BIO

Natara Bjaranson is a visual artist currently based in San Diego, she is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily works in oil paint and manipulates found objects and organic matter in her sculptures. In 2018 Natara graduated with an associates degree in Studio Art at MiraCosta College, later in 2020 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University in Painting & Printmaking. In 2016 she made the President’s List at MiraCosta College and received third place for her color pastel drawing, “Bobby” at the Kruglak Gallery’s Annual Student Show. Natara also interned as a teaching artist at MiraCosta College in 2017-2018. She was awarded Honorable Mention for her oil painting “Looking For Euphoria” in the Kruglak Gallery’s Annual Student Show in 2017. She continued to make MiraCosta College President’s List in Spring 2017 & 2018 and San Diego State University’s Dean’s List Spring 2019 & 2020. Post graduation, she worked as a teaching artist for an organization called Prison Arts Collective, helping to create art based curriculum for those incarcerated during the pandemic. Natara has since worked closely with young kids as a camp art teacher and has continued to create custom work for clients and expand her opportunities in her career as an Artist. She is drawn to the structure of learned behavior and critique of the physical and emotional environments of our intimate spaces.

Artist Statement 

My work invites viewers to connect their lived experience to the narrative’s of my figures and still life’s. In my portraiture, my figures depict “emotional” women encased in the palette of their physical environment, forcing the viewer to speculate how these characters are talked to and how they talk to themselves. In my figure painting I source my photos from individuals that I admire as well as using myself frequently as a model for these characters. I find power in retelling my vulnerable experiences and reclaiming space with large scale figures and their narratives.

I create my still life paintings using curated items placed on a platter and photograph the image from an aerial perspective. The perspective of the plate allows the viewer to be presented as a meal for consumption and to ask themselves what's feeding them physically and emotionally. Inspired by intimate conversations around the dinner tables and classrooms, I have found myself often quoting phrases people say all around me and photographing consumable and usable items found outside. I reference my quoted dialogue as my theme when selecting items for my plate settings, the quantity and the physical weight of these items enhances the viewer's ability to connect them within their own narratives.

In my oil painting I use violet as a staple in my color palette in place of all shadows, this pulls the viewer in by the use of violet’s range in appearance from red, black & blue. I like to use violet because of its depth and the relationship of the colors that make it, with the blues of a deep bruise and the crimson of welted skin. Together I believe these colors, very much like emotions, have the weight to create the darkest parts of what we feel and see. 

I began only painting my darkest values in violet after writing a poem about how it feels to be the color violet and be stuck in phases of vulnerability and violence. My work in oil painting and sculpture both explore the relationships of how we find identity through consumption, critiquing language, environment and learned behavior by creating a physiological response in the viewer when exploring their own experiences of trauma and resilience. The content of my work focuses on milestone moments that happen during pivotal phases of physical and mental development. Through the exploration of the residual effects of my family’s generational learned behavior,  I believe this sparks the awareness and discussion of healing, education & untapped potential. In my practice my work assists me in my goal to create discussion around the impact of a person's physical environment & generational dialogue experienced.