@ Riverside Art Museum

Exhibition: January 22 – May 15, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 23, 2016, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Closing Reception: Saturday, May 14, 10 a.m. – 12 noon

Artist Statement:

     “I enjoy being asked why I continue to work in such an old medium as printmaking. It gives me the opportunity to remind people how important it is to preserve the past and at the same time forge into the future. Part of the enchantment of printmaking has to do with the notion of magic. This phenomenon encompasses curiosity, wonder, and discovery with the fact that you do not know exactly what you will end up with until you pull the paper away from the matrix. Of all the different artistic mediums I have explored, printmaking is the most versatile and personally rewarding, teaching me how to resolve the work, but more importantly, how to resolve life. It brings together both the left (technical) and right (creative) sides of the brain perfectly. It also incorporates my passion of interesting paper, found objects, and old textiles.

“Working with abstract figures and layering several images, techniques, and materials, while moving the inks in a painterly fashion, starts with a vague idea, but ultimately is resolved by the subconscious layering of line and color. The images are intuitive and spontaneous where form and color have equal importance striving to create hidden details, inspired by subjects and images that are an outgrowth from my personal world, memories, and experiences. These faceless images allow the viewer the opportunity to connect and resolve their own past.

“Most of the work begins with old photographs that could be found in any family photo album. Working with manipulated photos comes from my desire to express the importance that women have on their children and how they continue to affect their descendants for many generations. In many of my prints you will find a number of images and upon closer observation there can be detected shadows of images representing past and future generations. As time passes, names, places, and dates are forgotten, but the impact that they had on each of us continues through time, linking us together like an invisible thread.

“While most of my work has always been concerned with the influence that each generation has had on the previous generation, this body of work also includes the effects of cultural changes, as well as the influence of the family. Tracing the unpredictable voyage toward womanhood using symbols, characters, and textures linked with changes encompass: life, death, new directions, waiting, feelings of being in limbo and being uprooted, lack of comfort, and the passage of time. Falling, floating figures depict a state of uncertainty, giving the work a dreamlike quality. There is a sense of nostalgia as if the figure isn’t really in that environment, but is remembering, imagining, or inventing their reality.”