The Art of Kayla Reid

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Coming Together

Here are some of my more recent sculptures that question plant and human relationships.

Intertwined

Stoneware, potting soil, live plants

Junior

Fall 2014

Becoming One

Stoneware and potting soil

Junior

Fall 2014

Grounded

Stoneware, live plants, potting soil

Junior

Fall 2014

Hand in Hand

Stoneware, live plants, potting soil

Junior

Fall 2014

This is only a part of an alter to the tree spirits. I personally like it as just a table centerpiece

Saturday, December 7, 2013

What Remains-ceramics final

Kayla Reid
What Remains
Under glazed Earthenware
2013

Lets Talk Sculpture Installed in Gallery

Kayla Reid
Lets Talk
Earthenware
2013

Family Cares final Sculpture

Kayla Reid
Family Cares
Earthenware, under glaze, and Decal images
2013

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

My work focuses on plants as conscious living beings. Through research I have discovered that plants can have awareness of their surroundings, recognizing plants that are next to them or other organisms that interact with them. In another article I found research that said that when related plants such as parents or siblings are planted to gather in a pot, their roots do not grow as deep therefore they do not compete with one another whereas they would if the plants were unrelated. This study shows that plants emphasize and recognize their families just as a human would their own. If trees are living beings then is it right to mass murder them through means of clear cutting and desertification? Trees and plants are more complex beings then people acknowledge them to be because people assume that they are not like humans because they do not display emotion, talk, or communicate with us. People need plants for things like wood, food, and housing therefor people only see plants as a resource for man’s needs rather than similar beings.

One of my pieces focuses on the specific scientific discovery that trees are able to communicate with each other using their root systems by releasing chemical symbols. I use human lips symbolizing how people use their lips to communicate with one another. In another piece, I give human characteristics to trees. Using scale, I identify the big tree as parent and the cut stump as an offspring. The cut tree has faces of tree stumps with sad faces to further emphasize that plants have feelings as well. The larger tree has an angry face on it to show that the parent tree is angry that its offspring was cut down just as a person would be mad if someone harmed their family members especially by murdering them. The larger tree is angry that people are violently sawing down its family, friends, forest, and community while the cut tree is telling the larger tree how upset it is by using imagery of saws cutting trees and faces on the cut logs of trees. My final piece shows imagery of cut forests and stacked logs to question the tree stumps are like the remnants of something that was once living, like a grave marker in a cemetery. A clear-cut forest is like a cemetery, only the remains of what was living.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Summer Time Drawing

Rose
flower: pencil
Background: compressed charcoal

Tulips
flowers: pencil
Background: vine charcoal

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Last Sketchbook Sketches

Petunias Budding, Flowering, and Leafing
pen in sketchbook
9x11

A Toy Cow and Fingers
pen
9x11

Lucky Money Toad Sitting on Coins
pen
9x11

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Final Artist Statment

My drawings consist of various still lifes, landscapes and portraits focusing on shading, tones, textures, and composition. A wide variety of media are used in my drawings such as charcoal, conte, ink, and graphite. The water added in my ink creates a water texture with many different tones. Ink wash is layered from the light values to the dark values adding depth to the object. Rough, quick brush strokes give my ink drawings an expressive feel, interesting textures, and line variations. I create different values and a wide range of shading in a given drawing blending the charcoal and white conte creating a drawing with smooth textures. The collages incorporate different shades of paper into one drawing creating harmony and unity in a given piece. The paper running off the collages gives the piece interesting shapes and accents allowing various parts of the drawing to wander outside the picture plane. Basic rules of proportions are demonstrated in my portrait drawings, showing individualized features, interesting shading and details. Wine bottles are interesting to draw because curving forms of bottles relax me along with the many tones and shapes the glass casts. Portraits are enjoyable because drawing many different features of peoples’ face while depicting their emotions is a challenge. However, plants are my favorite to draw because the different shapes and negative space the leaves create make an interesting composition. Attempting to create intricate shading, wrinkles, and meandering veins throughout the leaves is enjoyable along with the delicate beauty of their flowers. Different lines are used to illustrate the movement of leaves. Tress in particular gives me a powerful, yet relaxing, mood when creating the details of their massive trunks and irregular roots.