Artist Statement
Some days it’s overwhelming to think about the catastrophic effects of our behavior on the earth. It’s helpful for me to paint on those days.
Painting pushes me to the edges of knowing. Where I begin to know more of what I feel, what I imagine and long for. Where I find connection, appreciate mystery, recognize the unbidden. It can hold the anxiety. It’s an opportunity to contemplate the soul of what emerges in my process.
Creatures and lands wild and tame find their way into my work, sometimes as the intended subject of a painting, sometimes emerging from abstract marks. In creating paintings for this show, my curiosity about habitat grew. Habitat as synonymous with life. Shared space. Hidden treasures. Places of memory and transformation. Habitat as “The place where one is usually found”. I would add, home to the forgotten and the invisible.
I paint from observation, photographs, memory and emergent impulses. I rely on bold brushstrokes and unconscious gestures to keep the painting dynamic. There is a lot of adding and removing of paint. Most of the paintings have many layers, with remnants of earlier stages of knowing a visible reminder of where I’ve been.
There’s something that feels sacred about this process of making art. Inspired by nature, rooted in memory, connected by emotion. Like any craft or work of art honestly pursued, I believe there’s an opportunity for the soul of the materials or the inspiration of the subject matter to speak to the artist through the artist’s unconscious movements and gestures.
It’s a gift when a swath of blue shows up in a painting, and it is the spot near Spring Creek where I’ve walked dozens of times listening to birdsong.
The creatures and places in this collection each have their own story. I hope I have been able to capture a piece of the story, in a way that unites us all.
Bethany Rowland - July 2015