As most of my work is figurative, I seem to associate its genesis in my daydreams. Although some of the dreams are aspirations for the future, most of them relate to nostalgic memories and experiences, such as afternoon sun on a summer’s day in Berlin or the cool-to-warm temperature ratio of the air after a spring rain. My motivation is to preserve these little moments ultimately, so they do not get lost in the monotony of the day-to-day. The synesthetic color choices and anthropomorphic geometries of my work are my methods of confronting memory decay and preserving experience. My practice is a meditative one, in which I create from thousands of small pieces to form the whole. It is heavily rooted in the haptic sensations of daily life and emotions, described by Hume as intrinsic to the human ethos. It is also evocative of my affinity for the colored manner of painting and sculpting during the Baroque. I do not create so that everything can align symmetrically; I diffuse light, bend lines, soften, and harden accordingly. The work showcased in this exhibition here explores a moment of rejuvenation and the excitement that ensues.
Hailey Petersen is a mixed media artist. In addition to being a student of the School of Art + Art History + Design in the 3D4M program, she is a pupil of the College of Built Environments, majoring in Urban Design, with a minor in Architecture. Hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, Hailey spent her formative years in a juxtaposed environment of ephemeral neon light and resolute red sandstone. Her first introduction to art was drawing lessons that she was enrolled in at age seven when she refused to take piano lessons like her siblings prior. Hailey came to the University of Washington to study civil engineering, due to her affinity for the built environment, but later changed her plans for a more comprehensive approach to understanding the dynamic relationship between urban landscapes and art. Her coursework in landscape and architecture and their ontological foundations has dramatically shaped how she works, using her own, and others’, experiences of being in imaginative and respondent ways through ceramic, wood, and digital fabrication.