Zoe Van Beurden
Artist Statement
My artwork explores my relationship with the natural environment. I use bold colors, rhythmic mark-making, and unexpected compositions to capture the emotive essence of nature, while subtly distorting reality. My process involves working mainly from personal photographs and disrupting these images–sometimes through digital manipulation–before translating them onto canvas or paper. This allows the original image to morph into something both familiar and unfamiliar.
Much of my work centers around personally important subject matter–scenes, objects, and memories–related to nature. I hope to blur the boundary between memory and imagination in my artwork. Ultimately, my work beckons the viewer to step into my world where nature is observed with an unwavering child-like wonder.
Zoe Van Beurden is a Santa Barbara-based visual artist. Born in 2002, Van Beurden spent her childhood living in California’s Central Valley. She recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she achieved her BA in art. She is currently a Teaching Artist at Slingshot / Alpha Art Studio where she supports the creative practice and professional interests of artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Santa Barbara. Van Beurden has exhibited paintings at galleries and museums throughout Central and Southern California, including the Santa Paula Art Museum and UC Santa Barbara Art, Design, & Architecture Museum.