ARTIST OF THE MONTH
April: Savannah Canavan
Savannah Canavan is an emerging artist currently located in the Midwest. She was born in central Wisconsin and has been interested in art for as long as she can remember. In high school, her painting teacher really encouraged her to pursue art as a career. Savannah graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with her BFA in Studio Art and a minor in Art History. Her primary medium is oil paint, and she creates a variety of compositions and a variety of subject matter. She is interested in using her painting language to create sensory experiences upon the canvas and inspire beauty within her world and others. Her paintings are regarded for their vivid colors and bold, visible brushstrokes.
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that art must “mean something”. That it is only important if there is some deep, philosophical meaning behind it. As someone who went to four years of art school, it was incredibly hard to unlearn this mindset. I focused so much on trying to assign a meaning to my work for years that I didn’t even always enjoy painting because I felt like an imposter since I didn’t have an answer to the question “what does it mean”.
Until I realized that my art doesn’t need to mean anything! Art can just be art, and it can be about just being art. These paintings that I create are bright and colorful and energetic. They capture the beauty that I see and imagine. My painting language uses bold marks and vivid color to create a sensory, visual experience for anyone who sees them. And most importantly, I am creating work that makes me happy and that I am proud of. My paintings create an excitement within me that pushes me to keep working. I am not forcing the paint on the surface to become something it is not by assigning some arbitrary phrase to it when I know, deep down, that my painting doesn’t mean that.
My paintings are an eclectic collection, bold in color and marks. Yet they are still full of meaning. It is every moment of a painting, how it is experienced in both creation and perception, that make it important. I create art that is meaningful simply because it is art and it makes me happy.
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that art must “mean something”. That it is only important if there is some deep, philosophical meaning behind it. As someone who went to four years of art school, it was incredibly hard to unlearn this mindset. I focused so much on trying to assign a meaning to my work for years that I didn’t even always enjoy painting because I felt like an imposter since I didn’t have an answer to the question “what does it mean”.
Until I realized that my art doesn’t need to mean anything! Art can just be art, and it can be about just being art. These paintings that I create are bright and colorful and energetic. They capture the beauty that I see and imagine. My painting language uses bold marks and vivid color to create a sensory, visual experience for anyone who sees them. And most importantly, I am creating work that makes me happy and that I am proud of. My paintings create an excitement within me that pushes me to keep working. I am not forcing the paint on the surface to become something it is not by assigning some arbitrary phrase to it when I know, deep down, that my painting doesn’t mean that.
My paintings are an eclectic collection, bold in color and marks. Yet they are still full of meaning. It is every moment of a painting, how it is experienced in both creation and perception, that make it important. I create art that is meaningful simply because it is art and it makes me happy.
