ARTIST STATEMENT

For the past few years, my paintings have revolved around ideas of color and perception. This fascination blossomed while studying abroad in Ascoli Piceno, Italy in 2013, where I was able to experience and paint light that was so dramatically different from my home New Hampshire landscape. After the trip, I began noticing more moments of light and surprising color at home, and this experience began to define my painting practice.

Recently I’ve been consumed with the idea of memory, specifically how our personal lenses can create false or skewed memories or block them out all together. Memory serves as a record of our experiences, but it’s colored by our perceptions, judgements and emotions, and is often only partial. I’ve been working to observe gaps in short-term memory during my painting sessions. I’ve been welcoming gaps that occur between observing my subject and marking my canvas as opportunities to invent color and space in my work. My paintings are tangible memories that have developed from indulging in personal impressions and exaggerated color relationships that occur in those gaps.

ARTIST BIO

Bri Custer received her B.A in Studio Art (2014) and M.Ed. in Secondary Education (2019) at the University of New Hampshire. She has shown regionally in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and has been featured in Pikchur. and PORTsmith magazines. Bri spent two years as a public school art teacher before recently making the jump to full-time artist, and is the founder and CEO of The Non-Toxic Crit Group aimed at helping artists dive deeper into their work in small, virtual groups. She lives in Dover, NH with her husband, Bryan and hound-lab mix, Vinny.