This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Unveiling the Inner Artist: InterArts Cabinet of Curiosity

Emma Stover

Emma Stover is an artist from Massachusetts, currently in her first-year at Trinity College, Hartford. Emma has dabbled in a variety of art forms throughout her life. She has taken both visual art and pottery classes, and discovered her passion for graphite portraits. Her endeavors in music include both cello and presently, harp. She has also taken part in several theatrical productions, most frequently as stage manager, but also as run crew and as an actor. Her curiosity drives her work in trying new things and learning about all kinds of art. She looks forward to continuing her exploration of the arts at Trinity and taking advantage of the opportunities and community of artists found at the college.

View some of her work from the fall below.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

This page is referenced by:

For Yves
By Emma Stover
For the gift prompt I was assigned the task of creating a gift for Yves. Within the InterArts group, Yves was not someone I had the chance to get very close with, thus I wanted to spend time thinking about how to make a meaningful gift. Yves excels in music and dance, while at Trinity he has released several songs and a music video. It has been exciting to watch him on his journey in the music industry. I decided to do a minimalist portrait of him using the photo for the cover of his single “Online”. I kept the portrait simple due to my use of watercolors, which are not a common medium of mine. Watercolor is very fluid and reminded me of Yves’s passion for dance. In the background, I outlined Africa, and painted the pattern of the Rwandan flag. I knew from his responses and stories that he had a strong connection to Rwanda, and the colors were similar to the cover of “Online” so it was very fitting. I would love to attempt this same gift in a different medium and see how it changes or perhaps mix watercolor with something else. I am excited to listen to more of Yves’s music and see his growth over the next few years and beyond!
Basket of Flowers 8 Object 1 Submission plain 2021-05-13T03:20:29+00:00
By Emma Stover
After visiting the Wadsworth, one piece has been stuck in my brain. As soon as I saw it, it became my object of desire, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. This piece was titled simply, “Basket of Flowers." It is exactly as it is titled, a basket of flowers, but the flowers were made from delicate porcelain and silk.Unlike the classic woven basket, they were held in an intricate porcelain and bronze one. The piece at first glance was an ordinary bouquet, but it oozed with craftsmanship and delicacy. It is unlike large paintings in gilded frames and massive statues of marble. It tries its best to replicate an everyday object in a tastefully preserved way.

There is not much of a history to be found through research of this object. It was bought by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1900 and displayed at the Princess Gate in London prior to being gifted to the Wadsworth. Due to the many unknowns of this piece, I decided to research the flowers themselves. Flowers have often been used as their own language, to tell stories and convey meaning. Although it is difficult to identify the exact flowers in this everlasting bouquet, with the help of Emma Perry we are fairly certain of a few of them. One of the most obvious ones was the pink and white tulips near the top of the bouquet. The most common and well known meaning of tulips is “deep love”. They are also associated with rebirth due to their early bloom. Another flower in the piece was pink and white carnations. These are also associated with love. The pink part is known to mean affection, while white is synonymous with innocence. There are small clusters of yellow daffodils in the bouquet. The daffodil is a symbol of rebirth, similarly to the tulip. It also has an early blooming period. The white flowers at the very top of the piece could very well be representative of larkspur. This flower represents love and an open heart. In general the bouquet seems to be telling the story of new love, the innocence of a first love perhaps.

Although flower bouquets just like this could be made everyday using real flowers, this rendition of a flower bouquet has something special. It is undying, everlasting love. It conveys intricacy and delicacy in its form. It feels special. Despite its rather undocumented past, it tells stories in its composition. It inspires me on a level that few other artistic pieces can do.

Bibliography:
From Nothing
By Emma Stover

At first I was very unsure how to create something out of nothing. It took me a while to come up with an idea I deemed fit for this prompt. Then it hit me that I did not have my instrument on campus. I decided to compose a song for the harp without my harp here, to create music with no instrument to play it on. I also do not have any real experience writing music so there is another “nothing” that I planned to make something from.

Last semester for InterArts I had messed around with some online composition software and made a chord progression I enjoyed. I decided to expand on that and see where it took me. There was a lot of trial and error, I would have a note in my head that I wanted to come next but I had trouble figuring out which one it was. Sometimes my guessing led me down paths I didn’t originally intend to follow. At the end of my piece I wasn’t expecting to go so low, but I really liked the way it sounded. I will say this is in no way complete, there is a lot I could still change but I have to sit on it for a while.

The short piece I have composed so far takes me through a couple of emotions. I also noticed it reminds me of some pieces I really enjoy listening to. I inadvertently took inspiration from the music I listen to. It definitely would have been easier if I had my instrument or a more recent music theory course under my belt, but the challenge was a good one. I am excited to continue to work on music, whether it is this piece or little bits of newer stuff. I have a few new instruments I would like to learn so that will expose me to new kinds of music and new techniques. Eventually when I have my harp, I can attempt to play this myself which will be very interesting.
Mundane
By Emma Stover
Mundane
the smile of a passing friend
a hug from those who care
strangers faces on a walk
the slight breeze carrying
the scent of flowers

places of comfort
are often found in mundanity
the human actions we adore
are often overlooked
until the time
when they are no longer

the habits of life
taken for granted
laughing on the quad
dressed to the nines
for a picnic with friends

knowing what you could be missing
the burning desire for the return of normalcy
the wonder
what would have been had the world but stopped
and yet

this would not exist
i may not be here at all
you may not be here
so now, the wonder of what could have been
is the wonder of what could be

the fragments of regular life
creep into the new one we have
different than the past
not worse
Different.

This prompt was difficult to narrow down for me. I had a variety of ideas and didn’t have a single clue which one I should attempt. I realized I had spent a lot of time reflecting on the past year as it comes to a close. Despite the immense amount of fun I had during my first year at college, there was undoubtedly a much higher level of stress because of the current circumstances. I realized that the things I missed out most on were the fairly average, taken for granted activities. As I clicked through archive photos from the Watkinson, I found this one of five girls on the long walk. I instantly drew a connection to myself as my main group of friends here is made up of five girls. One of them was even wearing pants very similar to a pair Gill wears. I decided to take a stab at writing a poem of what I felt. I do not think it is an extraordinary poem, or a final draft even. However, it does encapsulate some of the thoughts I have had about what I have missed.

This page references:

new emma!