Charles Lovell
 

During the past two decades while working professionally as director and curator of art museums and galleries in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Washington states, I have continued my pursuit of creative work in fine art photography. After a residency at the Emily Harvey Foundation in Venice, Italy in 2007, I transitioned from film practice using large and small format photography producing silver gelatin and Cibachrome prints, to the use of digital media that I now use exclusively. During the summer of 2015, I began working full-time as a documentary and fine art photographer.

Rebecca Birtel Madura
 

Abstraction can be defined by an absence of discernible reference to the visible world, placing content in an uncomfortable, yet dynamic, place between representation and abstraction. It is within this space that I place my paintings. I create visual hierarchies are wholly determined by the intentionality of creation, obliteration, and obfuscation. Formal considerations dominate and determine content in both my abstract and more representational work. A commitment to the act of painting where the hand of the artist, the color palette, and gesture is anything but a neutral player, but is the catalyst to content in my paintings. Recently, I have resisted predetermined ranking of visual elements, eschewing a need to maintain preciousness of parts in favor of creating a harmonious painting as whole where the emotional impact of color relationships is integral. I layer colors, textures, manipulate space, and add bits of personal ephemera that creating a nostalgic suspension of time, even while appearing on the verge of motion. My paintings convey an ever-present tension even while the surface may appear calm or quiet. 

Through rug hooking, [you] can express who you are, your views, likes and dislikes. Rug hooking is the ultimate textile art with endless subjects and the greatest variety in the choice of colors, textures, and materials. I have been honing my rug hooking skills since 2000, when I took a beginner’s class from Carrie Martin. I want my work to express what I have experienced, my spirit, and my love of life and family. Through the hooking and stitching of fabric, I feel a line connecting me to the art of my grandmother, mentors and family. I relish bringing the medium forward to make a statement for my generation. I tend to approach my subject matter on a sub-conscious level, often letting my intellect decipher meaning after the work is produced. I don’t start with a question; I go on a journey.