Blog / 2017 / What Liking Art Means

I talk a bit about the way that art belongs not only to the artist in my TEDx talk.

I love all the art I show in this video. Often, my adoration comes from the playfulness, and that’s especially true with Laurie Melia, Andrea Burnett, and Mariko Paterson. Sometimes it’s more about the use of line, like with Ashley Ja’nae and Tenya Rodriguez. With Sonia Lazo, Anna Sarukhanova, Maribel Pena, and Hayley Powers, I’m reacting to the display of strength in the images—in the subject matter or in the bold forms. I love the work of Rosina Godwin and Tabitha Vevers for the way they capture beauty without turning away from things that are sometimes gross or difficult.

Emma Larsson amazes me with her abstraction. She makes me want to give up figurative art. And the way Nicole Coursen and Sally Hewett use their chosen media astonishes me and inspires me to push my chosen medium. Everything that comes out of Joi Murugavell’s head feels like it’s made just for me, a secret love letter from her brain to mine. And Amylee and Shayla Maddox are two of my best artist friends—relationships that could never happen except that the light in their art feeds me.