Cassity Whitby - 2024

Artist's Statement

Throughout class this semester I have been both concerned by the incredible loss of biodiversity- particularly in agriculture and food systems- and intrigued by the idea of regenerative farming. Especially inspirational to me was the film “The Biggest Little Farm”, following a California family that built up a farm one step at a time, carefully planning what animals and crops they would include and solving problems as they come. Over the course of seven years they created a diverse ecosystem of their own in which plants and animals could work together. For this final project I wanted to create a drawing based on this kind of system, incorporating depictions of many different farm animals and crops to represent biodiversity in farming. I used bright colors layered on top of each other in different patterns to create shading and energy in the drawings and also to present the idea that there is depth in the plants and animals portrayed and that as aspects of a farm, they each play roles that contribute to the farm’s success and to the health of the environment. I kept the background of the piece neutral to emphasize the simplicity of the drawing style and limited the number of colors I used in order to deepen the values and visual interest, as well as build a feeling of connection between all of the figures.