Local artist paints with hands, finds parallels to life in her art
Photographs of Abigail Morris' art in her home on Friday, April 20, 2018.
Abigail Morris poses for a portrait in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem. Morris has painted for two years.
Abigail Morris paints in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem. The majority of Morris' painting is done with her hands.
Abigail Morris paints in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem. Morris has a degree in art history from Utah Valley University.
Abigail Morris dabs more paint on her fingers before resuming painting in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem. Morris currently has an exhibition in Maryland.
Abigail Morris takes a step back to check the lines in her painting in her studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem.
Abigail Morris dabs more paint on her fingers before resuming painting in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem.
Abigail Morris paints in her home studio on Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Orem.
Photographs of Abigail Morris' art in her home on Friday, April 20, 2018.
Photographs of Abigail Morris' art in her home on Friday, April 20, 2018.
Abigail Morris painted her first artwork just two years ago and has not stopped since then, creating over 60 pieces and exploring different styles and techniques in that time, despite never taking formal lessons.
“I tried a painting and thought it was cool,” Morris said.
When she tried that first painting, she did not use the traditional brushes. Instead, she used her hands.
“I kind of just started with my hands. The first pieces that I did were very abstract. I usually squirt paint directly onto the canvas and go from there. I didn’t use brushes until later,” Morris said. “Now that I’ve been doing it so much, it’s kind of hard to not paint with my hands. I connect more because I’m touching the canvas.”
Morris said that she tries to paint with her hands, at least in some part, on every painting that she creates.
“Usually, my more abstract styles, I do completely by hand,” she said.
With music playing – that is what often inspires her – the 28-year-old Utah Valley University Art History student and mother of one daughter paints several hours every week.
“It’s often about putting the music onto the canvas,” she said.
Recently, a long-term project that Morris has been working on has caught the eye of hundreds of followers on Instagram. Morris has been experimenting with repainting the same piece multiple times. Titled “28 Phases Later,” the name was chosen as a parody of the horror movie, “28 Days Later.”
“I didn’t know how it would end up,” Morris said. “It might be a monstrosity at the end.”
Later though, the 28 phases became more symbolic of Morris turning 28 years old while working on the project.
“I was kind of realizing that there are parallels to how years in our lives just get painted over. It kind of became almost like a metaphor for that,” she said. “I resigned myself to paint over them even if I really liked them. That’s like life. Some years, we don’t want to say goodbye to them. And others weren’t the best experiences and we look forward to better things. As I got through it, I started noticing all of these parallels to life.”
“28 Phases Later” began in December with a very abstract black and white work.
“I did a whole bunch of different styles. I had no pre-planning. My goal was to just sit down and paint whatever I was feeling at the time. I really love texture so I thought it would be fun to just keep repainting the same thing,” she said.
As the phases have been documented on social media, many followers asked Morris not to paint over certain ones and Morris herself became attached to some. But, the project continued. Every phase was painted with her hands and some have brushwork as well.
The last phase, finished on April 2, is Morris’ self-portrait in the language of flowers and features 28 different varieties of flowers.
“The flowers are representative of me in the language of flowers,” she said. “Most phases weren’t this pre-planned or as deep. I thought, for the final one, it should be special,” she said.
Currently, Morris has a piece on exhibit at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland. Earlier this year, one of her pieces was exhibited at Woodbury Art Museum in Orem and she had a solo exhibition in January at Red Finch Gallery in Orem.
“For me, painting has become like a necessity because it’s an outlet for me. I don’t consider myself a social butterfly type of a person so this is a way for me to express myself,” she said.
To see Morris’s art, check out www.abigailmorrisart.com or follow her on Instagram @abigailmorrisart.