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama moved to the United States in 1957, where she developed her signature art style characterized by vibrant colors, bold patterns, and repetitive motifs. She is also known for her avant-garde installations that often involve the use of mirrors and lights to create immersive and interactive experiences for the viewer.

One of Kusama’s most famous works is her immersive installation, “Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” (2013). The installation consists of a small room lined with mirrors on all sides and a shallow pool of water on the floor. The room’s walls and ceiling are adorned with hundreds of LED lights that change color and intensity, creating an illusion of a vast and infinite space.

When visitors enter the room, they are enveloped by pulsating lights and reflections, which create a mesmerizing and otherworldly experience. The installation highlights Kusama’s fascination with the infinite and the cosmos and her interest in creating immersive environments that blur the boundaries between art and reality.

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-yayoi-kusama

https://hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama/the-exhibition/

https://www.thebroad.org/art/yayoi-kusama/infinity-mirrored-room-souls-millions-light-years-away

For my collage project, I made use of some old cyanotype photographs and paper, other blue hued papers found in the lost and found box, magazine paper, and oil pastels. I began by cutting the cyanotype photographs into small, random shapes and later doing the same with the rest of blue hued papers. When I began laying the blue pieces down i started with one color (as you can see the darker blues are all together, the lighter ones together and so one) overlapping each other because I love textured art so I knew I wanted to have these random shapes over lapping one another. When I followed with the lighter pieces of blue I still didn’t really know what I was going to create… was it going to be a sky (it was giving sky)? A wave? Add a wave it was. I drew an outline of a wave and continued filling it in with the little cut pieces of textured blue paper. I wanted the textures and different colors of blue in the wave to be uniformed and have some form of harmony so I tried adding different colors of blue (light, dark, textured, not so textured) here and there to tie them all together. To add a one pint perspective I added rectangular pieces of magazine paper inside the wave creating a tunnel-like effect. The surrounding areas were also covered in magazine paper which I then colored over with warm oil pastel colors to allude to a sunset sky. Some magazines I had used as scrap paper where i would test the color of pastels by coloring on the magazine paper. I utilized these scrap pieces in my background as well. Overall, this collage was created using recycled pieces of art.

“We have forgotten we are of the planet — Made of minerals and inhaling the breath of trees. A liveable future is contingent upon healing this illusion of separateness. My art offers spaces for reconnection and alignment.“ – Clare Celeste

Berlin based collage artist, Clare Celeste Borsch is not only an artist but also an environmentalist. Her installations show great appreciation for our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Through this appreciation she also hopes to bring awareness to the topics of climate change and the prevention of more biodiversity going extinct. In an interview she states that her artwork is a reflection of her love for nature. Fascinated by “the connections between organisms, the intricacies of ecosystems, and the complexity of nature…” she has created her most recent work of art and installation: Biodiversity. This is an immersive art installation made of hand cut paper images of flora and fauna. Borsch states that flora and fauna are reminders that we are “inextricably connected to the larger web of life”. Her ideas stem from having grown up all over the world. She adds that because of this, her life has been a collage of sorts: “For me, it makes sense to collage a Brazilian butterfly next to a North American flower. In my mind, they are intrinsically connected.”

https://www.clareceleste.com

https://mymodernmet.com/clare-borsch-collage-installation-art/

My idea came from a photograph I took of these traditional Mexican dolls known as “Marías’ or most commonly ‘rag dolls’.

This photo was taken using a 5o mm camera lens which allowed for the deep depth of field. I thought this photo was perfect for this atmospheric perspective project because of how in focus the dolls are. I chose oil pastels as my medium because of the softness, variety of colors, and easy smudge effects used to create the blur effect. I began with a thumbnail sketch. I later outlined the drawing on a red piece of paper using a white colored pencil and finally, I went in with the oil pastels. I used q-tips to blend colors, especially in small detailed areas such as the bows.

Sarah Sze, an American born artist, works with various different mediums such as painting, sculpture, video, and installations while also incorporating everyday materials into her work. These may range from found objects to photographs to handmade sculptures and living plants; creating comprehensive and accumulative landscapes that take over walls and stretch across museums. Her works of art take up and transform space through extensive shifts of scale or making use of overlooked and peripheral spaces. Her works also reference the scientific instruments of measurements in an attempt to try and organize the universe by attributing them to a personal system of order. Overall, her works become both a piece for organizing and taking apart information while also serving as a mechanism in locating ourselves to time and space. Her artwork basically alters our sense of time, place, and memory by transforming our experience of the physical world around us all.

https://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/artists/62-sarah-sze/

https://www.sarahsze.com/

Hello! My name is Adriana and I am a Senior wrapping up my last semester here. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Art and Chican/x-Latin/x studies. I am planning on combining theses studies to pursue a career in Art therapy. Art has always been an important thing in my life and I wanted to continue practicing it which is why I chose to take on the minor. What began as a hobby in elementary school soon turned into a creative outlet. Drawing always me to escape the chaos of life and focus on the little details. Drawing to me is soothing and a stress reliever…except for when I don’t get the product I am working towards … that’s when I know I need to take a break lol. I am hoping to get to share these experiences with others in the near future to help aid them on their healing journeys.