Brittany Almeta Calhoun
"Art is an energy."
Brittany Almeta Calhoun is an ADOS (American Descendant of Slavery) female painter, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Gifted as a young student, Calhoun has always expressed her artistic nature vividly throughout her early childhood and grade school years. Her eye for detail and systemic approach to the creative process fosters compositions that feature radiant elements with a blend of the traditional and modern/futuristic.
Calhoun confidently shapes her visual interpretations within the space between historic aesthetics, contemporary forms, and congenial daily observations centered around the Black American experience and Black femininity. Working mainly in mixed media with paint, paper collage, ink, and embellishments, her visible objective is to connect audiences' circadian familiarity to overlooked antiquated scenes and symbols. Her pieces either exhibit abridged designs and figures matched with compound textures, patterns, and lines or practical concepts married with abstruse components.
As a teaching artist, Calhoun's ambition is set to guide diverse groups of pupils into confidently unleashing their individual styles of artistic voice. It has become her philosophy that art itself is an energy that can be transferred into any avenue of life. She seeks to introduce classic, traditional art forms to newer generations, reconnect them with the older generations, and combine the two to encourage higher innovative ideas. Calhoun optimistically encourages students to express themselves and challenges them to transform their personal spaces, family homes, and neighborhoods into pleasing works of communal art with objects and themes that are profound to their unique identities and cultures. Teaching in art-deprived regions fills Calhoun with a sense of purpose as it brings a fresh, sanguine perspective to once-blighted communities. Calhoun desires to utilize in-depth lesson plans and projects with other art professionals, across various creative genres, to assist in the advancement of future academic curriculums. Along with school-aged learners, she aspires to use her expertise in fine art application to motivate adults and seniors, within various trade professions, to reignite innovative and imaginative ideas. For Calhoun, art is within every part of the human experience, why not cultivate its potential in everyone?
Generated by vivid hues, forward expressive lines, fitted forms, and eccentric angles, my works present a variety of realistic and abstract concepts displaying an airy touch that best mimics the whimsy of lights and color in my daily life. Paints (water, acrylic, oils), paper collage, textiles, and pen and ink are staples of mine. However, the opportunity to venture into more diverse mediums is no stranger to my creative process. Conceptual pieces possess solid, definitive lines married with saturated tones and compound patterns. My techniques pay homage to the broad types of art forms originating from the African or African American diaspora; such as animated lines and shapes found in Black pop art, traditional/ non-traditional quilting, Ndebele like shape grouping, or iconic hieroglyphic-like profiles of figures in candid action poses. Landscapes are dramatized to enhance focal characteristics and dream-like elements. Earth tones are broken down to reveal tetrachromatic hues. Natural objects are magnified to show more profound details that are usually glazed over.
I am an artist who's central inspiration falls from everyday observation, motifs of African American life, and symbols Black femininity. Through informal close- up snapshots form social media to portraits that highlight specific physical characteristics connected to Afro culture (i.e. "Kuda's Braids), I find my connection to the human form. Strangers on the streets become my living models, as their poses fascinate me by being simple, straightforward scenes of their existence. I extensively
visually study the local flora and fauna wherever I reside and travel because it helps me achieve a grounded relationship with the natural settings of my works. I yearn to revitalize with the detached antiquity of evolving visual innovation. My loyalty is dedicated to my unsung or misunderstood heritage. My artistry is driven by the purpose to redeem the esteem of Black art by building images from areas of my own experience as a Black woman from the Southern United States. I celebrate this calling through practicing esthetic techniques and skills once formed by my ancestors and other pioneers within my community.
Creation is the vital fluid that is blended seamlessly into my waking life; a window to my personal universe that, I hope, is relatable to viewers and helps them unite with their own originality. I wish for my audience to become more aware of the undiscovered subtle beauty in their own lives. My life is the exact energy that drives my expressive spirit, visually and emotionally. The canvas and my formulation are visible mappings of inner emotional configurations. From the massive to the miniature pieces, they each embody a sample of my individual onus. Patience has taught me that beauty often lies within the wonted. Learning to sit in diligence with enthusiasm and the overall process of creating trains me to become more precise in subject matter, structure, and operation.
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