Krystan Ivey: You Belong With Me

Fine Arts 2025 Thesis Exhibition

Krystan Ivey is a senior at Columbus College of Art and Design and will complete her Bachelors of Fine Arts in the fall of 2025. She aspires to work as a full time artist, is interested in exploring her creativity through several modalities, including fine arts painting, mural painting, and ultimately developing a thriving artistic business and brand. She plans to apply to graduate school in 2026 and hopes to complete a Masters of Fine Arts, giving her a good foundation for studio practice and art related roles in academia. When Krystan is not in the studio she works to further her artmaking practice by reading and researching magic and art history, with two cats perched on her lap.

Artist Statement
The work invites into worlds where the wild is revered as god, drawing attention by separating the subjects from reality through a threshold or portal. Those within the worlds daringly gaze outward, a reclamation of unrestricted existence and intuition. Women and creatures are depicted in parallel or anthropomorphized to explore the artist's relationship to the natural world and humanity. Artistic narrative decisions are informed by an upbringing in unfettered nature, through a lens of wonder, meaning to rebel against patriarchal structures. Traces of the mystical are woven throughout the works, with imagery inspired by tales and folklore. Through vivid colors, grounded by realism and patternistic mark making, the artist develops captivating moments that hold the eye.