ArielWillsArt

I am an illustrator, storyteller and graduate student at Rhode Island School of Design in the department of Nature Culture Sustainability Studies. My work celebrates the warmth and familiarity of daily life using lush colors and detail with the goal of finding authenticity and a sense of introspection within human gesture and form.
My range of materials spans from colored pencils, gouache, printmaking, and embroidery. I'm curious of how family ties and cultural identity are maintained and evolve across distance and time, through craft and intersections of art and literature, and embody this in my use of color, materials, and collage.
I find inspiration for my work in the sensitivity of human relationship and thresholds of community where the stories of the individual and the collective diverge and converge. I use traditional materials such as natural fibers and historically employed craft techniques combined with contemporary media and relevant themes to advocate for human rights and cultural sustainability. I am interested in the relationship between craft and human wellbeing and questions of narratives, translation, multilingualism and representation.