Illuminate: Nightlight Lamp & Lantern Series
“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” ‐Herbert Simon
For as long as I can remember my life has been focused and centered on culture: my younger brother and I were adopted – he is from Guatemala and I am from China, and my mother comes from a family with a Norwegian background. As a result, being culturally aware and embracing culture has played a huge role in my life. Every person has their own story about their childhood and how they were brought up, and each story is different and unique in their own way. My story is that I grew up with a passion for graphic design and a mother whose work focuses around human rights. These two aspects have not only shaped my life but have shaped my work as an artist.
Illuminate is a body of work that consists of two art series, a nightlight lamp series and a hanging lantern series. My artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues. This project combines a world issue with sculpture and graphic design elements with an Asian influence. The overall body of work illustrates the Syrian Refugee crisis and war from a child’s standpoint. Children are often overlooked in this crisis and war and as a way of expressing themselves they have used art. Nightlights light up a space that is dark and they are symbolic of keeping children’s fears at bay. They are a great representation of childhood innocence. Conceptually, the underlying message behind this whole art series is to shed light on an otherwise dark topic. I wanted to take an existing situation and change it into a preferred one.
Kari Everson ‘18
Advisor: Bridget Milligan
All images copyright © 2018 Kari Everson. All rights reserved.
Entangle. Red oak, laser engravings, plexi. 2018.
Entangle and SEE of People. Installation. 2018.
SEE of People. Laser cut vellum. 2018.
Entangle. Red oak, laser engravings, plexi, ebonizer. 2018.
Entangle. Detail. 2018.
Entangle and SEE of People. Installation. 2018.