Again I find myself at the end of a busy but fruitful time of art making and professional opportunities. The exhibition “Considerations of Place” featuring works by Kate Buehner, Cynthia Ahlstrin and myself opened at Cerulean Gallery last Friday evening. A rich and curious show which plays off the concept of place, and unsurpringly, we all have such different responses. The following statement might help you in guiding my vision of my works which took form in encaustics on panel, an artist book using acrylic on rag paper, and mixed media paintings using bits of textile and embroidery.
"This work demonstrates my consistent investigation of the use of abandoned photographs as a source. These works uniquely use small amounts of embroidery, reclaimed textile pieces, and drawing and painting onto raw canvas. These choices in materials were drawn from my intention to speak metaphorically about how life is weaved physically into where we live, play, and work. Drawing from locations specifically near to my home and personal landmarks here in Central Maine, I am speaking about our sense of belonging to place. Working to see how the language of landscape (its meandering roads, rolling hills, tall pine trees) in painted form with references to the figure, I wanted to create dialogue about our own relationship to place and to articulate emotional attachments we have to place personally and communally. After my third return to this area, our landscape of the Kennebec Valley has spoken to me as home. I hope you can feel this in these works and look a little closer at our gem of the state of Maine."
Whenever a show comes to fruition, the artist always comes to a “place” of a possible change in direction – will the works continue? In this exhibition I began an exploration in the use of textile, either in embroidered elements with charcoal work, or in embedding found textile pieces, also an artist book form that locates my voice as a painter, and I’d like to push these developments further. I'm not sure how and that’s what makes it most interesting. When the dust settles and I’ve breathed a bit more I’ll get my road map back again.
I’ve also been working on a new body of work featuring my favorite subject of birds in encaustics. This subject really allows me to play with this wax paint without a lot of tight constraints and this is something I need to push harder into this complex medium. My newest pieces feature some generous carving into the wax with woodcarving tools and an inherent interest in the whimsical. I am pleased to announce that you can now see more of my encaustic bird paintings at Maine Cottage Furniture with a showroom in Yarmouth. More to come.
Don’t miss the artist talk for “Considerations of Place” on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 3 PM at Cerulean and our 2nd Anniversary Celebration on this Sunday the 22nd from 11-1. Please come and join us as we celebrate with good foods and company.
….My mind races forward with next preparations such as the Cerulean holiday sale on December 12 & 13, holiday presents for loved ones, finishing up some old works, and other bizarre artistic interests inspired by retiling my bathroom shower, hmmmm?
