Email: katiewiens21@gmail.com
Instagram: @katiewiensart
Katie Wiens is a practicing student artist based out of New Dundee in Wilmot, concluding her final year of her undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo. Currently, Wiens is working towards her bachelor of honors arts with teaching and intensive studio practice specializations. As displayed by her work, Wiens most commonly practices in painting and drawing mediums, but also has experience in sculpture, print, collage, photography, and digital arts. In most of her work, Wiens experiments with abstraction and realism with a particular interest in the use of colour and impressionism techniques. Currently, Wiens is working on a body of work made up black and white drawings that discusses themes of emotion. Particularly focusing on the relationship between the physical and internal qualities of emotion as well as its universality.
Artist statement
Emotions are something we all have and all experience. The piece Expressive Exchange is an interactive piece that addresses the complex, universal, and personal aspects of emotional experiences. For me growing up, understanding and identifying emotional experiences was difficult. This piece specifically outlines this struggle. Made of three primary portraits, each set displays a different, yet clear, expression. However, as the piece is manipulated, rearranged and moved the expressions change. Some created expressions and their link to emotion may seem familiar while other combinations appear distorted, obscure, and relatively unfamiliar. These abstracted character expressions beg the questions: is this character feeling one emotion or many all at once? Is this emotional experience nearing resolution? What is this character really feeling? The endless possibility of arrangements and the potential for unfamiliar results truly symbolizes the uniqueness and complexities of emotional encounters that everyone faces in their own unique ways.
"Expressive Exchange" (part 1). 2021, graphite on paper on wood board, approx 20" x 24" (each square 4" x 4")
"Expressive Exchange" (part 2). 2021, graphite on paper on wood board, approx 20" x 24" (each square 4" x 4")
"Expressive Exchange" (part 3). 2021, graphite on paper on wood board, approx 20" x 24" (each square 4" x 4")
"Expressive Exchange" (various configurations). 2021, graphite on paper on wood board, approx 20" x 24" (each square 4" x 4")
Interview
How have your lived experiences informed your artistic practices?
Yes, I believe my life experience has influenced my art practice. My current work focuses on themes of human emotion. I have always been an emotion driven person. Growing up, particularly in my teenage years I would easily be overwhelmed and I constantly faced mixed emotions. These constant floods of emotion made it very hard for me to identify what I was actually feeling, many expressions felt the same. This made it difficult for me not only misunderstand my own emotional identity but also misunderstand the people around me. As an adult, I have a better grip on my emotions but the universality, complexity and confusion surrounding the idea of human emotion and it external and internal component still fascinates me. These experiences growing up in addition to my own curiosity has driven my most recent and current works.
What is your usual artmaking process like? What are your preferred mediums?
In my practice I mostly work in drawing and painting mediums. When creating a work my process varies depending on my level of inspiration and excitement, as well as my knowledge in both the subject and medium. Generally, once I have an idea of what I want to make I experiment through thumbnail drawings and rough sketches specifically focusing on finding the best or most aesthetic technique, colour scheme, and composition. Once I have a clear idea of my final work, I determine the scale I want and proceed with the final copy.
What made you want to pursue art?
I have always been interested in art. Since I was a kid drawing and painting were always my favourite hobbies and past-time activities. I was always known as the “artsy kid” to my friends and family and I excelled in the subject in school. When post-secondary education came around Fine Art was my number one interest, and there was no doubt that art was what I wanted to pursue. As a kid and as an adult, I find comfort, peace, and achievement in creating art. To this day I love the feeling I get when I successfully complete a work, something I made creatively with my own to hands. I am proud to be an artist.
What are your plans for the future? How do you see your work evolving?
In the future I hope to still contribute to my own practice. However, for a career my goal is to become a secondary school teacher. I think the creativity, freedom, and potential for self-expression that comes from art can be very empowering. Highschool I believe is a difficult time for many kids. For me, art class was my favourite place succeeded, felt encouraged, and given the freedom to express myself in a very healthy way I want to bring these qualities into my own classroom and inspire the creativity like I experienced as a student. As a teacher I want to encourage young artists to find and express their true potential and encourage confidence in what they do and what they make.