Fernanda Espinoza
Artist Statement
My artwork is my diary. Some of my pieces show experimentation with new art mediums, while others depict my experiences. The subject matter that my artwork pertains to is my feelings and thoughts surrounding anxiety, loneliness, and transformation. The motivator in my artwork is the ability to express the social problems I experience, and the conversations these themes can evoke.
The early stages of an artwork are born whenever I have a vivid dream, or directly from one of my diary entries before the pandemic. Growing up, to cope with the complexities of being raised in a Catholic immigrant family, I wrote my fears and anxieties into a diary. Many of those entries portray reflections on family separation, undocumented parents, being the eldest daughter, as well as figuring out my sexual orientation. Because these themes are very sensitive to me and cannot be explicitly shown in my artwork just yet, I choose to use more subtle and surrealist imagery to convey my experiences.
The imagery I use are of insects, more specifically the insects that most of us would swat away if they were to land on us. The moth is a symbol that I use repeatedly in my artworks, as they represent life and death and how transformative these themes can be. My identity is best reflected by the moth because I have found them fascinating ever since I was a child. They symbolize the change and transformation of life, which then reflects the life I live today as a queer, Latinx person with a complex upbringing.
The medium I tend to work with the most is charcoal on paper. I find that this medium is very messy to work with, and it captures the movement of insects successfully. Despite my love for drawing, I also experiment with other art forms such as relief printmaking, oil paint on canvas, and ceramics. Because my artwork revolves around my life experiences, the experimentation of using different art mediums captures the essence of figuring out my lifepath in the same way I find new ways to use materials.
2-Dimensional Artwork
"Lo místico sobre la mente de Fer," Artist Statement
“Lo místico sobre la mente de Fernanda,” directly translates to, “The mystical about the mind of Fernanda,” regarding me, the artist and the one who experiences the work more deeply than anyone else can. In this piece, I use visual imagery of insects and plants, texture, and composition to show my mind process in my everyday life. I found myself inspired by, the artist I wrote a report on for Project #3, Lee Jinju, and the way she explores the subconscious through imagery.
The imagery I used are bugs that I deem to be silent in the way the approach you. The visuals are meant to look mystical, and imaginary. I wanted to use the bugs to symbolize how I make decisions. I have a wasp and a moth and ladybugs on my shoulder, like the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. I used moths, ants, wasps, spiders, and lady bugs because they don’t make noise when they approach you. This imagery is used to interpret the way everyday problems approach me without any announcement, and the loud wasp on the left dictates a lot of my reactions and decisions. Some bugs approach me with malintent, while others may seem scary but are harmless.
Alongside imagery, I use texture to show the flowy feel of my mind. My mind is never quiet. It feels as though my brain reacts in fireworks, like Remy from Ratatouille when he eats the fruit and cheese. I wanted to subtly depict this experience with the plants and organic shapes of the background. The texture used in the plants and on my self-portrait keep the eye constantly moving throughout the piece. The way I use texture adds onto the way my imagery interacts with me and my brain.
Another very essential formal element that I use is composition. I do not have an evident ground plane, as far as I know. My feet may look grounded because they are flat, so maybe the viewer might see a ground plane, and that is totally fine. I want the viewer to interact with my piece as much as I would interact with my mind myself.
These three formal elements work together to show the viewer just how busy my mind is. I wanted to make piece where my mind could be “seen” to the viewer. “Lo místico sobre la mente de Fernanda,” was a tough piece to work on continuously because I always worried about how others may think of the piece. I find a lot of my pieces to be vulnerable to the viewer, so this keeps the pattern of my previous works going. I believe that what makes my art unique is the sense of not being grounded, there’s always this sense of floating-ness. With my piece, I hope the viewer can experience the semi-mystical feeling I have when I make decisions.
"Love Overgrown," Artist Statement
My Japanese archetype is passion, which was not super surprising because I like to think I am quite a passionate person. Passion is a feeling that I tend to internalize more than outwardly express. I cherish small moments in life, especially with a romantic partner. Furthermore, my inspiration comes from the desire I have of having a partner who I can share special moments in time with. Small moments with a partner are the most valuable to me since they all seem to build up over time to the point where they become so big that there is no room for insecurities within the relationship. When I think of passion, I also think of two lovers outside in the rain with those ugly yellow raincoats and muddy boots. Something about rain and relationships is so comforting to me. I also think of a shared greenhouse, full of miscellaneous plants that are overgrown and sprawled all over the place. I see passion as something that overgrows, just as the plants do in my piece. In conclusion, I would hope for the viewer to take into consideration their small moments with their partners, or even with their friends and loved ones, and reflect on them.
3-Dimensional Artwork
My experience with Wheelthrowing!
Being introduced to wheel throwing this semester has been harder than any painting, drawing, and printmaking course I have taken. I was so used to being able to predict what the result of an artwork would look like, so the process of bisque firing and glazing clay was (and still is) completely new to me. Despite not being completely happy with any of the results of the projects I made, I still enjoyed the process of making it.
Throughout the course, I found myself hesitating a lot in terms of pulling the walls of my tumblers, mugs, and bowls higher than what I pulled them to. This hesitation resulted in a lot of my pieces being small, short, and with thicker walls. It also resulted in a lack of experimentation with glaze combinations and more complex vessels. Another challenge I faced was getting in the mood of making a new project after not being completely happy with the previous project. Fortunately, I adopted the mindset of persevering despite struggling with throwing different pieces during the last three weeks of this course.
Despite struggling with learning how to throw vessels and persevering, I enjoyed the patience ceramics has taught me. One of my favorite projects was the Stackable Bowls assignment. Although I wished my bowls were taller, I am still excited to gift them to my friends. I also really enjoyed adding my star signature on the foot of each of my projects. In the future, I want to experiment with throwing taller vessels and make a tea set someday.
Other Artwork
"El sueño Americano," Artist Statement (2022)
“El Sueño Americano,” is about the experience a migrating child endures when having the ambition of a safe life, but being met with the worst conditions. I chose to use the contrast between the colorful background and the black and white foreground to represent the expectations and reality of migrating. “Thoughts and prayers,” have always been the response a lot of people have instead of advocating for these families. Immigration and migration have been two of the topics that I have been directly impacted by since I was born. It is a struggle where I have felt like I was alone, with no support system. Therefore, the message of my piece is to bring awareness to this issue.
Recently, the death of an 8 year-old girl at the border brought awareness to the conditions of these facilities. Kica Matos, president of the NILC and the IJF, stated that the asylum ban (Title 42) has made it nearly impossible for families to seek basic necessities like medical attention and asylum, which is against our American values. Texan detention centers show how migrants are packed in cages and guided to lay and sleep on the floor with foil blankets as they wait to be attended. I find this topic to be extremely important because they are people too, yet they live in such harsh conditions. This topic is important to talk about in the K-12 setting because children may be in classes where there are children who are directly impacted by this. Immigrants need to be seen and they need support systems. With so much hatred and discrimination in the world, we need to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.