Shyanna Ashcraft

Wafting

For my piece, Wafting, I wanted to capture an element of the wonder of floating that I experienced as a child taking a ride in a hot air balloon for the first time. This is a memory that I treasure, and often look back on fondly. Seeing things from the basket of the hot air balloon is a wildly different experience to the way I experience things in an average day. Through my representation of the fabric as it is floating through the air, I wanted to create an experience of weightlessness and wonder for the viewers as they explore the painting. The use of the fabric in a painting related to flight was inspired by aerial dance, and the grace and elegance of the fabric and dancers as they float through the air. I wanted to combine this elegance with the joy and simple beauty of the hot air balloons that I have these fond memories of. I take great joy in creating the tiny nuanced details of fabric, and I worked to create a dynamic painting that communicates both this love and the feeling of a slow descent from above. Incorporating both the floating fabric and the hot air balloon offered me a chance to depict two different versions of fabric and what it can be and do. I want this painting to invoke the viewers to feel as though all is suspended within this piece, and as though they too have been transported into a slower space of time while studying the artwork.