KENZIE HELMINK

As an artist, I enjoy working with all kinds of media. My interests range from painting, to woodworking, to graphic design, and beyond. Some of my most experimental compositions have been abstract pieces, created by using spray paint as my medium of choice. When I first began to create non-objective pieces, I started on a very large scale with oil paint. As my ideas continued to grow I experimented with different medias and eventually fell in love with spray paint and the different ways I can manipulate the paint on canvases of all sizes. I have been using spray paints for over three years, and the more I create with them, the more I grow as an artist and expand my ideas. Emotion plays a large role in my artwork, from the colors I use, to the title of each painting. Since I have been working through a series of non-objective works I use titles and colors to communicate feelings and ideas that are open-ended for viewers to interpret for themselves.

What I value most about my artwork is that it is not about myself. My artwork is about what I can give to others. Growing up, I was always fascinated with the idea of art because there is no right or wrong answer to the question posed in someone’s work. What is ugly in one person’s eyes may be beautiful to another, and the story an artist tells in their work is never-ending. I like to experiment with colors and the moods that come from them as they work together to give an opportunity for the viewer to have an emotional response. I believe that my emotional link to each painting is not the only emotion that could be felt. Like the impressionist painter Edgar Degas said, art is all about what you can make others see, and along with that, what you can make them feel. The artwork I create doesn’t matter unless someone can feel something when they view it, so I like to create complex designs that leave opportunities for anyone to interpret and take new ideas with them, including myself. I truly believe artwork is about the viewer. The artist is the provider of opportunity, but the viewer is the one in charge. The viewer decides how to respond, what emotion they feel, and whether they like the artwork or not. The artist's only part is providing the opportunity to feel and react. The great thing about being an artist is that I can create the art and play the artist role, but I can also take a step back and become a viewer. Many times I will come back to one of my own pieces and respond differently than when I first created it. I see this as a blessing because not only does it bring me joy to create, but it is also very important for me to be able to respond to the aesthetic of my finished pieces.