Legacy
Ava Dawson | Homing
Ava Dawson is a high school student as well as an artist from Charleston, South Carolina. Her work typically follows human and animal depictions across multiple mediums.
Why does this piece mean “homing” to you? How does it resemble your relationship with place?
“Legacy” is a piece I created while I was going through some very dramatic changes in my life. I was grappling with the idea of moving away from home for the first time as well as experiencing my first real heartbreak, and I felt a strong disconnect between myself and the place I grew up in. I tried to face my fears about the future by looking to the past. “Legacy” is inspired by a photo of my dad from when he was exactly the same age as I was creating the piece, all the way in Ayr, Scotland. I put myself in my dad's shoes before he immigrated to America, and found comfort in the sort of "if he can do it, why can't I?" idea. All of this to say, this piece found me when my sense of place was slipping away, and grounded me when I needed it to.
Did this piece come naturally? How do your materials reflect the place you were representing?
Fortunately, this piece came very naturally to me. I had a very solid reference photo and stylistic goal in mind, and though I only had about a week to finish it I was thankfully able to make it in time.
While it is technically similar to pieces I've made in the past in terms of style, material, and application, it differed quite a lot in subject matter. I used very familiar materials (GOLDEN brand acrylic paint on canvas) that I had used all throughout high school. It felt like the most appropriate material for the final piece in my senior collection.
As an artist, how has your relationship to place changed? Do you see a place differently after making art inspired by it?
I believe that being an artist has taught me to observe places differently. Sometimes, for example, I find myself focusing on the microscopic details of a place instead of trying to grasp its atmosphere at once, almost as if I'm observing in order to make art out of it (even when I'm not). I often do view a place differently after making art inspired by it—as cliche as it sounds, each piece of art that I make feels like it has part of my soul in it, and each time I make a piece based on place, it serves as an emotional and physical checkpoint of the time when I was there.
What’s an aspect of this piece you put a lot of thought towards?
The colors! The original reference photo is a film photo from the 1980s, so it has yellowed severely with age. I decided to embrace that and layer it with a lot of pinks and purples to try and push the nostalgic, vintage feeling it already has even more. I wanted the figure and the background to have a dreamlike quality to them, so while the colors aren't necessarily accurate to life, they serve a very specific purpose.
Legacy
Ava Dawson | Homing
Ava Dawson is a high school student as well as an artist from Charleston, South Carolina. Her work typically follows human and animal depictions across multiple mediums.
Why does this piece mean “homing” to you? How does it resemble your relationship with place?
“Legacy” is a piece I created while I was going through some very dramatic changes in my life. I was grappling with the idea of moving away from home for the first time as well as experiencing my first real heartbreak, and I felt a strong disconnect between myself and the place I grew up in. I tried to face my fears about the future by looking to the past. “Legacy” is inspired by a photo of my dad from when he was exactly the same age as I was creating the piece, all the way in Ayr, Scotland. I put myself in my dad's shoes before he immigrated to America, and found comfort in the sort of "if he can do it, why can't I?" idea. All of this to say, this piece found me when my sense of place was slipping away, and grounded me when I needed it to.
Did this piece come naturally? How do your materials reflect the place you were representing?
Fortunately, this piece came very naturally to me. I had a very solid reference photo and stylistic goal in mind, and though I only had about a week to finish it I was thankfully able to make it in time.
While it is technically similar to pieces I've made in the past in terms of style, material, and application, it differed quite a lot in subject matter. I used very familiar materials (GOLDEN brand acrylic paint on canvas) that I had used all throughout high school. It felt like the most appropriate material for the final piece in my senior collection.
As an artist, how has your relationship to place changed? Do you see a place differently after making art inspired by it?
I believe that being an artist has taught me to observe places differently. Sometimes, for example, I find myself focusing on the microscopic details of a place instead of trying to grasp its atmosphere at once, almost as if I'm observing in order to make art out of it (even when I'm not). I often do view a place differently after making art inspired by it—as cliche as it sounds, each piece of art that I make feels like it has part of my soul in it, and each time I make a piece based on place, it serves as an emotional and physical checkpoint of the time when I was there.
What’s an aspect of this piece you put a lot of thought towards?
The colors! The original reference photo is a film photo from the 1980s, so it has yellowed severely with age. I decided to embrace that and layer it with a lot of pinks and purples to try and push the nostalgic, vintage feeling it already has even more. I wanted the figure and the background to have a dreamlike quality to them, so while the colors aren't necessarily accurate to life, they serve a very specific purpose.
