Artist Statement 

     “Art saved me; it got me through my depression and self-loathing, back to a place of innocence.” This quote by Jeanette Winterson is a favorite of mine. Jeanette speaks about my favorite subject, art, and she speaks of innocence, which is a universally relatable subject. Everyone can use help finding their innocence. When I make art, I find my innocence, and just like Jeanette Winterson, any negative energy and depression I harbor, melts away when I create. Innocence, from my perspective, relates to a child-like state of creative purity.

     I was born in Andrews, North Carolina, but was raised in Gainesville, Georgia. Most of my family roots lie in the Appalachians. Andrews is a small town nestled in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. As early as elementary school I began receiving attention for my art, including Excellence in Fine Arts Awards. Creating has always been a part of me, a passion of mine that I’ve always done. I knew I was an artist from a young age, coming from a line of women artists in my family. Some of my earliest influences include my mother and my elementary school art teachers. Also, I’ve been blessed with talented and supportive art professors while pursuing a Bachelor of Studio Art, with a Concentration in Drawing at university.
     My art begins with brainstorming ideas about what I desire to communicate and/or show. I begin with sketches and after considering materials I go from there. I begin the compositions and, as I go along, note what works and what doesn’t work. Most of my work falls within the area of portraiture with mixed media as the medium.

C. Rebecca Knowles