Artist Biography
Tori Martin is an artist from Augusta, Georgia. She is currently studying at Augusta University as a drawing/painting major in the Bachelors of Fine Arts program. After receiving her BFA she plans to pursue a career in early childhood art education. Her chosen mediums include acrylic, watercolor, and various forms of mixed media. She has also explores other forms of art including photography, ceramics, and printmaking outside of her main body of work.
Artist Statement
My paintings, drawings, and mixed media works all serve as a chronological documentation of my development from an adolescent to an adult in modern society. I have created works such as a large collage of my life featuring three large primary colored portrait paintings of me as a child to represent the struggles I have faced throughout my developmental years and how it disconnected me from the basis of my identity. I have used mixed media and the act of finger painting to make a literal direct connection to my works as I dive into the emotions that have disconnected me from reality and used the creation of art itself as a therapeutic escape and tool to evolve and help reshape my connection to myself. I have recently left my visually looser conceptual works behind to show this evolution and have begun working in a tighter, more realistic style to show my growth as a person and artist. My most recent work has been centered around portraits and more focus on color and texture study rather than complete experimentation to apply all of my acquired knowledge into creating a more evolved body of work as I finish my college career and start my adult life.
My work is based around my own personal experiences, but I draw inspiration from a variety of other places and people. I connect to visual textures in my everyday life and these have helped shape the basis of many more conceptual works (feather boas, rough textures along building walls, fur, mirrors/glass, makeup, etc.) My conceptual works are more representational of my childhood and the color choices are heavily influenced from childhood films and artists such as Lisa Frank. My current color choices are more heavily influenced by real life, such as more neutral tones found in nature. My ultimate goal is to illustrate my view of life through my lens as an individual and an artist, so that I can eventually teach others how to do the same.
