Initial Proposal DONE!

 Here is my running doc for my proposal. Obviously this might change over time but here is my initial thought process outlining my goals for this project.

Subject

My subject is an artist named Klara Chavarría. Chavarría is a Guatemalan artist and designer who comes from a family of creatives. In 1993, Chavarría relocated to the United States to receive her BFA from Kansas State University where she concentrated in Design, Visual Arts, and Painting. She originally began working in the design and marketing fields where she worked in publishing. Chavarría ultimately decided to abandon her corporate life and pursue her art practice full time professionally. She began working in her studios in Chicago and Cincinnati and now works and resides in Miami, FL permanently. 

Chavarría’s work centers around her inner-search providing a way or outlet to communicate, discover, and investigate her questions about life. Her unique approach to expressionism and figurative abstraction provide an exploration of the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional side of the human condition. 

Her work has been collected and displayed in hundreds of national and international private and corporate collections. She received honorable invitations to exhibitions in the Latin American art auction “Juanni” at the Museum of Modern Art in Guatemala City. She also was selected to participate as an artist in residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado. 

Goals

I want to use this publication and exhibition branding as a way to explore Chavarría’s work through a visual language that will allow me to create a system of design work based on her process and practice as an artist. I plan to use the same concepts that guide her as an artist to inspire my design process: the human condition, spirituality, and expressionism. I hope that in a larger sense this project can speak to what it means to be human and how design can translate that to a large audience. 

Importance

I find this subject and project important in that the pairing between my design language and Chavarría’s work can bridge the gap between art and design through a collective empathy that we share as humans. I believe Chavarría’s work focuses on an integral part of the human condition through a lens that can relate to a wide audience. This exhibit carries a sense of importance as it will communicate ideas of emotion, spirituality, and empathy that can align with many different identities. 

How

I plan to execute this project by creating a publication featuring images of Chavarría’s work along with text that speaks to her work as an artist. This text will include quotes, information, and history directly from Chavarría herself as well as words from other admirers of her work. This could include clients, curators, as well as other professionals familiar with her work in both Miami and Guatemala. I will combine all of this primary research into the main text of the book, while also possibly including my own interpretations. I also hope to be able to supplement this writing with some additional academic research related to the connection between art and the human condition.