by Kaylea Brown, Student Reporter
Bright. Surreal. Humorous. Abstract. Those are a few words that the October Artist in Residence would use to describe her work.
Alyssa Klauer will work with art students throughout the semester and have a show on Nov. 6 showing off the work that she has created while at NWOSU.
Klauer is a current resident of Brooklyn and heard about the residency through the Nov. 2018 Artist in Residence Madeleine Bialke. After hearing about the experience that Bialke had during her residency, Klauer applied to the program and then accepted the residency offer.
Klauer said that art is a part of who she is and there isn’t a way to separate the two. Her paintings are autobiographical and talk about her experiences in life as a woman, which includes feminism. Her constructed still lifes, take images and objects that are incongruent in a normal space to create “surreal, psychological spaces.”
“It [painting] is the most fulfilling thing in my life,” Klauer said. “It’s just constantly rewarding so I never wake up and am like I don’t want to go to the studio today.”
Every artist has a different painting process that they go through in order to create their style of art. Usually starting with a general idea of what she wants to paint, Klauer next constructs a diagram of what she wants the composition to be and then she begins painting. Every painting is different and not rigidly planned out in how its going to look, Klauer said.
From a young age Klauer was art inclined. Klauer explained that when she was younger, about first grade, she would choose to draw out what words on spelling tests meant rather than writing out the definitions like everybody else.
She is now an elementary school art teacher for multiple schools with grades Pre-K through fifth in New York City. Even at a young age you can see children getting really insecure about the work they create, she said.
“There’s a very delicate balance of just encouraging them and not squashing the creativity,” Klauer said. “It is kind of a nurturing thing. We could do anything you want it doesn’t have to be perfect … you should just do it.”
With New York City being in lockdown, her classes have been moved online.
Teaching online has allowed for more studio time because there is no commute, she said. Although it isn’t her ideal amount of time in the studio, which she said is eight to twelve hours six days a week, she explained that the extra time is really helping her studio practice in the area she’s passionate about.
“The best part about being an artist is you get to do something that is like a constant source of fulfillment,” Klauer said. “I just feel really lucky that I get to paint, it’s just something that I’ve always been passionate about and it’s only gotten more strong.”