Hello! Welcome to the blog of self-critically acclaimed artist Eryn Simmons. Go ahead and make yourself at home, take a seat on whatever surface you see fits. I don't have any food or drink to offer though so I hope you brought something with you-
This semester, I'll be working on a series of pieces exploring different family structures and the impacts they make on people, and how acceptable they are (or should be!) in today's society. Coming from a family of divorce, my family structure has been obscured from the traditional mom and dad with kids structure (to be specific it's now a mom and brother at home and a dad, step mom, and two half sister in a different state). With the rise of divorce, LGBT families, and an influx of people who want to completely abandon the life that Baby Boomers used to experience. Therefore, as a member of both the LGBT and divorced family communities, the topic of the effects of alternative family structures hits very close to home and I would like to delve deeper into the subject.
In my research I'll be exploring the worlds of an assortment of family structures from adopted families (consisting of both heterosexual and homosexual couples) to families of different cultural backgrounds to polyamorous families, and even families made up of extremely close-knit families (what I personally consider to be my family due to my extended family not being too close).
This subject is something that is meant for any person to connect to, seeing as family is a part of our social nature as human beings. Even if your family isn't made up of biological relatives, or if you don't feel like you have one (I hope you find one!), there's a place for you in this work.
So what's been happening so far? Where's the art??
Well, here's a few pages of sketches that I've worked on so far for this project (don't mind the little doodle on the side there):
These sketches were made with an 8 piece series in mind. As of right now, I'm unsure of if I will make these with acrylic paint or on a digital medium. All I know is that it will be tangible at some point and 10 x 10. I've explored a good number of symbols to represent family, compositions, as well as figuring out just what about family I want to express.
The idea that I'm the most attached to is using animals to symbolize different family structures. I would like to utilize the fact that certain animals have habits that correlate to the structures that I'm exploring, as well as the fact that they have physical attributes that I can use to represent same sex couples that will be easily read by a general audience (lions, deer, etc). In addition to this, animals are often used in children's media, as well as simplistic styles that I would like to convey in this particular work. A series that's visually appealing to children is significant because family is something you grow up with, people live with their families as they grow up, or they're reminded of what they don't have. No matter your experience, family is a significant part of every person's childhood.
Overall, the point of the piece is to highlight different family structures in a generally positive and lighthearted way, with the exception of those lacking one, in order to appeal to people's memories and their relationships with the concept of family.
As of now I still have a lot of decisions to make before I can even begin to attack this piece; however, I have high hopes and I'm very excited to work on it!
If you look closely enough, you'll see that I have a couple artists written down within my sketches. One of these lovely artists is Carlotta Notaro.
I discovered her while searching for a style to use in my piece, as well as other artists who have had the topic of family within their art. I found her through the family portraits she creates for people, and she is the one who inspired me to utilize a more charming and simplistic style for my works.
I found her work on Behance where you should totally go check her out!!
As for my thoughts on what I'm working on currently, I think I've got a pretty good grasp on what I need to do in order to progress! I'm looking forward to seeing my peer's pieces, as well as seeing what the outcome of my own will be! I'm going to try my hardest to keep myself in a positive mood about the work that I'm doing here in order to not mentally wear myself out.
Good luck everyone and have a good day!