Campus Canvas | Ashley Julien '13

Recently, I've found myself very interested in the idea that if I could focus more on my process of creating than on what my creation will end up looking like, then maybe I could make more happen in my work. The idea is that, sometimes, a preoccupation with the composition distracts from opportunities to explore elsewhere. So, for this particular work, I chose to zoom in on a very small section of an older piece of mine and replicate it. Having the composition already decided for me forced me to consider aspects of my work that I usually take for granted. Actually, the act of enlarging such a tiny area helped me see the subtleties within a color, explore the textures within a texture and discover new ways of depicting identical compositions. As a result, I used more materials (paper, bark, pieces of chair, paint, flies, plastic, ink, chalk, charcoal, cardboard, etc.) and gave my work more of a physical presence (being 24in. x 33 in. x 3in. and weighing in at about 12 lbs).

—Ashley Julien '13