Hiya! My name is Ashley Melissa Rodriguez, and I am graduating with a BFA in Visual Arts with a concentration of Studio Art. Not only am I completing my five years here at Stockton University, but I am the first generation in my family to graduate college. Since I was just a little girl, there was always a box of crayons, a pencil, and a piece of paper in hand and with a little bit of imagination, I was blessed with two things: a dream and a talent. What became a tool to escape my everyday life to a world where I can imagine Earth’s brightest colors, sketch Life’s littlest wonders, and embrace its existence with a touch of my fingers. Even the great masters once shared the beauty of their world with us and for that, I want to follow that path as well. My love for Art is forevermore and it serves as both my passion and my purpose.
But, although I find the world around me a beauty, I find myself as otherwise. I had fallen victim to the pit of comparison; a constant chip on my shoulder that burdens my mind and soul. There was always one person whose work outshines than my own. My family parading their achievement as if mine wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until later I realized the need to be perfect and beautiful drained me. I stopped loving my art.
I want my artwork to be something. I wanted it to be enough for them. For me. If I can’t reach that perfection, then everything I am as an artist means nothing. How can I be one of the greats when the sun shined down on everybody, but me?
In my realization, that light I desperately searched for wasn’t something I needed to chase after —It was already there to begin with. Art is not about perfection; it’s about expression, connection, and vulnerability. It could be stories that resonate to my life and to others that are connected to my work. God had given me hands, eyes, and an imaginative mind to paint the rawness of life and the person that He finds beautiful in His world: Me. There’s a saying I often tell people including my professors, “My body is an empty canvas, and I must paint myself”.
I hope by looking at my exhibition that others will come to terms with the fact that we, as humans, are the most flawed, but most beautiful creatures that hold the biggest connection to one another and whether you are religious or not, we are all created perfectly in our own universe and for Him too.
