Interview
Sydney B. Bryan
Sydney B. Bryan is a Jackson, Wyoming local, queer movement and visual artist, recipe-developer, and outdoor educator; is a thoughtful mover, thinker, and steward of the environment and our ecosystem. She strives to find exploration in a world of confusing events through watercolor, gouache, water-based ink, paint and micron pen details, soft pastels, collage, and photography. Her abstract mixed media work grew from the reminiscent ideas of printmaking in high school and a college honors thesis titled, Thymes Will Change, maybe life will heal: a study of loneliness and movement. Splitting her time between Wyoming and Connecticut, she works part-time as an artist through her small business - Just Dots & Lines - and full-time as an emergency medical technician.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My art background started in the movement world where I danced and trained in ballet, modern, improvisation, and others from a very young age through my college years. Back in high school, one favorite art and an amazing photography teacher introduced me to Linocut printmaking and cyanotype photography processes respectively. I wondered if I could make interesting "prints" with watercolor and gouache mediums using a glass plate. After many experiments, I developed a process to create base-layer textures that I could build on. More recently, I’ve been experimenting to combine watercolor and "cyanotyping" on the same page.”
"Impossible Lemonade and Sticky Bubblegum", 2023.
What inspires you?
“My physical and emotional pain, my migraine auras, changing environments, seasons and weather, plants and dreams.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Just because I see one thing in my work doesn’t mean that someone else should see the same thing. I strive to bring awareness to migraine disease and chronic illnesses. Most of my work has some sort of migraine aura component. I combine migraine auras from different days, you often can't tell what's abstraction and what's an aura - and that's the beauty of them.”
How would you describe your work?
“They are like mixed media abstractions with a touch of migraine aura. The work usually feels like a complete mess until something just clicks! Like the right colour or the right layer presents itself and makes the work feel like a cohesive piece.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Alissa Davies (paints her dreams and kids’ ideas), Marina Savashynskaya Dunbar (large color-blocked acrylics with sand texture - often works on the floor), Janet Pulcho (soft layered watercolor flowers), Lucie Svoboda (big, bright, bold contrasting flowing shapes - also often works on the ground), Linda Colletta (large interwoven fabric installations), Farah Nabeela Khan (love her trees), Maya Land (incredible eye for collage), Morgan Harper Nichols (I often need their work for motivation and inspiration), Molly Leach (the coolest abstract acrylic pouring technique), Kellie Swanson (awesome cyanotype work on clothing), Julia Hendrickson (calming blues, always reminds me that repetition over and over is okay and beautiful), Andrea England (beautiful watercolor layered landscapes), Brandon Collwes (lovely layers of repeating abstractionism), and many more!”
"Flew Through my Vision", 2024.
“I combine migraine auras from different days, they often can't tell what's abstraction and what's an aura - and that's the beauty of them.”
What is your creative process like?
“In the past, I felt like I was losing myself or losing parts of myself. Anything and everything felt unsure. I began focusing my limited energy on visual arts when chronic pain didn't allow me to dance the way I used to be able to move. I remembered loving linocut print-making in high school and wondered if I could make interesting "prints" with watercolor and gouache mediums using a glass plate. After many experiments, I developed a process to create base-layer textures that I could build on. My second and third layers are typically created using recycled materials like egg cartons, forks, glass jars, and bubble wrap. The fourth layer uses paint pens and water based ink, the fifth and sixth layers are shimmery watercolors and matte gouache that ultimately represent the migraine visual auras I see, and finally the seventh and eighth layers are the filling in and around of the the textures and shapes using micron pens.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“What’s important about sharing how one’s chronic conditions impact their time, energy, and work? To show whoever looks at the art that they are not alone. To celebrate emotions and shared experiences. To be there for the person who sees the work and sees your vision or doesn’t and sees something else.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“Just Dots & Lines has 9 pieces hanging at St. John’s Health, in partnership with their Foundation and Jackson Hole Public Art for the “Art & Healing” program in the professional building across from the main hospital entrance in the cardiology hallway from December 2023-2024, in Jackson Hole, WY. About 25 works will be hung at the Hospital for Special Care through the Joy of Art! Program in New Britain, CT during the month of May 2024. As well as a cyanotype, entitled "Trapped," that's traveling to the Modern Visual Arts Gallery in Bethlehem, PA, also for the month of May 2024.”
