Echo, 2021
aluminum wire mesh, wire
7’ x 2’ x 2’
Artist Statement
Throughout the pandemic, creating pieces in my studio offered a path to process what was happening in the outside world.
Early in March, after learning that my April show was being postponed, I paused to reflect. The pace of the virus felt stunning, causing me to retreat to my home studio to avoid encountering anyone in my studio building. During several weeks of isolated time, I began finding a sense of calm by painting rhythmic, repetitive patterns on delicate Japanese papers, which accumulated into stacks of paintings.
Eventually, I began combining these patterned pieces into chine-colle` mono print compositions, using a printing technique to adhere the pieces to a backing paper. The initial pieces, inspired by Gee’s Bend structures, seemed to become more flag-like, asserting their relationship to the political climate. The power of the blues over the reds gained momentum as the weeks turned into months.
As the pandemic raged on, the Black Lives Matter movement brought to light a crisis in our country. Struggling to address those issues and find a relevant path for my work, I began painting predominantly with black and white. These papers were used in larger chine-colle` compositions that leaned toward abstracted landscapes, and channeled the tumult of the moment. At some point the small paintings begged to grow and to dominate large pieces of Mulberry paper with winding and curving forms. These paintings began calling for a sculptural response.
Throughout the summer, fall and winter of 2020, the work alternated between sculpture, painting and mono prints, regaining my familiar rhythm of working in the studio. The sculptural pieces began with an initial form, in response to an element in the paintings or vice versa. Repetition of form has been prevalent in my work for a number of years, and continues to allow me to explore order and chaos.
The specific pieces in this show are more recent (spring and summer 2021), and investigate the challenge of stabilizing my world in a time of turbulence and volatility. The sculptures are formed from wire mesh, which presents qualities of both strength and fragility. The smaller piece, Pivot, investigates contained chaos, while the larger piece, Echo, searches for rhythmic order. The three paintings on Japanese papers investigate the possibility of infinity, and function as visual mantras.
Throughout these past months, the connecting thread that weaves these pieces together is my response to the challenges of the world beyond my studio, as I search for balance and harmony within.