EMERGING ARTIST SERIES
Chelsea Snead
“To Those In-Between”
April 2, 2021 - April 23, 2021
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a child, I was an avid reader. Any type of printed word available was fine, but what caught my attention most were words that told a story. One of my favorite stories was a picture book version of the classic fairy tale The Bremen Town Musicians. It had the most beautiful and expressive illustrations to complement the tale. This book was a large part of the reason that I developed a love of the fantastical, magical, mythical and legendary.
To me, books and stories are windows to other worlds, and I wanted to be a part of them all. Curiosity drove me to look deeper. The saying goes that every story has two sides, but there are so many varying accounts to each myth that make me believe that there are many more. I seek to take these tales and condense them into a single concept to depict them as something that could exist. Stories and traditions exist across all cultures and bringing them to life blurs the lines between people.
The art I create taps into a childlike love of storytelling and fantasy. There is, however, a degree of darkness and uncertainty, as my art lives in places where things simultaneously exist and do not. It represents things left unsaid, in the same way that a fairy tale ends in “happily ever after”, yet often no one is concerned about what the “after” entails. Is there happiness to these stories, or does something dark remain unseen after the book is closed? I leave these works as an answer to those struggling in-between worlds of their own making.
ARTIST BIO
Chelsea Snead graduated from Emory & Henry College in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in both Studio Art and Biology. She grew up in Salem, Virginia, where its small-town feel, coupled with frequent visits to her maternal grandmother’s house in the mountains gave her an appreciation for nature and an active imagination. Having been raised around animals for the entirety of her childhood, she developed a keen love and curiosity for creatures of all types. She devoted a large amount of time researching any subject that interested her, mostly science and biology. This led to drawing a plethora of animals, both real and imagined, based on those ideas.
When she was older, she developed an interest in learning about other cultures, partly due to the influence of reading foreign books, or books that took place in other countries. Books displaying fantasy elements inspired from legends were among her favorites growing up. This childlike intrigue of folklore eventually gave her the itch to travel, so in high school she visited both Italy and Greece, while in college she studied abroad in Japan. While in Japan, she took classes in language, linguistics, communications, culture, and history. Many of these influences can be seen in her art and subject matters.
Other than drawing and painting, she likes to read, sit with her dog and cat, or relax and play games during her free time.
EXHIBIT CATALOG
If interested in purchasing any pieces from this exhibit, contact Meg Weston (meg@riverviews.net).
