Artist Statements

Learn more about the artists and works featured in the Fall 2022 issue

Laila Brustin ’25
Landscape (collage, 2022) front cover, Pinks: Dreaming (collage, 2022) pg. 13

For me, collaging has become an exer- cise in pairing colors and blending photos together. This piece is from my collection “Pinks” where I practice formatting similar elements and the same photographs in as many new ways as possible. I think that experimentation and art for its own sake is important. I want this piece to demonstrate that being creative with limitations and prompts can open up a world of possibility.

Dan Calderon ’24
Mamá con su Retrato (Futuros Mezclados (film photography, 2021) pg. 54

In this work, Calderon photographs their mother while holding a portrait of her younger self in a moment of introspection. The piece is part of a larger project that looks into the themes of lineage, mixed heritage, and family legacy. The mix of textures and patterns further illustrate the vibrant mix and heart of the Mexican spirit.

Amelia A. Clark ’25
Jacaranda (graphite on paper/digital, 2022) pg. 48

I am primarily an oil portraitist, but have lately been enjoying the great texture of ink illustration. Jacaranda is part of a larger project of mine, exploring the inner lives of knights and the things they love through traditional floral symbolism. I like to imagine that the two figures are old friends torn apart by circumstance, reuniting and recalling a youthful pledge to marry if fate ever brought them together again.

Emily Levine ’24
Opposites in Path (photography, 2022) pg. 10

I spent one of my summer photo excur- sions on Coney Island, basking in the early morning sun and the late afternoon glow. “Opposites in Path” was taken on site at the 40th annual Mermaid Parade. Needless to say, there were many characters crossing paths.

Emma Sullivan ’24
Twitter Psychic (collage, 2022) pg. 55

“Twitter Psychic” is the vision board for a poem that was later compiled using words from the Terms of Service and advertising from the app Co-Star’s website. My work as a poet and visual artist is in conversation with automation and how it impacts our relationships to our creative brains and our expectations of them.

Li Yin ’26
Stampede (screen print, 2019) pg. 20

I rode horses in Western and English styles, training, taking care of, or going horse packing with a number of these wonderful animals. I designed this print as a tribute to the five horses that I love interacting with; each of them has a special place in my heart.

ZZ ’24
Plotting Flight (acrylic on paper, 2022) pg. 36, Knife Forest (acrylic on paper, 2022) pg. 37

Paintings allow a coded way to communicate. “Plotting Flight” is to Stella Lee.

Dan Calderon ’24
Emily in Black (digital art, 2021) pg. 44

Dan Calderon is a Mexican-American artist who likes to work with multimedia, pho- tography, digital art, and traditional pencil work. In this piece, Calderon uses digital art to draw Emily Dickinson shrouded in flowers, as her flowery-themed work has constantly followed them throughout their time at Wellesley.

Elizabeth Chou ’26
Mixed Media on Canvas (2022) (mixed me- dia on canvas, 2022) pg. 27

I am a visual artist that uses both traditional and digital mediums. This piece in particular explores texture in relation to self and culture through the use of satin ribbon, lace, pearl beads, acrylic paint, canvas, and spackle. I hope the depth from layering various materials draws you in.

Maya Gurewitz ’26
The Garage (oil pastel drawing, 2021) pg. 49

I primarily am a digital photographer, and mostly work in digital mediums. However, “The Garage” is an oil pastel recreation of a photo I took and edited while hanging out with friends in one of their garages.

Bell Beecher Pitkin ’23
here we are where heaven meets earth (wet-plate photography, 2022) pg. 31, Cour- age (wet-plate photography, 2022) pg. 22

I am a multimedia artist who works pri- marily in photography. Recently, I have been utilizing process-intensive, wet-plate photographic methods to explore themes of identity, memory, and place.

Emma Sullivan ’24
Feeling Blue (acrylic paintings, 2022) pg. 39, 40

Images are an excerpt from an artist book and series of acrylic paintings: Feeling Blue, a recounting of Wellesley’s summer landscape. For more information and images from the series, please visit emmasophiasullivan.com

Li Yin ’26
Human Crimes (digital art, 2022) pg. 17, 18

This pair of paintings express my reflection that the pandemic is a mirror, revealing kindness and compassion, but selfishness and hatred too. Authorities hide the truth to save face, governments twist facts to support political campaigns, people confront each other with discrimination and violence.The two characters can be interpreted as the human race, the insects as the world we live in. As the people devour their respective bugs, they gradually melt into pandemonium.