Caitlin Dickens creates dreamy landscapes
A single glance is enough to get caught and immersed in the abstract environments created by local mixed media artist Caitlin Dickens. These gorgeous paintings offer hints and clues of landscapes, providing just enough suggestion of the natural world to have a life of their own.
These dramatic yet sensitive works combine the natural imagery with bold colors to create images that are both alien and familiar, like residual impressions from a dream.
Dickens has been serious about art for as long as she can remember, saying, “All kids love messing around with crayons and paint when they’re little, but unlike a lot of my peers, I never lost interest. I remember even as early as first grade, I was the ‘artsy’ kid in class, the one that the other kids would try to bribe whenever we had to do some kind of art project that they wanted to get out of.”
Years ahead of the curve, she started making conceptual art in middle school. She explains, “I had just discovered Radiohead and was completely obsessed (still am). I created this collaged piece heavily inspired by OK Computer out of shredded newspaper, a digitally altered image of my hand, and paint. It was basically about how society is drowning in media headlines. It was the first work I’d ever made with a real concept behind it. That was my ‘AHA’ moment when I felt, for the first time, like I had what it takes to be a legit artist.”
Her natural proclivity for making art was accompanied by support from teachers, family, and friends.
“My teachers always encouraged me to enter local and regional competitions,” she tells us. “I got a blue ribbon just about every year in my hometown’s annual art festival, so I figured I must have something going for me. I mainly just enjoyed making art for myself, but that encouragement and validation really pushed me to push myself.”
Dickens settled in Chattanooga after graduating from the University of North Alabama in 2014 with a BFA in studio painting. Most of her paintings are made with a mix of acrylic, spray paint, ink, and resin or pouring medium.
“I like the fluid look that resin and pouring medium can give to a piece,” she says. “It makes it still look wet, like it could just keep swirling around forever and never settle.”
Her work is heavily inspired by music and nature.
“I have a difficult time painting without the right music to set the mood,” she says. “I lose myself in the sounds and the lyrics, and what comes out is a representation of whatever emotional response and imagery is floating around in my head.”
The process conjures delightful environments rich in bold colors and organic forms. She uses ink to depict holes (like those caused by erosion), rock-like forms, vines, and roots, while using color to create different moods.
“For me, art is a necessity,” she says. “It’s something I have to do in order to process life.” She continues, “I’m not good at speaking up around people, so art is a way for me to speak my mind without having to say a word. It’s also a way of working through depression. Though that’s never 100 percent gone, it’s kind of like turning on a faucet and letting a lot of the pain or confusion drain out so that I won’t be completely flooded by it. Once that’s transformed into a finished work of art, all those emotions make a little more sense to me.”
“Creating is an intensely emotional experience for me. I have to be in the right headspace for it, and when I do it night after night, week after week, eventually I get deep into this hole—I have to step back for a while and dig myself out, so I can reset and refresh before I crawl back down again.”
Dickens is currently working towards ending a hiatus from painting that was brought about by her most important work of art: a baby girl.
“I want to be there for her 100 percent,” she says. “I won’t be able to isolate and fully submerge myself in my art like I did before—I’m going to have to learn how to paint in a completely different way now. That’s something I’ve been dreading, but I think I’m about ready to start tackling it.”