@corinnecolpittsart

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Corinne Colpitts

Corinne Colpitts is a born and raised New Englander, and first studied English Literature at the undergraduate and graduate levels before a mid-pandemic crisis drove her to apply to art school for an MFA (MECA&D ‘23). Corinne seeks to synthesize visual and verbal storytelling through symbolic language in her paintings. Major influences include Hilma af Klint, William Blake, Jorge Luis Borges, and J. R. R. Tolkien. When she’s not painting, Corinne enjoys traveling, reading, walking her dog Rigel, and wallowing in existential dread.

Meaning and Mystery in and Through Symbolic Visual Language: The environments in which an artist creates, and those in which work is understood and appreciated, are cyclical throughout human history. The worldly circumstances leading to a disillusionment in the myth of progress, and a reactionary oscillation toward exploration of the metaphysical in pursuit of meaning and understanding, can be seen in both the late nineteenth century and the present day. The communication of personal experience requires an act of transmutation, the manifestation of an internal reality into a physical form, specifically, through the use of symbolic visual language in painting. The creation and use of symbolic language in visual art is a cornerstone of work by Hilma af Klint, William Blake, the Symbolist artists, and in my own burgeoning art practice. This effort is itself rich with mystery and meaning, and also facilitates the exploration and creation of mystery and meaning beyond the self. In my work, I hope to follow in the footsteps of these artists and beget evocative communication through painting, and in this paper I aim to illustrate the throughlines in sociohistorical context, methodology, and philosophy of artmaking between these distinct entities. potential.