purcc 2012 - University of the Pacific

Senior Art & Design Show – Artist Statements
Aqueous Design
Lia Santini
Faculty Mentor: Monika Meler
For my senior project I did a series of prints that
capture my connection with water as a swimmer and
as a person growing up in the Pacific Northwest. In
the prints I am working with design, decoration,
color, and abstraction. They are a combination of
relief and monoprints. Water is constantly changing
and moving, which is a metaphor for my life as a
swimmer and student, to a retired swimmer and
graduate.
Growing up, I was inspired by the Pacific Northwest
Native Americans who have their own visual
language of shapes and color to tell stories. Using
their aesthetic as inspiration, I wanted to create my
own language that would help me tell stories of my
own life.
I printed on thin, Japanese paper. The thinness of the
paper created different effects when held up to the
light, but also changed the colors when the layers
were created. The multiple layers in these prints and
how they react to the light reminds me of how water
changes when the light hits it, or when it washes up
on shore, and there are designs and layers in the
foam, kelp and sand. The colors of the prints are
important because they change when laid on top of
each other, and that is something I cannot control, but
accept. This acceptance mirrors the
acknowledgement that water is similarly chaotic and
difficult to control.
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