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​artist statement: ​

 

We perceive through our bodily senses, absorb and evaluate each encounter, and construct means to interpret, respond to and convey our understanding to others.  This human space, between encounter and communication, is where we make our moments personal.

 

The activity of perceptual drawing holds me in that human space longer. In my effort to portray a moment in a drawn image, I consider the situation of the encounter and the depth of the physical and psychological responses triggered in the moment; situational elements like time, pace, movement, space, pressure, light, and darkness trigger feelings of anticipation, urgency, frustration, pain, anxiety, fear, annoyance, joy, vulnerability, frenzy, hope and despair.  Moments are not snapshots.  They build upon a combination of various perceptions and multiple responses.  Some are fleeting.  Some endure.  My work seeks to actualize the moment.  

 

In order to perceive these simultaneous stimuli and accurately identify the responses, I deliberately hone my senses and heighten my awareness by working Outside In and Inside Out.  Outside In perception involves purposely shifting my senses (obscuring vision, changing balance, creating physical dissonance) in order to encounter familiar experience from uncomfortable or “outside” perspectives. This exaggerated sensory environment physically acknowledges the unwieldy task of representing present experience as image. It creates an element of bodily strain that enhances and accentuates the resulting emotional and interpretive responses--revealing previously unrecognized elements of the moment. Conversely, Inside Out perception is self-revelatory--starting with an internal insight, emotion, or belief and representing a situation certain to connect that internal starting point with recognizable environmental or experiential triggers that resonate personally. 

 

These are my moments--shared.

Emily Sheehan

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