Pick a Card

January - April 2021.

Senior Capstone Project. Print Series. Printer Scanner, Paint, Photoshop, and Random Artifacts.

I see my capstone project as a way to connect more people to the vast subject of tarot. Although daunting at first, by simply examining my work and pulling out meaning, they will be partaking in the act of reading their own tarot. Each person sees what they choose to see, and takes with them the symbols they are most drawn to. By utilizing our natural tendencies to deeply question and analyze, I was able to create a series that makes tarot come more organically to the viewer.

Beyond that, I wanted to see my work challenge the issues of inaccessibility within tarot. Tarot cards as a whole can be very intimidating, and often lead people to shy away from learning more about their varied meanings and deep history. I hoped to create a series of photographs that helped viewers understand that tarot can be fun, approachable, inviting, and thought provoking.

I was also intrigued about the complicated history of tarot. Exploring how tarot has been a refuge for the disenfranchised, while its art has deep ties to religious and cultural appropriation. How can a deck of cards be so comforting to some, but insensitive to others? The truth is that tarot is complicated. I created this work to show that tarot cards stripped of religious symbols, historical art, and stolen designs can still be an effective tool for the self reflective and spiritual. 

Artist Statement

Somewhere in Northern Italy during the 1400s, the card game of Tarot was created. As decades passed, the deck moved through Southern France and eventually throughout the world. Although many assumptions are made about the origins, we know one thing for sure - tarot cards continue to find themselves in the hands of those who most need them. Decks consist of 78 cards: 22 major arcana cards and 56 minor arcana cards. Each one has a unique meaning that can be explained through the art on the card itself and the description within the small guide book accompanying the deck. Through and through, Tarot is accessible and often a source of comfort for the profiled, judged, and disenfranchised. Tarot cards cannot see your political beliefs, what you look like, or who you love. Every card is vague in nature and it is up to the reader to determine the final meaning. Although the cards are fairly standardized, the art used for every deck is unique to the artist behind them. 

A complicated history, the art of many tarot cards uses appropriated and stolen Romani, Native American and Jewish symbols. Although new artists, tarot fanatics, spiritualists, and witches of all types are creating new and inclusive tarot designs, the conversations surrounding the centuries of theft are important and must not be erased. Tarot cards old and new utilize various genres and mediums of art to create both the front and back designs. Traditionally the backs of the cards are uniform and do not change within a deck. The front of the cards however allow for serious and vast interpretation. Understanding the names of the cards, and their traditional depictions help modern deck artists create their own versions. The Pick a Card series is the unique depiction and interpretation of a small selection of tarot cards using a printer scanner, seemingly random artifacts, photoshop, and varied collage techniques. Browse the various pieces within Pick a Card and take what you need. How do the works make you feel? What do the colors and symbols mean to you? You are invited to explore the meanings for each card, and use them as reminders in your life. Tarot is for everyone, even you. Pick a card. 

Capstone Process Book

Mixed Media Paintings

January 2020 - May 2020