4 year recipiant of the Edmonds ART Festival Scholarship, Bryn Fraker, daughter of Tracy Felix Fraker of ARTspot Edmonds, has returned from a semester studying abroad at Burren College of Art, County Clare Ireland. Bryn is beginning her fourth and final year as an animation major at California College of Art.
Bryn’s body of work “Where The Fairies Live” will be presented at ARTspot for 3rd Thursday ArtWalk tonight (July 18) form 5-8. Her exhibit includes animation puppets of imaginary fairies, and 10 large scale works in conte crayon of red hair.
Bryn’s Statement: Three days after New Year's, I got on a plane headed for the West of Ireland. I had gotten last-minute confirmation to study abroad for a semester. While I hadn't been anticipating spending four months in rural cattle country, the attraction was unwavering. I had been living in the San Francisco Bay Area for three years, and was feeling a little lost. I wanted some space, clean air, and the chance to see the stars. The Burren College of Art is a small collection of buildings around New Town Castle, in Ballyvaughan, County Clare. There were seventeen undergrad students, including myself. The village had a winter population of 250.
Over the course of the semester, my work grouped itself into two distinct bodies. The conte crayon drawings focus on exploring my identity through abstracted images of hair. Influenced by the charcoal drawings of Alice Maher, the hair curls and spirals across across the paper, drawing attention to its form and texture. My own hair has always been red, and has been the feature that people have used to identify me as Irish. Even in Ireland, locals thought I was Irish until I opened my mouth, and my American accent came tumbling out. By isolating this feature, I explored how others possibly identify, describe and remember me. Responding to my interest in possible shapes and patterns that the hair could render, I expanded the first drawing into this body of work.
The second body of work plays more strongly into my animation practice, in the creation of a series of stop motion animation puppets. These characters are inspired by the Fairies of local Irish folklore, and are directly influenced by the landscape and sense of history of the Burren. As much an exercise in the technical arts of armature-building, sculpting, casting, and fabrication, these puppets seek to convey a sense of personality and life. The concept art and film stills explore and expand the world that these fairies could live in. These puppets serve as a tangible visualization of an intangible world that has been kept alive through oral tradition, tacit knowledge, and belief. It is the accumulation of fragments and peripheral glimpses that create where the fairies live.
--- Bryn Fraker
Bryn is also teaching the coolest workshop this friday and saturday:Animation Studio
Two day workshop special offering!
with Bryn Fraker,
Animation Major at California College of Art Ages: 10-16
Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20
1-4pm $125
Bryn will bring her expertise in introductory animation techniques to ARTspot! This class will include intro into flip book & claymation.
The two day class will go on to include creating clay characters and animating a stop-motion video. We offered this class last December and it was a huge hit. So pleased we will have a chance to offer it again while Bryn is visiting for the summer!
Please bring a digital camera.
Meet Bryn for Third Thursday ARTwalk July 18th, 5-8 pm. We will be showing her recent animation work and paintings from a semester abroad in Ireland.
ARTspot EdmondsArtist Supplies . Classes & Workshops . Contemporary Art408 Main Street, Edmonds WA 98020425 / 640-6408www.ARTspotEdmonds.com