Dramatic Play Area is a series of new works on paper by Cara Jaye. Her daughter Coco’s early drawings and collages, as well as collaborative drawings that they create together, have been the basis for these drawings and water-based paintings.
“I am inspired by the child’s marks and choices when constructing an image, as well as the visuals found abundantly in children’s toys and playthings”. –C. Jaye
Areas are strewn with dolls, toys, princesses, trucks and farm animals, along with gushing sweets, cupcakes, ice cream and tea sets, this work explores the images that proliferate in childhood, from the toys we choose to make and offer to our children, to the kinds of images they draw and select for themselves. These images both subscribe to the idea of childhood as sweet and innocent, but also acknowledge that it is messy, overwrought and sometimes scary.
Cara Jaye is a Professor of Art at Western Washington University, where she teaches all levels of drawing, photography, and senior seminar. She received her MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York City.
