Carye Bye

I am not what I would consider a typical artist. I see myself as an artist-in-residence in whatever current place I am which includes: city, community, personal and work environments. I don't make art specifically for galleries, to be collected, or even feel especially attached to art as objects. I love the connection between people and art. How art can make you feel and help you understand something you didn't. Also, how art allows unstructured time, play and space to be yourself. Adults need play too. 

Art has few rules but I also strive for inclusion and respect of other people's spaces and places. I love art and design that is attractive with no point of view, but I also love opinionated art and especially art that focuses on environmental and social justice. 

Art is my lens to the world. I can 'nerd' out on any topic and love exploring my current muse in-depth through physical and performance art. Some muses last a really long time; others last a season.

I'm really into the idea of the City as a Museum and the intersecting of people and place. People think of museums as objects housed in a building. But I expand my museum to include the layers of a place including history, today, and future. I'm especially drawn to urban environments that have a mix of public and private spaces where a curious display of stories are happening all at once. I love being present in the City as a Museum, as there's moments of play, laughter, curiosity, and growth.  

I'm a multi-media artist and love to express myself through mixed-media illustration which includes pen & ink, painting, collage (cut & paste and digital), photography, and printmaking (including wood-cut, monoprints, & letterpress). I also love to curate a show, organize the community through playful activity (sometimes with a do-good impact), and simply to have fun with dressing up. 

My favorite medium is probably the zine. I started making zines in high school when they were trending in my communities but I have returned to zine-making my whole life in order to create something tidy & finished that shares the documentation of the muse or story. Sometimes they are more book-arts-fancy created on a letterpress with hand sewn bindings and sometimes they are simple photocopied and stapled publications. Zines can also be reproduced relatively cheaply and distributed so many can enjoy unlike a solo work of art.  See my published zines here.