UWF Student wins Blue Morning Gallery Scholarship

November 4, 2020 | Center for Fine and Performing Arts | art@uwf.edu

Rebecca Riggs is an artist based in the panhandle area around the Gulf of Mexico. She is currently attending the University of West Florida to pursue degrees both in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Psychology. She is a part of the Kugelman Honors Program, as well as Kappa Pi Art Honor Society at UWF. Rebecca expects to graduate in Spring 2022, when she is planning on attending a graduate program for Art Therapy.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am an artist currently pursuing degrees in Studio Art and Art History from the University of West Florida. I use a variety of media including painting, photography, and drawing. Over the past year I have spent a total of six weeks in Ireland, and 45 days traveling in the United States.

I have based my latest body of work on my experiences traveling. I am primarily concerned with exploring the relationship that I have with nature. I do not believe one must travel the globe in order to find inspiration. I see magic in the mundane, and find myself inspired by what I discover in my backyard.

That being said, I was enraptured by the different sense elements I perceived while traveling. I focused my work on the natural elements surrounding me during my time. Stone, ground, plant, water, air, light. I learned more about myself by exploring those natural elements, and started to see how I was connected to them.

Specific places hold power, and remain sacred even in our contemporary society. I feel grateful that I was able to visit some of these places. I believe that when we travel we are forced to be present in the moment. When we are in our normal routine of life it is easy to overlook the magic of nature. This work is almost entirely focused on aspects of life other than human.

That being said I see humanity reflected in all of the work. I hope that my work can convey the presence that I experienced while on my travels. If I wanted people to take away anything from my work it would be a sense of oneness between the observer and what is being observed.