Faculty Mentor
Amy Beecham, M.F.A. and Jason John, M.F.A.
Faculty Mentor Department
Department of Art, Art History and Design
Abstract
Artist Statement
Doorway is a piece that exists in a state of duality and cyclicality, just as a door operates both as an opening and a barricade. Through decay, there is new life and new life gives way to decay. This fact of life and death existing synchronously is furthered through the cohesion of natural forms and manmade structures. In this state, the form is both familiar and unrecognizable and asks the viewer to step into a world that is as alien as it is commonplace.
This dichotomy of life and death, growth and decay, and familiar and strange is a steppingstone into the concept of the uncanny. I feel strongly that we as humans should never take our suppositions and perceptions of reality for granted and that we can never know the complex mysteries of our universe at large or our place in it. By viewing our world through the lens of the uncanny, the strangely familiar and almost knowable, we can begin to deconstruct that which we take for granted and venture into a new perspective.
I am a senior at the University of North Florida majoring in Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking with a minor in Psychology. In many of my works, like Doorway, I attempt to explore mortality, the uncanny, and the unknown. These topics are important to me as, in their mystery, they help me better understand and prioritize in my own life. The acceptance of mortality and the unknowable is almost comforting in its absoluteness. Upon graduation, I hope to work in the art and medical fields and continue exploring the uncanny in my future works.
Recommended Citation
Guttormson, Jaycee R.
(2022)
"Doorway,"
PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas: Vol. 3:
No.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/pandion_unf/vol3/iss1/2
