Project Statement
This project changed immensely from proposal to defense. I feel a strong connection to addressing burnout, perfectionism, and creative pressure when discussing this project. Throughout this process I often felt hopeless, lost, and it would take hours to just make one mark on a page. I hope that this project, and the research, time, love, and sometimes grueling forcing of myself to just simply create something, anything, can be helpful to others.
if I have learned one thing from Alpenglow, it is that getting an idea onto paper from an in- side the brain is a feat to celebrate on its own, regardless of if we assign it a value of being “good” or not.
Create freely, experiment endlessly, and destroy your notion of perfection. Embrace your curiosity and unexpected joys, and allow yourself rest.
Safe travels, wanderer.
Artist Statement
Sara McCandless combines humor and expressive shapes to imagine playful characters and scenarios. Her work is inspired by the ridiculousness in everyday life, and creates an unexpected juxtaposition between absurd and mundane.
Originally from a small town in Colorado at the foot of Pikes Peak, she often references the landscape of her upbringing with depictions of isolated mountainscapes, forest creatures, and quiet desert nights.
Alpenglow is a project aimed at self-discovery, keeping alive the desire to explore and create, and to give permission to wander aimlessly in the dark.
Also, she is definitely not two dogs in a coat, no matter what you may have heard.
