Salinas Aragon was raised in Taos, New Mexico and developed an interest in visual arts at an early age. The prevalent arts community there helped fan this passion into a flame she’s kept alive ever since. She earned her BFA in sculpture from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and is now a Georgia based sculptor, painter, installation artist, and stationery enthusiast.
The cathartic processes of ceramics, plaster, fibers, wood, and metal help Salinas work through issues she’s repressed to gain an objective external viewpoint. While the concept of her work is introspective, she believes art without community is nothing, and often incorporates audience interaction into her pieces.
Salinas’ work has been exhibited in Friends of Gene at Thomas Deans Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA and Drawn to Paper at Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY. She has been the recipient of the Gene Arthur Alcott Fellowship Award, New York, NY.
For me art is a way of working through repressed feelings to gain an objective external viewpoint. I explain the meaning behind my work as little as possible because I don’t want it to influence the audience’s interpretation of my art, and the experience is altered if they know too much. Currently I am working with themes of nostalgia and nostophobia, and my own experiences with both. Multiples are appealing to me for their flexibility, and ability to convey the fluidity of emotion. Pattern recognition makes multiples comforting, while the chaos of infinite arrangements causes disquiet.
I enjoy the organic way in which my work chooses to be presented; it’s almost as if it has a mind of its own. Often, I’ll be absolutely certain about a specific display, material, or subject and every possible thing that can go wrong does, so I have to either lean into that chaos and make it work or discard the idea altogether. I firmly believe art is nothing without the community, so a lot of my work is interactive, whether that be a finished piece the audience can interact with, participation in the creation process, or performative works. For example, my installation Imprint was created by having my classmates squish a small bit of clay in their fists to leave the impression of the space we don’t get to see, while Femme was a performance where I wore a ceramic mask that obscured my sight and did not interact with the audience as they talked about the piece as if I were a statue.
While I work on my larger fine art pieces, I find myself drawn to creating smaller nature paintings. This sticker and stationery shop serves as a means to support my more conceptual works. I harbor a particular affection for 'crap wildlife photography,' allowing me to inject character into these nature paintings rather than simply replicating a photo. I create art based on my passions, and my hope is that my creations bring you the same joy I experience while bringing them to life.
Thank you for exploring my shop and contributing to my artistic journey. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out—I'd love to hear from you!