Statement:
My work is an act of self-expression and exploration through common motifs, surreality, and themes such as voyeurism and acts of God. What I make is done in the effort to express the complexity of traveling in a world where you never fully understand how others work. Interest in the grotesque, as well as the lonely and nostalgic forms a body of work which interrogates my need to investigate myself- which I then transmute into art.
I use a variety of formats and mediums, spanning from written work, to sculpture, oil paints, to layers of charcoal and gouache on collage. Using narrative and physical processes which support my intentions, I articulate my intention through every layer of work possible. Hidden poetry, intuitive markmaking, and papercraft participate alongside highly rendered oil paintings.
Ultimately, while my work is deeply centered around myself and my personal struggles with my body, my self, and my relations to others, I attempt to create it in such a way that anyone could find a connection to themselves while viewing it. Both figuratively and literally, I practice “Selfless” self portraiture, where the focus on self-image and actualization is not to capture me as I see it, but instead an attempt for others to see and decipher myself. The purpose of it is not only to enable me to be vulnerable to a complete stranger, but to allow said stranger to take that vulnerability and use it to create a kernel of understanding and connection within themself.
Bio
Molly Cashman was born 2004 in downstate New York and currently attends Maryland Institute College of Art. She is set to receive a BFA in the spring of 2026, with a major in general fine arts and minors in ceramics and creative writing. Keeping a painting, drawing, ceramics, and poetry practice, she explores themes of self-actualization, mental illness, and isolation through the lens of her own experiences. In her work, she incorporates many different media and grounds, tackling a wide variety of subject matter in varying degrees of abstraction. Separately, she creates functional pottery with an emphasis on playfulness, texture, and tactility.
She has exhibited numerous times in Baltimore, including technical drawing exhibitions, artist’s books in multiple mediums, and three self-contained bodies of work. She has taught pottery classes, ran a pottery studio, and studied art-history and the Biennale abroad in Venice, Italy. In the coming months, she will complete a thesis project which will be shown in MICA Art Walk.
Molly Cashman 