Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Project Ethos Artist Spotlight: Chelsea Brown

by Sarah Clifford

San Francisco artist Chelsea Brown transports people into a supernatural world, filled with powerful women and references to the almighty power of Mother Nature. She is well versed in Native American tradition and fills her art with meaningful symbolism. The up and coming artist is beginning to gain a strong following (including myself) and has been showing her work at local galleries.

Feathers are in almost all of Brown’s pieces because they embody a link to the spiritual world, referencing a bird with the ability to fly to heaven. The abundant supernatural symbols harmonize with the women in the art.
Women dominate Brown’s pieces, painting them in their natural, nude state. This is meant to empower women, suggesting innate strength when women are organic. Also, the lines between man and animal are often blurred as Brown blends the two together seamlessly. This is because in Native American culture, humans, animals and nature cannot be separated. Brown even explains, “In some Native Amer­i­can lan­guages, there is no word to dif­fer­en­ti­ate ‘humans’ and ‘ani­mals’ because they are in essence the very same thing.”

If you’re in the SF area and feel a need to connect with Mother Nature, Native American culture or just be inspired, Chelsea Brown’s artwork was displayed at Project One Gallery earlier this June, but for right now, only original pieces are available for purchase.  I’m dying for the day she’ll start making prints for her poor, college-student fans like myself.

Not only would her art look amazing hanging on a wall, it would also make for a lust-worthy tattoo. Her artwork is on display at Soul Patch Tattoo on Haight Street.

To see more of Chelsea Brown’s work, check out her website: http://www.chelseadraws.com/

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