Heatless Sock Curls, 22x30 in., graphite on paper

I set out to make a self portrait when I started this piece, and it ended up just reflecting what was on my mind at the time of its creation. Influenced by social media trends and Tik Tok horse girls, I was thinking about hair. I also got the fortune that’s depicted in Heatless Sock Curls in a fortune cookie at my favorite Chinese restaurant back home. When creating this piece, I was asking myself, what do I leave out of a self portrait? What do I include? What does this say about how I want others to see me, or how I want to see myself? I think this project was a way of working through that outward vs. inward identity.

Cate Stetson ‘29 is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer from New York City. She is interested in how art can be used as a method of digesting and understanding the people and stories around her. Her most recent works have been in graphite, charcoal, and acrylic paint.
 

Fayerweather, 11x15 in,, ink on paper

This piece is an ink drawing of my dorm, Fayerweather, that I did as both an exercise in perspective and as an experiment with detail. I wanted to explore the balance of detail, and figure out where to directly represent it, and where to creatively fake it with texture, while still creating a believable image.

Man Moth, 22x30 in., graphite on paper

I’ve always been a lover of cryptid stories and the supernatural, and I was recently delighted by an Elizabeth Bishop poem titled The Man-Moth, which sent me down a rabbit hole of the humanity of monsters. This piece also takes inspiration from Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy.

Vacancy Part 1, both 11x15 in, charcoal and white conté crayon on paper

Part one of two works I did on negative space, I wanted to explore vacancy and emptiness with these observational still lifes. Contrast is such an important aspect of visual art, and I wanted to work it to the extreme.

Vacancy Part 2, both 11x15 in., charcoal and white conté crayon on paper

For part two of this small series, I was eager to apply what I had noticed and learned from Vacancy Part 1 to the human form. I was interested in how the biological aspect of this work created an almost scientific feel.