Feli

Creator

Channelle Seward, Ursinus College

Preview

Student Exhibition Year

2021

Description

Watercolor and gouache painting depicting a fantasy character portrait. Presented as part of the 2021 Annual Student Exhibit in the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College.

Feli doesn’t need her sight to tell how beautiful the world around her is, instead she relies on her other four senses to do so. Gifted with the power of the now deceased goddess Panohari, she embarks on a journey to restore life into a dying world. Along the way she is joined by two people, Kaden and Casanti, whose motives still remain unclear to her. She welcomes her new found companions with an open mind and open heart knowing that the road ahead of them will be tough. It's a race against time as she sets out on an adventure that will not only affect their home but the entire universe.

Dimensions

22 x 30 inches

Artist Statement

Fantasy is something that I think many of us take for granted. It is a vital part of our lives, and according to some scholars, it is through fantasy that we make sense of the world around us. In his article “Why Fantasy Matters Too Much” Jack Zipes writes, “It is through the fictive projections of our imaginations based on personal experience that we have sought to grasp, explain, alter, and comment on reality.”

I think it is important to view the world through multiple perspectives. For me, fantasy is my desired perspective. This allows me to tap into my creative nature and create stories, but it also is a way that one can explore the multiple possibilities in life. I am someone who daydreams a lot, creating several stories in my head. My process behind character creation and development comes from the fantasy influences in my life, ranging from books, manga, video games, and anime. Sometimes I like to insert real world elements into my characters and story, such as biblical references and art history. For this exhibition, I want those who view my work to observe and explore the fantastical world in which my characters reside in. Fantasy of Fate, the story to which these characters belong, focuses on various characters throughout a vast universe and their quest to restore order in their dying world. One important element in my story is relationships. Despite being spread across a vast universe, all of these characters have some connection to each other. Some connections are distant, while others are closely tied. I think forming and maintaining relationships is an important aspect of life. It is within them that we can view and understand the world in different ways just as fantasy does. Relationships are like stories; some are good and full of surprises or bad and full of heartache, and then some vary within a range of many things. The dynamic portraits presented here not only tell a piece of their story, but also a part of mine as well. Each portrait features one or several mediums, such as watercolor, color pencil, and graphite pencil. I choose these mediums because I feel as though they bring out the full potential of what my characters look like and help emphasize the various places they come from within their world. As I mentioned before, I am someone who is inspired by manga and comics and would like to someday create a graphic novel of my own. I work with these mediums not only because I enjoy them and they help present my characters better, but because various comic book and manga artists use these mediums as well but with their own twist to it. Using these mediums helps me distinguish myself amongst other artists.

Rights Statement

Copyright of the underlying work is held by the artist. The digital image presented here is for educational purposes only and is not for commercial use.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.