Saige Patterson

Charleston, SC

In life, as in impressionism, the darkness buzzes. From a distance it's just plain black, but when you get up close there's a very deep blue and green and purple all next to each other. and from that darkness sprawls bright skies and brilliant forests and long golden hour shadows. It's not life imitating art, or art imitating life, but the two winking at each other, saying "there's dark parts, and bright parts, and everything in between, but the only way to truly experience it, is to step back and see the full picture." Conveying this dance, of my opinions on art and life, is always my primary intention with my work. The art I like the most is gentle, comforting, kind, and so that is what I strive to make. I tell people I'm an artist before I tell them my name. There hasn't been a day I haven't drawn something since fifth grade. When I look around my classroom I see the way the sunlight filters through the window, bounces up from the floor to illuminate the face of my friend, how subsurface scattering turns her ear carmine red. There isn't a moment when I'm awake that I'm not a pupil of the world. Art is what makes my life beautiful, so I want it to make other people's lives beautiful too.