Artist statement

I know that when I was writing my artist statement for my upcoming gallery show, I struggled a lot with how to write it. What should I include? How should I phrase things? My advice to you is as follows:

1. When you think about it too long, it gets harder and harder to write it
2. Think of it as a brief conversation to someone who asked you why you make this art. It can be helpful to think of your AS standing in for you to explain your art to someone who is viewing your gallery/exhibit but you are not there.
3. Let it be your own. 
4. Ask for advice from non-art friends. They'll be more helpful. Art friends will compare your AS to their's and the advice you receive may not be worthwhile.
5. Tailor the AS to fit your exhibit. Having one AS for all of your work is probably not the best idea.

I've included my own AS as an example. 

Notice at the end of my AS, there is a haiku about myself. The exhibit that is going up soon uses haiku's for all of my captions. Also in my AS, I directly reference a couple of the images in the gallery. 

Artist Statement

For as long as I can remember, art has been my main interest. It has been a place where I can be as creative as I want, where I can express myself. Over the past few years, photography has become my primary focus. With my photography, I try to capture the world as I see it. I’ve been told so many times about how I have a “great eye” and I’ve never understood what that meant. But I think I do now. I see the world differently, and I want to share that with you. Many of my images are everyday things, but they are focused on the details that people may miss or overlook. Things like the dew on the grass, or the shy fox in the forest, or even the fleeting colors of sunrise. This has become an exploration that helps me to slow down and really focus on all that God has created. This collection of work comes from my desire to capture and share these moments with others.

Brandi Vandygriff

A collector of photos,

And fleeting images

Verses you need to remember

When you feel overwhelmed...

• “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” ~ Philippians 4: 8 
• “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” ~ Ephesians 6: 10-12
• “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~ Matthew 6: 34
• “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” ~ Psalm 1: 1-3
• “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” ~ Psalm 139: 23-24
• “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” ~ Matthew 6: 25-27
• “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” ~ Psalm 119: 105
• “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” ~ 1 John 4: 18 
• “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” ~ Psalm 139: 14
• “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands….” ~ Isaiah 49: 16
• “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” ~ Psalm 23: 4
• “The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” ~ Psalm 27: 1
• “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.” ~ Psalm 119: 114
• “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” ~ Psalm 91: 1-2
• “‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.'” ~ Psalm 91: 14-16
• “They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” ~ Psalm 112: 7
• “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” ~ Isaiah 41: 13
• “I, even I, am he who comforts you.” ~ Isaiah 51: 12
• “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” ~ Jeremiah 17: 7-8
• “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ~ Joshua 1: 5
• “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11: 28-30
• “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” ~ Galatians 6: 9

 

Word of the year...

I started this year wanting to choose a word to focus on, but nothing I contemplated felt quite right. But since I've been so sick and no one can figure out what's wrong with my body, I've had to rely on God and really lean into his love. He gives me strength for when I feel so weak.

My word of the year is "trust". I have to trust that God knows what is happening within my body. I have to trust that he will give the doctors the wisdom and skill to find and treat whatever is ailing me. I have to trust that he will give me the strength to carry on and not let people realize how sick I am. I don't want pity. I don't want people asking me how I feel. But I'm struggling. This word is so hard for me to remember. I have to focus on it everyday. It's become my thing to pause when I feel overwhelmed with symptoms and school to just cry out and say "God, I trust you! I put my faith in you, and I need you to guide me and comfort me. Please don't leave me!"

Let that become your prayer today.

Also, this week is eating disorder awareness week. I have never struggled with an eating disorder, but I have struggled with depression. I just want to tell you all that you are never alone. Reach out for help. Someone will grab your hand and never let go. That someone is God. Trust in him.

Some days...

Some days it's all you can do to carry on

To just smile and say I'm fine

While inside you sit there and cry.

Some times it's easier to just ignore what you feel

While other days, it's all you can think about

What about that test score?

That doctor's visit?

That rumor I heard someone started about me?

That shouldn't matter.

Those things do not have power over you.

God has the power in your life

Let him in

Let him change you.

Let him love you.

You are more precious than silver or gold.

There's an old hymn that says

Great is thy faithfulness

That's not talking about your lover.

It's talking about how faithful God is

He is always there

He never sleeps nor slumbers

Cast your cares upon him for he cares for him

You will never win the war if you fight alone

Call on God and he will rescue you

Riding the Struggle Bus

If you have been reading my blog, you know I've been riding the illness train for a while now. It's been exactly a month since I first became ill. Who knows what this illness has in store for my body.

God knows.

The Bible tells us that he has great plans for us. Plans that won't harm us. Plans that bring us hope.

He is our healer and our provider.

We need only to trust in Him and His timing.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not onto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Valentine

I usually don't have a jealous streak. Usually I'm pretty tame. But one time a year, Valentines, I get really frustrated. I want to get a Valentine. I usually don't get one. I used to get something every year. But now I'm an "adult" and must get it for myself.

The Bible tells us that jealousy isn't a good thing, But it also says that because we are human, jealousy just happens sometimes. So, my advice to you is this... Don't let jealousy over-run your day. Just because you don't have a Valentine doesn't mean that you're not loved. Maybe they just don't have the money to send you something.

Happy Singles Awareness Day! Go buy yourself some chocolate and watch a movie with some friends.

Lenten Season

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of the Season of Lent. The time of Lent is modeled after Jesus' 40 day fast and temptation in the desert. In modern times, it is a time of fasting, solitude and silence. Every year, I have chosen a thing to fast from. One year it was Facebook. Another, chocolate. For the past three years or so I've given up sweet tea. One year it was only sweet tea, one it was only drink water (and the occasional sprite), This year, I also gave up sweet tea. I told myself that I wouldn't drink sweet tea, and would only drink water. I will take one meal a day and have something like juice, lemonade, or flavored water to mix things up a little. I can only drink sprite when I feel sick.

I challenge you to take one thing (food, a tv show, ect) and give it up from now until Easter Sunday.

Because I typically would buy sweet tea from Sonic or McDonalds, I will give the money I would've spent to the church. I usually went a couple times a week to get tea, so that's only a couple extra dollars a week on top of my normal tithe and offering.

I also challenge you to give the money you saved (if you are giving up something you usually would buy) to your home church or charity of your choice.

Sick of being sick

I have been struck down with a mystery illness (ailment or something) since January 15. Guys, that's nearly a month. I've had test after test, with everything showing up "normal". I am so tired of this... So maybe, just maybe, someone out there has been where I am with similar symptoms and can give me a direction to research on this ailment.

Ok, so the symptoms...

• Abdominal pain (mostly right side. Started out low in abdomen and now lives in the upper part of my abdomen)
• Nausea
• Loss of appetite
• fatigue
• Joint pain
• On again, off again low grade fever

I went to the ER shortly after these symptoms began to appear because we thought it was my appendix or something super serious. But the CT they ran while I was there showed nothing out of the ordinary except my liver was slightly enlarged. They sent me home with instructions to follow up with a GP. So I did. I was then sent to a specialist in gastroenterology. He has run a couple more tests (blood work with specific tests and ultrasounds) and everything is "normal". No one knows what is wrong with my body. So please, keep me in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for more diagnostic testing. I've already lost 3 pounds off of my 120 pound body.  

A little more planner stuff

I've been watching a lot of plan with me videos lately. I'm not sure why, but whatever. The person doing the video usually (like around 95% of the time) uses sticker kits that they buy from Etsy. I'm always wishing I had those kits, or at least just the weekend banners. And then I got to thinking... I'm an art major. I could theoretically make my own weekend banners. So I did. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. So, I thought I would share them with you. :) They are free for you to use. Do not sell them or claim them as your own design.

Planner stickers weekend banners

My planner

Everyone around me knows that I need some sort of structure in my life. I can be spontaneous, but I go nuts if I don't have some sort of plan to follow. This leads me to my planner. I have tried so many planners throughout the years, it's ridiculous... Academic planners, monthly planners, planners like the Passion Planer, but nothing seemed to fit my needs. I'm not so organized that my life needs to be broken down into hourly time slots, but I need some structure. So to solve these issues, I made my own planner from a composition book.

Nothing too fancy. Just a dollar store 100 page comp book.

To start with, I left the first page blank. This would be where I would put my contact information in case me and my planner ever got separated.

I haven't added much to this page, just some washi and my name since I am currently at school and my school is really small. It's easy to find someone with just a name.

The next twelve pages are my monthly spreads. I did these a little differntly than most monthly spreads I've seen. I simply numbered down the side of the page and onto the back, one line per day. This is where I keep appointments, meetings, tests, ect. It's quick to flip to. I also made myself a paperclip and washi tape flag to keep the current month handy.

After the monthly spreads, came the weekly. Since I made this planner, I could control what date it started on. 

To make the days of the week, I took a ruler and traced both vertical red lines on the page with a Sharpie (now if you choose to do this, put a couple of scrap sheets under the current page. The Sharpie will bleed through which I used to my advantage so I wouldn't have to draw so many lines). After I drew the first two lines, I measured the space between them and drew a line at the half way point (so each day would have two sections). The section to the left I use for my daily schedule. The section to the right I use for assignments that are due that day. 

As you can see, I've added some stickers and some washi tape (it came in sheets from Michael's crafts stores I think). The quote stickers and the circle stickers are from Hobby Lobby (pictured below). I got some little geo-tag stickers to mark bigger assignments (ones that aren't daily readings or ones that aren't the reading response papers). These assignments are like big papers, or more in depth than that of the other assignments. In the first picture here, at the top right, you'll see a little arrow sticker. These are used to mark tests or quizzes. 

After all my weekly spreads, I still had about 35 pages left. So I made some scrapbook paper dividers, attached them with clear tape and used them for notes. The first section is for shopping lists. The next is where I've been keeping track of my symptoms since I am currently a medical mystery. And the third section is where I was doing some planning and note taking for my upcoming senior gallery show.

Last but not least are my favorite supplies. The first picture isn't a supply, but it is my color code. All of my classes have a specific color. I use the Cello Top Ball retractable pens from Walmart (not pictured. There were twelve different pens in the box for like $5). The next two show the tiny alphabet stickers from Hobby Lobby, the geo-tag stickers from Hobby Lobby and the washi sheets. Next we have the quote sticker pack also from Hobby Lobby. And last but not least we have my thin washi (one was a present, the other was from Michael's craft stores), and my tiny stapler from Tuesday Morning.

https://youtu.be/5o3-MNj-bOQ

If you have any questions about my planner, feel free to leave a comment. Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Hello!

Hello and welcome to my new blog! I am excited to get started. This will be a place for me to empty my thoughts, share my ramblings, and talk about random stuff.

But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Brandi. I am a college senior who is majoring in photography. I am from Arkansas. I love to make things with my hands. I love being outside in the fresh air. Big cities scare me.