Arlette Solis
Artist Statement
My name is Arlette Solis, I grew up in Michoacan, Mexico, a very lively and colorful city rich with culture, art, and traditions. When I was little, I would often see artists and artisans selling their work in plazas, each one very beautiful and unique. I also have multiple family members like my dad, grandma, and uncles that do art and, even though they don’t do it as a profession, seeing them work on their art was always fascinating to me. Being exposed to all these talented artists in my hometown and among my family inspired me to create my own art. I was not very good when I started but that didn’t discourage me since I always enjoyed creating despite my results, but I did eventually reach a point in which I decided that I wanted to pursue a creative career, so I started to practice with the goal of improving my skills. To do this, I asked my family members for advice and taught myself different techniques with the help of the internet. I did not notice much improvement for a long time, and I would consider my high school years as the period in which I was becoming truly satisfied with my art. Looking back, my art was indeed improving but my expectations for myself developed faster, which is why I didn’t notice the improvement until my high school years. At this time, I was closer to the time in which I would need to choose a career, and because of my love for art, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the creative field.
To me, art reflects a part of the artist, so it is important to me to be genuine and put all my effort into my work. Because of this, I like to do art that is important to me, inspires me, and interests me, but even if I do something outside my comfort zone, I still do my best on the project and take it as a learning experience to grow and improve. I also like to make art that communicates something, so I often like to include or represent symbolism, emotions, opinions, or a message in my art even if it’s something small. Most of the time I try to do something that people can relate to or learn from based on my own experiences. Overall, my personal philosophy is to always put effort into my work and create something that could be important to me and something that people can relate to and enjoy.
When it comes to my methodology, I like to be organized in order to have time to finish all of my projects in time. I like to do this by keeping a “to do list” and calendar in which I write all the things I have to do, organize them by priority, and note the time limit I have to complete them. I often start my process by looking for inspiration in real life, things that inspire me, the internet, or my interests like movies, shows, music, and books. In the case of working on something realistic or that requires a good understanding of proportions or a specific item, I look for references that could help me incorporate what is necessary into my art. Once I begin to work on a new artwork or project, I like to start with hand drawn sketches to get my ideas flowing. I love to use traditional mediums since there is a unique feel and result one can only get with working with physical materials, so to me it is a good way to start even if the final product will need to be converted into digital. From here, I start working on the actual product using all the preparations I collected and worked on.
