About Haylee Reggi
I create elaborate, oil paintings that are emotionally charged and expressive in nature. I often use my own experiences with mental health issues, body image issues, personal loss, and other trauma to provide an emotional context for my work. I create these pieces with the intention to inspire others who have gone through similar experiences.
My work is almost exclusively figurative; utilizing the female form to convey the overall mood of the piece. The colors I use and the way I apply paint are decisions made to intentionally support my conceptual development. I use my own understanding of color theory; I believe that colors work psychologically, and bring about different emotions when we look at them. For example, I use cooler tones such as blues and purples to represent lower moods. While warmer tones such as reds and oranges are used to represent higher or agitated moods. Over the past several years my work has veered away from realism to expressionism. I would like to broaden my skills even more towards abstraction to see how I can continue conveying emotional concepts outside the use of the figure.
My process of creating has been a way for me to cope with the stressful and sometimes traumatic situations life throws my way. My pieces provide a way for me to open the discussion on these issues, and to spread awareness and inspiration to others in my community.
Biography
Haylee Reggi, is a 2023 Marshall University Graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting. She is an expressive painter, who uses art as a tool to cope with her experience with mental health issues, body image issues, and other personal traumas. She creates her work with the intent to open the conversation, to be transparent, and to break the stigma surrounding these issues. Haylee creates work with an impasto technique that results in vibrant colors, rich textures, and implied movement which only intensifies the emotions conveyed.
Haylee was born in Charleston West Virginia, was raised in Hurricane West Virginia, and now resides in Huntington West Virginia. Growing up Haylee was considered a prodigy and won several awards for her work in school and outside of school. The most mentionable of these achievements was winning third prize at the Greenbrier in 2013. Haylee was mentored by local artist Gerry Enrico of Point Pleasant West Virginia from 2011-2018. Under Gerry Enrico, Haylee received lessons in the human figure and portraiture, as well as learning the importance of proportion and how to convey dimension. Haylee was inspired to pursue art as a career during her time at the WV Governors School for the Arts in 2016.
During Haylee’s time at Marshall University, she was involved in several exhibitions around campus. She exhibited her work in Marshall’s Birke Gallery, Marshalls Drinko Library, Marshalls Carol Gallery, and Marshalls South Charelstons Campus. She has received recognition in the form of winning 3rd prize at the Student Juried Exhibition 2020, being selected as a contracted artist in a grant-funded exhibition titled Conceptions on Flight 2021, and being awarded the Donald B. Harper Scholarship in 2022.
As a recent Graduate Haylee is looking forward to beginning a creative career that will allow her to become more involved in the art world. Haylee continues to produce work that can be viewed online on Instagram @Haylees_printsnpaints.
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Other Creative Skills
Drawing
Pottery
