Blue Owl Design

Allison McEldoon/ Blue Owl Design As a child I have always loved creating Art. It was not until high school that I started getting serious about my work as something that was beyond just something fun to do. I attended Mass Art while in High School and went on to MICA for my under graduate degree. In 2003 I graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts, a Minor in Photography and Book Arts, with a concentration in Hand Made Paper. After College I moved to Brooklyn to work at Dieu Donne' Gallery and Studio in Manhattan. In 2008 I moved to Nashville to put down some roots. My current work is centered on body image and the ideal woman. After going though my own personal battles with my weight, and feeling the pressure from countless diet adds and super models and super unrealistic ideals of beauty I decided to explore the ideal female forms through out the ages. The unrealistic female form has been idolized over the years making all women constantly strive for a form that is almost unattainable. Our society impresses young women into believing that they are not beautiful and that they are flawed. My current work is tip toeing with my ideas on these issues and will be continued with pieces with imagery of vintage diet adverts. The process behind my work is the part I am most in love with. Pouring and scraping paint in a silk screening manor, creating texture with heat and cold, layering paint, then washing it away. My paintings are danced with in the studio creating an abstract world in which my ladies live. After I feel the abstract feels right I then print the women over the top of my canvas. This is when I feel most at home with my work, the process is what makes it for me. You can also see a series of my work at Coopers on Porter in East Nashville. If you haven't been there yet, go! The food is amazing!