Joyce Conlon: Coming of Age Artist’s Statement
Like a shadow cast or an image reflected on water, my work involves the transformation of form on a surface. I locate my work within the tradition of modern American landscape artists and others like Thomas Nozkowski who have been inspired by nature and its intersection with culture.
This series, Fence, began with a walk in the woods where I came across a neglected antique wire fence. I was and continue to be struck by the sculptural beauty of the forms that were once so similar and now bend and distort. The fence, that had stood straight and determined to mark the boundary between one side and another, sporadically recalls its former shape and purpose. Looking through the fence, the landscape is, in a sense, annotated for me.
Like many artists, I attempt to represent my subjective experience. As with the fence, I am affected by change both short and long term. Working with acrylics on board, I begin work by seeking and creating pattern as an organizing principle. I am interested in disrupting and reasserting connections with pattern and scale. Using a process of building up layers and sanding to reveal what lies beneath, I am able to burnish the surface and bring out aspects of buried history or palipsis.
I am interested in what happens when I let go of borrowed form and allow it to become altered much like what occurs when we grow and transform our identities over time.
When:
Thursday, October 15 – Thursday, November 12
Free and open to the public
Opening Reception of Joyce Conlon: Coming of Age
Thursday, October 15 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Fine Arts Center wants to know: What are you thinking?