“I hope that my work will enable folks to say what’s inside their hearts or on their minds after they don’t have the precise phrases.”
Carissa Potter describes herself as “a human longing for connection.” Through printmaking, writing and installations, she has pursued this significant purpose of fostering interpersonal experiences. Her work spans varied mediums, capturing the intricacies of such human experiences with emotional depth and resonance.
Potter has held residencies at Facebook, Google and the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California. Additionally, her items have been featured on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and Urban Outfitters. Through her firm, People I’ve Loved, she has expanded her attain to over 600 shops worldwide.
Her want for significant connections is clear in her work — which mixes phrases with drawings to create items that deeply resonate with audiences. Samsung Newsroom spoke with Potter about her inventive journey and the way she makes use of artwork to attach with folks.
▲ Carissa Potter
Artistic Identity and Philosophy
Q: Please briefly introduce your self.
I’m an individual eager for connection. I write books, have conversations, create artwork installations and course of feelings by means of textual content and pictures. My firm, People I’ve Loved, has made objects to foster connections between people and non-humans in Oakland, California, since 2012.
Q: What conjures up you essentially the most in your artistic work?
There is a lot pleasure in downside fixing and considering issues by means of by creating one thing. From a really early age, I’ve requested myself deep questions that require most of these artistic ideas. What about people make us need to stick by means of arduous moments? How can meanings exist in a meaningless universe?
Mirrors of Emotion as Themes and Narratives
Q: Your openness in sharing private ideas and feelings provides a particular layer of connection to your art work. How has this transparency formed your creations?
For art work to be visually attention-grabbing, there should be some sort of emotional relationship. I gravitate towards artwork that’s someway reflective of my very own expertise — virtually like holding up a mirror to a life that I both need or have had. Whenever I make one thing that’s arduous, painful or stunning, I’ve religion that the piece is reassuring somebody on the market.
“Anytime individuals are open, trustworthy and weak, there’s a unconscious invitation for somebody to return the sentiment.”
In a visible sense, the concept of connection is most immediately communicated utilizing phrases and figuration. So, that’s what I are likely to lean on — telling tales that we lengthy to listen to, however someway have had a tough time discovering attributable to societal limitations on what we’re allowed to really feel. The concept that emotions are responses to exterior stimuli is emotionally liberating. We don’t have to evaluate ourselves nearly as good or unhealthy — we simply exist and that makes us worthy in and of itself.
▲ Carissa Potter together with her daughter Margaret
Q: How do viewers usually reply to those deeply private dimensions?
Anytime individuals are open, trustworthy and weak, there’s a unconscious invitation for somebody to return the sentiment. I attempt arduous to provide folks the advantage of the doubt and perceive that I can really feel this fashion they usually can really feel that approach. Both views maintain worth.
Then, when somebody says, “I feel that way too,” “I found your work when I was going through something so similar,” or “Your work helped me accept my broken self,” I simply really feel like part of one thing higher than myself.
“For artwork to be visually interesting, there must be some kind of emotional relationship.”
Q: In your discussions on emotional granularity, you point out utilizing artwork as a launch for emotions you won’t specific in any other case. How does artwork present a platform for these feelings?
We typically want to say the precise factor or do…
