Watercolor Series 1: “Pardon Our Appearances”
This series of watercolor pieces are intended to depict the University of Connecticut Storrs Campus in the era of its transformation. I have always enjoyed walking around the diverse and unique areas of the campus. The university is comprised of a vast array of designs and architecture that is situated in a rural setting. However, this year upon my explorations of searching for inspiring scenes to paint, I began synthesizing all of my encounters with the landscape. UConn has been in the restructuring phase for many years now, and this year everywhere I turn there seems to be some disruption in the surface of the campus. Bulldozers plow through the Earth. Police regulating the streets with natural areas roped off with manmade plastic. These disruptions in the everyday schedule are emphasized and included in my art. These alterations in the structure of the university are intended to be highlighted in the following artworks so that a viewer not only relates to these subtle disturbances, but also the recognition that the campus itself is not stagnant. This is UConn in transition. I seek to instill a sense of confusion, manipulation, and reference to change within these works. The landscape is not just beautiful. There is a modern and specific technology associated with the construction sites that are juxtaposed against the rural landscape. It is this technology of the twenty first century that separates these pieces from any past historical landscape. Objects that might be cropped out of a photo are infused and purposefully included in the Storrs setting. Natural beauty coalesces with the non glamorous machinery. As I look at the images for a longer duration, the machines and bulldozers themselves take on a characteristic of their own. Many "hide" behind the blue curtain. Often they become characters that have assumed a foothold and home within the campus community.
-Kristen Candella
