Thank you & Welcome

I would like to introduce you to Chiara Atoyebi and welcome her as my new Co-Editor of the Art Insights Blog. Chiara is currently a MFA student at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and new member of the WCA Art Writers Committee. She joins me on the blog, as we say thank you and farewell to Susan Platt. On behalf of the WCA Art Writers Committee, I want to express our sincere appreciation Susan for her work to reboot and co-edit the blog, and thank her for her contributions as long time member of WCA.
The daughter of two colonels, Chiara Atoyebi was born in Detroit, MI and raised as an Army brat. Moving around a lot played a large role in the formation of her worldview. At one point, Chiara attended four different high schools in four years, graduating from school in Seoul Korea.
Chiara’s creative work extends beyond fine art and writing. She began acting at the age of 13; her first movie Pigeon Toes was shot in Berlin, Germany where she was “discovered” while riding the bumper cars. Chiara went on to numerous lead and guest-starring roles in films and on television. As an author she has written two books, 3 AM Musings of Love Lost Love Found and Flight of the Phoenix: Broken Heels. Chiara describes her work as “decidedly feminist, centering women who have typically been voiceless back into their power, and creating new power dynamics.”
Chiara’s upcoming MFA thesis surrounds women’s connection to the land, reclaiming resources, and exploring spirituality at the intersections of art and agriculture. As a visual artist, she endeavors to create spirit vessels and reliquaries, using both sacred and found material while incorporating elements from nature. Chiara believes in the energy of materials and their ability to live on through the artwork and connect with viewers on a personal level.
Our current WCA Art Writers Committee’s 50th Anniversary Interview Project will be a perfect fit for Chiara, as she “is happy to be in the company of trailblazing feminist artists.” I am looking forward to working with Chiara and hope you will keep an eye out for her upcoming posts.




Chiara Atoyebi Artist Statement
First and foremost, I am a storyteller. My medium can be either written, visual or both. For most of my life I have communicated with words. Beginning in 2012, I experienced several life-altering experiences that made it difficult to write at all. That is when I turned to painting and craft. Visual language helps me express the places that words can’t take me. Through the process of art making, I learned that color is equally as powerful as words on the page.
My work is meditative and abstract. Working in this way allows for fluidity in both the creation and experience of it. I work in layers simultaneously pushing and pulling paint to reconcile issues and make meaning. Mark making and pattern help me to reveal the interconnectedness of humanity and my personal relationship to all of it. Time of day and environment are important to my process. I like to work outside or late at night when things are still. Working in this way helps me have the most important conversations with myself.
Through painting I use colors to explore balance and harmony. I use text written directly on the canvas to guide me or to convey a concept that disrupts. My belief is that words, language, and rhetoric form our world. Our lives are a result of what we say, what we hear and what we do. Therefore, I use repetitive text on canvas to convey messages. Most times these messages are hidden beneath the paint but reappear visually.
I chose visual language to share stories about my life in hopes of creating connections and dialogues. My roles as wife, mother, daughter, and woman are at the forefront of my paintings. My heritage of African American, LatinX, West Indian are ever present and inform my materials.
I explore stories surrounding, spirituality, family, place, race, suffering, and nature. My hope is that my work dialogues with the viewer, in an intimate way, long after they leave it. -Chiara Atoyebi
You can find more of Chiara’s work on Medium and at Chiaratoyebi.com.
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