Kaitlin Jasmine Sloan

Over my years of studying at DJCAD, I have fallen in love with sculpture, using simple materials such as wood, wire and plaster to create tangible outcomes. In my current exploration, I am considering the value of artwork and how it is judged by both the artist themselves and a wider audience. I like to consider personal experiences, so in my work, I am exploiting my own personal anxieties that surround being creative and making artwork, as well as my own experience within art education, with an almost confessional approach. In a fight against the white cube, we as artists idolise I have created a micro-gallery, namely the Fridge Door Gallery, which is inspired by Judy Chicago’s Pedagogy of a psychological safe space along with my own memories of innocently pinning my childhood drawings to my mum’s fridge - a common act in many people’s childhoods. In my work, I am both artist and curator as I have not only sculpted a place for judgement-free expression, but I have worked alongside a variety of groups (local primary/secondary schools, Perth prison, fellow student artists) and encouraged them to create work without fear of expectation and fall back in touch with the inner child artist who simply creates. The making of the Fridge Door Gallery has helped me regain confidence in myself as an artist through collaboration and allowed me to connect with varying audiences.