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| The New York Optimist |
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Paula Brett is an artist, performer, and educator living in New York City. Incorporating various combinations of media, her
work deals with ideas such as created identity, coincidence, ritual, and transitory spaces. She has presented work in the New
York Studio Gallery; PAC/Edge Performance Art Festival, ARC Gallery, Vietnam Veteran’s Art Museum, and Spareroom in Chicago;
in Phoenix, Arizona; Budapest, Hungary; and Timiosoara, Romania. Paula holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from
Columbia College Chicago.
I am an artist who experiments with interactions. Somewhat like a scientist, I enjoy testing reactions between various art media,
subject matter, and the possible meanings created from their combinations. My goal is to allow connections between different ideas,
images and objects to reveal a new understanding for both the observer and the artist.
With a background in science and art education, my working process reflects both. Unlike the scientific method, I work using
intuition. My process often employs chance operations, the notion of “play”, and spontaneous creation. These techniques are then
worked and reworked until some sort of balance between the conscious and subconscious is reached. My work often involves the
absurd, created identity, coincidence, ritual, personal anecdote, and humor.
Many of my video works tell non-linear stories. I am fascinated with how our minds put together and comprehend narratives in their
many fragmented forms. This research involves my continuous interest in human psychology, neuroscience, and mythology.
As a performer, I am mostly attracted to the idea of collaboration, which can be with other artists, media, audience members, or even
with the space where the performance takes place. For me, the collaboration process employs “wholeness”, using both mind and
body to create work that is not necessarily logical, but more innate.
Finally, my artistic practice is a spiritual conversation The work informs me and I respond until the piece becomes its final
manifestation. It is this kind of ephemeral communication that enlivens my work and keeps me in the game of making art.
work deals with ideas such as created identity, coincidence, ritual, and transitory spaces. She has presented work in the New
York Studio Gallery; PAC/Edge Performance Art Festival, ARC Gallery, Vietnam Veteran’s Art Museum, and Spareroom in Chicago;
in Phoenix, Arizona; Budapest, Hungary; and Timiosoara, Romania. Paula holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from
Columbia College Chicago.
I am an artist who experiments with interactions. Somewhat like a scientist, I enjoy testing reactions between various art media,
subject matter, and the possible meanings created from their combinations. My goal is to allow connections between different ideas,
images and objects to reveal a new understanding for both the observer and the artist.
With a background in science and art education, my working process reflects both. Unlike the scientific method, I work using
intuition. My process often employs chance operations, the notion of “play”, and spontaneous creation. These techniques are then
worked and reworked until some sort of balance between the conscious and subconscious is reached. My work often involves the
absurd, created identity, coincidence, ritual, personal anecdote, and humor.
Many of my video works tell non-linear stories. I am fascinated with how our minds put together and comprehend narratives in their
many fragmented forms. This research involves my continuous interest in human psychology, neuroscience, and mythology.
As a performer, I am mostly attracted to the idea of collaboration, which can be with other artists, media, audience members, or even
with the space where the performance takes place. For me, the collaboration process employs “wholeness”, using both mind and
body to create work that is not necessarily logical, but more innate.
Finally, my artistic practice is a spiritual conversation The work informs me and I respond until the piece becomes its final
manifestation. It is this kind of ephemeral communication that enlivens my work and keeps me in the game of making art.
I love pinhole photography. Pinhole photos are taken by a camera that does not have a lens, but rather a very small hole that allows the
light to pass through to the film or digital sensor, hence the name pinhole. The word “photography” comes from the Greek (phos)
“light” + (graphê) “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light.” When I take a picture with a pinhole camera, I cannot compose by
looking through a viewfinder, or at a display. Much of the process is left up to chance and a good dose of trial and error. I enjoy
working in this slower and more raw method. I like knowing that the exposure of light entering the pinhole aperture is actually
‘drawing’ patterns of light that we perceive as reality. It is a beautiful process that produces soft, painterly images looking somewhat like
memories or dreams. Enjoy.
light to pass through to the film or digital sensor, hence the name pinhole. The word “photography” comes from the Greek (phos)
“light” + (graphê) “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light.” When I take a picture with a pinhole camera, I cannot compose by
looking through a viewfinder, or at a display. Much of the process is left up to chance and a good dose of trial and error. I enjoy
working in this slower and more raw method. I like knowing that the exposure of light entering the pinhole aperture is actually
‘drawing’ patterns of light that we perceive as reality. It is a beautiful process that produces soft, painterly images looking somewhat like
memories or dreams. Enjoy.
Pinhole Photography
| M O N T A U K |
| China Town NY |
| P E R F O R M A N C E |
| Paintings from Pinhole Series |
These paintings are inspired from photographs of the Tyrrhenian seashore off the coast of Sicily, shot with a digital pinhole camera. All four of
them were taken from the same place where my feet began to sink into the sand, just at the edge of the water. I pointed the camera directly
downwards in order to record the motion of the tide; each exposure lasting from 3-5 seconds.
them were taken from the same place where my feet began to sink into the sand, just at the edge of the water. I pointed the camera directly
downwards in order to record the motion of the tide; each exposure lasting from 3-5 seconds.
| DRY |
| "Paula M Brett" |
Paula M Brett is brought to you by:
Heidi Russell
www.heidirussell.com
heidi.russell@earthlink.net
Fine art photographer ~ independant curator ~ indie publisher ~ international creative collaborator
Heidi Russell is a self-taught fine art photographer based in New York City. Ms. Russell is inspired by the amazing
connections one is able to discover, explore, and nurture in the world around us. She seeks to connect with positive,
open-minded, foreward-thinking individuals to foster creative discourse to promote the betterment of our individual lives and
the world as a village. Thru discovering and linking our individual passions, we can learn to live our passions each and every
day, collaboratively bringing understanding, peace, sustainable development, and enlightened engagement throughout the
world.
Ms. Russell is honored to bring to you arists from around the world who help brighten this engagement.
Enjoy!!! Join the discourse!!
Heidi Russell
www.heidirussell.com
heidi.russell@earthlink.net
Fine art photographer ~ independant curator ~ indie publisher ~ international creative collaborator
Heidi Russell is a self-taught fine art photographer based in New York City. Ms. Russell is inspired by the amazing
connections one is able to discover, explore, and nurture in the world around us. She seeks to connect with positive,
open-minded, foreward-thinking individuals to foster creative discourse to promote the betterment of our individual lives and
the world as a village. Thru discovering and linking our individual passions, we can learn to live our passions each and every
day, collaboratively bringing understanding, peace, sustainable development, and enlightened engagement throughout the
world.
Ms. Russell is honored to bring to you arists from around the world who help brighten this engagement.
Enjoy!!! Join the discourse!!
