artists statement

As an artist I find myself constantly drawn to work that contains the emergence of space. This is a space that opens up when a shift or shifts happen in the viewing. Sometimes this is the result of something unusual, unexpected, a tension, and always it is the thing that draws me back to the work and keeps me interested. This is the element I seek in my own experiments with media and it is only when this 'space' that is more than the sum of it's parts, opens up that I am interested in taking the work further. It's as if space has opened up and spirit or soul can step in and give the piece creative life.

I am very attracted to geometric abstraction. There is something about mathematics and order that I find fascinating. It is there in nature and is part of us all. I like to subvert the inclination towards perfection in pattern and design to prevent stagnation and increase movement. The examples of non-figurative Islamic art of ancient times always included imperfection as part of the design. Releasing myself from image has been a revelation in my art evolution.

In my 'tesselation' series I have combined several processes that I believe open up space in my own work as well as undermining some of the traditions of painting. The six paintings of the series are all one meter square canvases and are painted using mat house paint with rectangular gloss inserts to increase layers of contrast. The grid that forms the basis of every piece is a simple tesselation of hexagon and diamond shapes. After extensive experimenting I chose these six because each one held a surprise in it's viewing. I consciously undermine figure and ground assumptions, work horizontally on the ground, use square canvases that can be viewed from any rotation, build up many layers of paint to obliterate the weave of the canvas and use the strong contrasts of indigo and off-white. The paintings in the series all speak to each other and can be shown separately or in combinations.

I would like to express my thanks and deepest appreciation to Gordon Walters, to my teachers Mary Alice Lee and Peter Adsett, and to my family of artists who are there in every aspect of my life and work.