Collaborative Portraits

I paint portraits collaboratively with others to explore art’s ability to facilitate social support through meaningful communication. As a socially engaged artist, it is my goal to cultivate purposeful experiences regardless of the skill level of my collaborator, and for that reason most of the people I work with have had no formal artistic training.

I start by painting naturalistic portraits of my collaborators. I then meet with them and ask them all the same question: What is something that you would share about yourself if people around you were willing to listen? They often delve into their personal histories to answer this question and once they have, we work together to translate the resulting concepts to imagery. The unique backgrounds and personalities of the people I work with prompt delightfully unexpected resolutions during this stage of the process. Some of the collaborators rely on text to express themselves while others incorporate universal symbols or imaginary scenes. After making these decisions, they paint the images onto the portrait while we share intermittent exchanges. Though I adapt the collaborative experience for each person, I always find myself encouraging confidence and answering questions about color and composition. In the end, the finished painting is a truer representation of my collaborator than the portrait would have been on its own because it incorporates both the hand and the ideas of the person being painted.

Socially engaged art aims to democratize art-making by minimizing the importance of technical and conceptual merit and emphasizing the fostering of real connections between people. Art is already being employed this way in fields like education and therapy as a vehicle to improve social health. With this body of work I look to harness the same practical positivity.