Bre Shinell

BFA Graphic Design

Sitting around in quarantine you begin to mentally time travel. Second guessing past decisions reprimanding yourself for things you had no control over. There’s nothing worse than attempting to escape your own shadow but, I’m used to it so it doesn’t bother me as much. In fact I feel, as an artist and art student, the most important lesson I’ve learned is how to turn self-doubt into fuel. I haven’t completely mastered it and I personally have a lot of things to work on but I won’t let slow my work down. Though I am my own worst enemy I am also my own savior.

Within my work I cover many subjects that are usually based on the media I consume and how I interpret their messages. Lately a lot of my work is starting to focus on issues of internal conflict as well as obstacles that come about when dealing with mental illness.I usually try to experiment with many different materials to best get the point of the subject across. To me, every material has a subject that it an communicate with the most clarity. The materials I usually circle around, though, are graphite, ink, digital media, design, typography and ceramics. Recently I have begun to branch out into photography, video, and sound art.

When I create my work I always want to affect the perception of the viewer and transport them away from where they are currently standing. Whether that new location is into their own thoughts as they try to unravel a mass of typography or into the dark memories of an illustrated character, I want the audience to walk away with a new world in their pocket.