2023 Making Our Marks 9th Member Only Online Exhibition
Unraveling the New Season-First Place Award
Johanna Morrell Painted with acrylic and ink on the backside of plexiglas, suspended 1/2” above a birchwood panel by 4 clear stand-offs. Painted on both the plexiglas and the panel to give a 3 dimensional effect when passing in front of the piece. Acrylic on Plexiglass 16" x 16" x 2.5" $600.00
Just the Right Amount of Wrong-Second Place Award
Jinnie May This was a new size canvas for me 60 x 40. Favoring a vertical format for most of my work, this size proved to be challenging to make the art not too vertical. My usual use of drips (also vertical) was held to a minimum with this painting. The palette for this painting includes fluorescent golden paints and the challenge was to make them "quietly "entertaining without overpowering. Hence the title "Just the Right Amount of Wrong". Acrylic 60" x 40" x 1.5" $3,480.00
Breaking Light-Third Place Award
Kathleen Conover Exploring materials is always exciting for me. As a traditional watercolor artist I experimented with a watercolor technique of wet-in-wet, to lithographic inks. I diluted the oil-based black ink with turpentine to make the inks flow freely like watercolor. In the end I finished the piece with watercolor. It was fun letting oil and water mix. Ink and Watercolor 30" x 22" x 1" $3,000.00
State of the Nation-Fourth Place Award
Tara Choate Originally this was going to be black birds on a white background in keeping with my recent experiments with liquid charcoal. But then I followed the whatifs and it became how white could I leave the vultures? Because these were vultures, I did want their heads to be red, but daringly (for me) decided against adding eye details. Watercolor 12" x 16" x 1" $200.00
Valley Patterns-Mary Ann Beckwith Juror Award
Ingrid Albrecht Valley Patterns was created by floating fluid acrylic paints on a specially prepared liquid bath. Designing on the bath takes place and then a print of the design is taken. This particular piece has been printed 4 different times, layering and rolling of the paper to create the movement and depth in the final piece. Fluid Acrylic 8.75" x 7.5" x 1" $2,000.00
Mountain Building-K.W. Bell Juror Award
Patricia Tieman This painting is an example of my experimentation with creating compositions using 3-dimensional geometric forms that interact to create both a sense of unity and a feeling of tension. My challenge was to position the forms so they are not only touching each other but, like tectonic plates, they appear to be assembling into a mountainous mass. In contrast, the tenuous nature of the grouping contributes to the underlying sense of anxiety that the mass could collapse at any moment. The smooth application of acrylic paint on canvas also projects a sense of calm unity while the choice of complimentary colors adds to a feeling of disarray. My goal was to pull the viewer in with the color palette and then provide a lot to explore and decipher. Acrylic on canvas 36" x 24" x 1" $2,900.00
Rooted to the Earth-Merit Award
Marylu Dykstra This piece is experimental to me as I had no specific subject matter in mind when I started this but allowed the watercolors to flow on a dry surface in an intuitive manner. After the paint dried, I used line work to portray the subject matter. This was different for me as I typically do not use line work but rather stippling. I used small shapes to add whimsy and finished with the three small leaves to give definition to the fact that this was a tree rooted to the earth. Watercolor and ink 13" x 16" x 0" $170.00
Dilys Jackson I have been exploring microorganisms which seem to have existed for many hundreds of millions of years on this planet before there were humans. I have been experimenting with using their shapes and surface patterns on the much larger scale of these works. The sculptures themselves are not portraits, but are experiments in using the forms of microorganisms to make these strange but evocative objects. bronze 5" x 20" x 5" $950.00
Joye Moon "Connected" was painted after the lock down from the pandemic ended. It was my interpretation of how things/people are connected by a thread/ribbon but that our bond is strong. I wanted the painting to be fun and colorful since we went through such a dark time in our lives. I used many different substances to create a variety of textures and built the painting with each layer of paint. watercolor 22" x 30" x 1" $2,200.00
Annette Shope I shot directly downward on this particular section of frozen pond opportunistically as the warmer temperatures began to melt the ice. There was implied movement readily available from the natural elements of the water-now-ice, the frozen pond's reeds, and the grass thawing. When I turned this rather regular shot into an abstract digitally-enhanced photograph by using filters and deeply saturated colors, the vivid patterning and circular icelets popped off the image. It was an incredible and surprising transformation. Digital Photography 20" x 27" x 2" $500.00
Marie-Ange Ackad This piece of art was experimental to me because I recreated in my own way a painting by Manet called Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, painted in 1863 and brought it to the year 2022. As a nod to Edouard Manet’s 1863 oil piece Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, this work represents figures in a simple setting that still manages to convey contemporary culture and circumstance. The original work that inspired this piece has been recreated a number of times, and continues to represent changes and transformation in the social world and its many contributing factors. There are a number of ways in which my piece represents the life that we are living in 2022. Beyond the contemporary clothing adorning the figures that mirror the bodily poses of the original piece by Manet, the medium of this work tells a story of an ever evolving art scene. pigment,oil, gel, acrylic and inkjet on canvas 42" x 59" x 1" $7,700.00
Ron Andrews I am a research physicist inspired by nature and natural phenomenon. In this piece I tried to suggest an abstracted view of a galaxy. My experiment was the use of gesso for coarse texture for galactic objects and the use of acrylic and watercolor for far bolder diversity of values and color textures. The experiment in composition is to use a diversity of shapes and textures to suggest galactic objects, orbits and structures - all in an artistically appealing way. Mixed water media on paper 28" x 13" x 1" $500.00
Eileen Arnold It's not often that I sit down to make art with no specific plan. While I've been happy with the art I've been making I missed the spontaneity. For a week I experimented with using random materials close at hand with no specific goal in mind other than the joy of creating something new. I found myself reinvigorated and was quite pleased with the results. Collage 11" x 8.5" x 1" $200.00
Kim Arntzen I discovered texturing watercolor paper with tissue paper and matte medium. I am fascinated with applying watercolor on this surface. It behaves radically different from applying watercolors to untreated watercolor paper. Delightful surprises. Watercolor Mixed Media 11" x 15" x 1" $400.00
Jeanie Auseon I selected one of my hand-dyed textiles; one with many "marks" on a central panel and circular marks in areas left and right of the central panel. Random marks in the center panel were created by forms of resist, subjected to multiple layers of colored dyes. Areas to the left and right show circular, stenciled marks, suggesting a feeling of "motion"; thus, the title, Motion #1. Left and right areas were muted with neutral paint; circle shapes were then embellished with paint colors that repeat colors used in the center panel. At times lines are used to separate, and define areas, (i.e., the bold border of the central panel; the bold lines around one side of circular images to imply depth). The final layer of experimentation is the decorative use of white, hand-painted, running lines ("stitches") over the entire surface - recalling the tradition of "Kantha" embroidery, used in rural areas of Southeast Asia - transforming the "old", (textile), into a "new" object, (mixed media painting). Artist hand-dyed textile; paints and inks; on wood. 28" x 18.5" x 1.5" $700.00
Marilyn Bachelor I began layering collage papers over an old painting when I saw the beginnings of a human form. I tried adding details with paint until it felt finished. Mixed 27" x 20" x 1" NFS
Janet Baker "A Story Waiting to be Told This piece, with its not-quite-traditional diptych configuration, was initially a one-panel work with a single “character”, until the serendipitous thrift-store-discovery of a perfect companion led to the addition of a second panel. I think of this piece as a theatre of the imagination. Open to interpretation as playful, serious, or maybe something in between, this piece is of course ultimately unfathomable and, depending on its reading, just possibly profound. There is always a story. For me, the addition of the second panel with different dimensions from the first, along with the introduction of another setting and another personality, was an experiment in juxtaposition, the beginning of an exploration of possibilities marked by the sense of a magical “waiting in-the-wings” story." mixed media/found materials on wood panel 24" x 20" x 2.5" $1,500.00
Nell Bartlett I traditionally use color to communicate a theme within the painting. Recently I have been exploring abstract environmental subjects, often non-objective items trying to show an emotion through many layers of paint, collage, markers, scrubbing, and various aggressive scratching. The layers were the experiment, how many layers would I allow before the painting became the emotion? Mixed media using acrylic, pencil, pen, pastel 24" x 24" x 2" $1,500.00
Jennifer Bateman "Harnessing watercolor on slick claybord while interpreting merging figures: “CONCEPT-Experimentation”. The concept began in my sketchbook: To push the limits of pigment in LOTS of water on super-smooth claybord. Now to the studio: I’d had success at letting the slick surface sort of paint itself. Now the paint literally floated on top of the clay. Too much water? Uncontrollable. To float the paint in an effort to connect the raven with the figure? Am I thinking intuitively yet innovatively? The peeling of the onion combined both innovation and experimentation. Intentionally considering the aspect of “CONCEPT” as experimental and innovative, it’s one thing to work on a slick claybord finish in an abstract landscape, yet another to control the watercolor and interpret the figure of both woman and raven while harnessing the medium. This piece represents a spirit breaking yet turning toward the pain and facing the situation on a path to healing. Truly an experience worth experimenting" watercolor on clayboard 20" x 16" x 1" $1,000.00
Karen Bishop For this piece I tried to push myself to try new techniques and applications of watercolour paint. Using yupo paper I first applied paint straight from the tube and let the pigments mix and mingle on the paper just by adding water and tipping the paper. When it was dry I removed pigment and rewet areas to push the pigment around and create the head of the owl. I love the contrast between the loose and flowing background and the realistic nature of the owl head. Watercolour on Yupo 20" x 20" x 2" $1,000.00
Karen Blanchet Usually, my work has an outcome already formed in my mind, carefully planned and executed. “Collusion” began in my typical chaotic manner without the preconceived idea. My ambition included using copper leaf and my favorite geometric shape: the circle. Beyond these two parameters the territory remained unknown. I had a very pretty result with the copper. Too pretty. After much contemplation I chose a different coloured watercolour pencil and drew the lines for some more solid circles. Watercolour pencil introduces an element of occasional surprise. As always, when to quit is the primary question. The triptych decided it was done. Mixed: acrylic, watercolour pencil, copper leaf, liner 60" x 108" x 2" $10,044.00
Carole Bleistein, NCS, ISEA While I have collaged and worked with mixed media for a long time it is exciting when it takes a new turn. I have been working with hand printed and hand made papers and most recently, with excitement and anticipation. They are so unique and wonderful that they totally inspire and define what I then do with them. A few of my most recent paintings, including my entry here have been done this way. I made the papers, tore the papers and constructed them on mounted rice paper on fine art foam core. The mounted rice paper is something I invented for my work many, many years ago and is still my favorite way to go. I love paper to be the main actor in my work and this painting is certainly that. It was a pleasure to print these papers. Exciting to see how they came out. Then to tear and select them for this piece of art was equally as exciting. The papers provide color and boldness, the tearing explores the edges. It is titled Living on The Edge, because it makes me feel that feeling when I look at it. Mixed media collage 18" x 12" x 1" $950.00