SEARCH
Allysha Farmer
Born and raised in San Antonio, Allysha Farmer is a multidisciplinary studio based artist who holds a BFA in ceramics from UTSA (2015). Her art blends ceramic techniques with complex subjects such as loss and the abject to create her sculptures. Farmer’s art practice has also led her to work on the planning and installation stages of a few notable public art projects in Texas. Under the guidance of head artist at millard studio, Diana Kersey, Farmer has been included on such projects such as; San Pedro Creek project and Credit Human Building Mural The Riparian Edge found in San Antonio. In addition to her art practice, she also maintains a working relationship with many San Antonio art institutions providing youth art education programming. Institutions including; the Carver Community Cultural Center, UTSA Southwest and the Mcnay Art Museum. In 2023, she co-founded the project space, January; located along San Antonio’s prominent Second Saturday artwalk, where she practiced, curated and exhibited.
Resume (PDF)
Work Samples (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Style: Visual Art: Collage, Conceptual, Experimental
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
Often people find it difficult to understand the complexity behind physical and mental health; thus, my work explores the suffering behind such experiences. I am confronting the viewer with the complexity of emotions and the loss of identity some face because of our culture’s tendency to define an individual solely by his or her illness. I’m interested in how someone’s affliction can cause a break down of their identity making them vulnerable, and forcing the individual to confront their own fragility. I take my inspiration for these ideas from my own personal experiences of caring for a family member who slowly deteriorate from her terminal illness. I witness her identity slowly alter and the vulnerability that came along with this break down of her character. I use both traditional utilitarian and non traditional ceramic forms as a metaphor for an individual. By distorting these forms and their surfaces, I reflect an individual’s physical or mental health. I want my forms and glazes to act as a narration for the complex emotions these individuals face from their illness. I wish to create a uneasy feeling within the viewer, by doing this I hope the viewer gains sympathy for people who struggle with the physical or mental health. Sympathy can help the beginning of understanding these people’s struggles. Having a better understanding of illness and all the emotions that come with it, would allow others to better care for anyone suffering from their affliction.