Artist Statement

Art is the means of communicating my personal perceptions; sometimes emerging as recognizable images, more often as unidentifiable forms functioning as visual spiritual symbols.  The sources for these perceptions are many and varied. Over time they have expressed my interaction with personal images drawn deep from the subconscious while others emerge from the wellspring of conscious daily experience.

   My art has always developed during a series of exploration. Responding to new techniques and materials has resulted in a variety of work.  However, the themes expressed have always included the natural environment and the objects that inhabit it. Birds, specifically blackbirds and ravens have significant symbolic meaning for me. They can occur both realistically, and more often abstractly in my work.

   I consider myself a painter. I began as a painter, and I was frequently described as an expressionist probably because of my preference for spontaneity and intuitiveness. Paint on canvas or paper was my choice of medium in school.  Then I discovered papermaking which in a sense was predictive since the notion of using a natural material, collected, prepared, and processed, appealed to my communion with the natural environment.  Many years have been spent researching different fibers for use in education and my own work.

   Not only has my research with the many aspects of plant fibers rewarded me with teaching opportunities worldwide, but it has offered wide applications for my art.  I began casting paper pulp both two and three dimensionally.  The material offered unlimited techniques for expression. I use paper pulps as I would paint.  It is a elastic medium which has the potential for virtually limitless variations in shape, texture, and scale.

Current Work - Encroachment: The ten pieces “Encroachment” are being exhibited successively together. They express in a geometric 3-part division, my sense of stress to the environment today.

Contact - marge at maralex.com

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