Artist Bio:
Bethany Skena is a painter from Orlando, Florida. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in painting at the University of Central Florida and will graduate in December 2025. She has exhibited in group shows, including UCF Celebrates the Arts at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (2024, 2025) and Light and Form at the University of Central Florida (2024). Working primarily in acrylic on paper and canvas, Skena has developed a large body of landscape paintings that explore the suburban spaces of Central Florida. Her paintings emerge from direct observation, using suburbia as a stand-in for emotions tied to home, displacement, and belonging. Ordinary streets, lawns, and houses are recast as symbols of comfort and unease. She plans to pursue graduate study in Fall 2026 to further expand her artistic practice. Skena currently lives and works in Orlando, Florida.
Artist Statement:
During the past two years, while pursuing my BFA degree, I have created a large body of landscape paintings on paper and canvas. My work explores moments of stillness within suburban landscapes that often feel both familiar and unfamiliar. These environments, drawn from observation and memory, carry layered emotional weight. At times, they suggest closeness, solitude, and quiet contentment; at others, they stir unease, longing, and a sense of distance. This tension mirrors the complexities of belonging. Suburban neighborhoods symbolize family life and stability, yet they can also embody isolation and fragility. In my paintings, houses, streets, and yards become stand-ins for these dualities, appearing at once inviting and alienating. This dissonance reflects the layered emotions I have experienced as the series evolves. For me, this visual and emotional tension exists in a place where mystery and familiarity meet. Shifting foliage, delicate stars, and the stillness that accompanies twilight in my paintings all capture a sense of visual magic. My work draws on personal associations and emotions tied to environments we inhabit or remember, and my goal is to open a space where viewers can project their memories and longings with their own sense of place.
