Family: Art as a Narrative

Caroline Vellenga-Buban

 

Caroline Marcella Vellenga-Buban was born February 17, 1995 in Washington, D.C. to Christopher Buban and Christine Vellenga. Testimony about the exhibit is as follows: "I've been doing art since before I can remember, almost always with my younger sister in the earlier years...I guess I would cite some direct artistic influences in my life as my grandfather, my uncle, and my sister. My professional influences are/were Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and my favorite pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

 

"When I came up with the idea for this exhibit, I was thinking about how much I learned and grew in art because of my family. It made me curious about whether or not my influences would see art similarly to how I do and if they thought family was a really important force in their process as well. I was happy to learn that they felt the same in some respects and had their own perceptions of art and process as well. When it comes to Amy's art, I remember we were always drawing portraits and faces together. Thematically, that's what we cared about most. You can see a lot of the same subject matter in the art we did for years and years alongside each other. We wanted to draw things in the moment. She progressed far beyond that, of course. I'm incredibly proud of her and what she has done already.

 

"I was encouraged from an early age to take art classes and to pursue creative avenues. Before my parents divorced and we moved across the country, they enrolled me in a school that put a heavy emphasis on artistic education. Art was a huge part of the curriculum in general in all sorts of ways.

 

"More about the exhibit itself, the reason I chose this theme was because of how art has connected the people I love. I wanted to explore the reasons for that, because I think that it is how I've maintained a lot of relationships over the years, which is hugely important to me...I do not want to detract from the other artists in this exhibit, especially since I do not actively create art anymore and haven't for some time, but I think it is important to show how I have played a small role in this process of carrying this cultural tradition within the context of my family.

 

"I'm sad to say that I have not done art on any grand sort of scale for a few years now. I guess it's because I don't really feel the inspiration anymore, but I hope that's just a phase that passes. We'll see where it goes, but I can't deny that art has been a hugely formative influence on me, especially in my earlier years."