Alyssa Follansbee
Multi-media artist + Oil Painter
Information
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Alyssa Todd Follansbee is a multimedia artist based in Beacon, New York. Her work explores the internal struggle of balancing our outward and inward lives.
Alyssa grew up as the youngest of three daughters in Mystic, Connecticut. She studied figurative oil painting and sculpture at Indiana University- Bloomington, Intaglio Printmaking at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy, and Graphic Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She graduated with a B.A. in Studio Art and a minor in Art History from Indiana University in 2009, and went on to earn her Masters in Art Education from Brooklyn College in 2014. Her thesis researched how personal meaning based artwork affected students creativity and engagement in the art classroom. After working for years as a pre k- 8th grade New York City public school art teacher, she now devotes her time to creating art, running her arcade bar, and raising her family in Beacon, New York.
Utilizing figurative subject matter with surrealist elements, her paintings reflect themes of self-image, loss, motherhood, and family. Although her subjects are typically studied from life and old photographs, exaggerated color palettes and simplified imagery serve to distort the representational into the realm of memory and imagination. Realistic imagery, invented patterns and flattened, painterly forms are juxtaposed to convey ambiguity and defy absolutism. Reflective of an ever present fascination with the push and pull between our experience in our physical space and our own private minds, her work seeks to transport the viewer into an alternate world where nothing is certain, except your own perspective.
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Statement for new work: This show is about traveling inward to find inspiration. I am at a phase in my life where I tend to be home a lot, either with my young children or working on my art. I’ve really valued the peace, privacy, and solitude, and this work draws on the beauty I have discovered in this interior life. Consisting of various self portraits, these paintings explore the profound connection between the intellectual pursuit of knowledge and the sanctuary of personal space.
As a woman relatively confined to my domestic space the past few years, I’ve spent a lot of time imagining those who have come before me- particularly women who have an urge to create art. The urge is not eclipsed by the relentless responsibilities. Instead, my imagination has shifted to fill and expand the space I inhibit. Intellectual pursuit does not need a passport, and seclusion has allowed me mental growth and stimulation in a way I would not have anticipated. What do we decide to share with the outside world? What do we keep just for ourselves, and why?
All of the work here was created from photos of myself and my family in my actual home. These paintings serve as a visual metaphor for my interior life- my daydreams, my observations, my boundaries, my cycling thoughts. My tribute to the countless artist mothers of the past who never stopped creating and intellectually exploring.
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For inquiries and to purchase art, email supersecretprojectsny@gmail.com
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Allysa Follansbee’s Exhibitions at Super Secret Projects:
Click title below to view photo gallery