Cayla Skillin-Brauchle
Artist Statement
In my trans-disciplinary practice, I produce interactive, multi-faceted events and performances that provide audiences and myself with space to consider complex ideas such as ownership of possessions and ownership over individual or collective thoughts. Many of my recent projects engage communities in conversations about things that cannot be easily measured but define our shared human experience. During these events, I act as facilitator, medium, or perhaps cultural worker, exercising acute listening, often performing absurd tasks designed to make audiences feel at ease. The Declaration and Preservation of Love and The HUMAN XEROX Project focus on consumerism and the complex relationship between humans and our possessions. Certifying the Truth and Everything is the truth address the subjectivity of truth and the power derived from sharing one’s own version of the truth. Conjuring Good Luck ruminates on good luck, how to get it, and our shared experiences of hardship and joy.
I create social, colorful, and inviting public presentations. I engage viewers and see them as experts on everyday life as well as current trends and attitudes. Together, we illustrate and illuminate our shared human experience.
I make feminist work insofar as feminism refuses a definitive answer and values multiplicity, complicated narratives, and the unexpected. My best work is sticky, complicates gender narratives, and celebrates successes and failures alike.
Lastly, I believe: that discussion is optimistic even and especially when it reveals larger societal problems; that engaging an audience’s creativity, compassion, and humor enriches contemporary art; that absurdity can be wholly honest and play is good.
Bio
Cayla Skillin-Brauchle is a visual artist whose transdisciplinary practice spans drawing, video, installation, performance, and social practice. Her work has been shown at numerous international and national venues including Artspace Mackay in Queensland, Australia; the Rotunda Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand; ROY G BIV Gallery in Columbus, Ohio; the Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, India, and 621 Gallery in Tallahassee, Florida. Skillin-Brauchle has been awarded residencies at Iskra Print Collective, Vermont Studio Center, and most recently the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. Having earned a BA from Beloit College (2006) and her MFA from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (2012), Skillin-Brauchle was 2012-13 Fulbright Fellow in Mumbai, India. Skillin-Brauchle has taught at Ohio University, Spudnik Press (Chicago, Illinois), Whitman College (Walla Walla, Washington), and is an Assistant Professor of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.