Attend to Beauty
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ARTISTS STATEMENTS - !
KAREN CHAUSSABEL
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Gentle Strength is part of Exploring!, a series where I followed a thread of inspiration through different media. I explored form and feeling by printing, painting, stitching on papers of various kinds, with encaustic, ink, fibers. It is a body of work that represents my delight in exploring, tool in hand, heart open.!
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The title for this piece, Gentle Strength comes from the material itself. They are words found on the pages from my college thesaurus which I hand-stitched to watercolor paper.!
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The initial inspiration is my encounter with a majestic specimen of agave americana (century plant, maguey in Spanish). It stood in the midst of the ruins of Ex-convento San Francisco, now Museo Rafael Coronel, in Zacatecas, Zac. Mexico.!
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It was large, full of life. I was struck by its presence, its vitality. This plant embodied strength, resilience, rebirth, and that spoke to me, deeply. It still does. !
Gentle Strength! Paper, thread! 11.25 x 11 inches! $650
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Wild Blue Yonder is an encaustic monotype where the fluid quality of encaustic is fully revealed. The experience of loosely brushing encaustic paint onto a hot plate, placing a piece of paper on it, is a dynamic one. Encaustic spreads on the paper, colors meld, blend, shapes are created. When I lift the paper up, an image is revealed. I love that. I can choose to continue, add different marks or let it be. It allows me to be in the moment and create in the moment. Where encaustic flows, I follow.
! Wild Blue Yonder! Paper, encaustic! 5.5 x 4. inches! $260!
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Wild Blue Yonder is part of a series, Into the Horizon, where encaustic and the monotype process contribute to the feeling of exploration, of stepping a little further into those horizons as expansive bodies of water and land emerge. Contact: kchaussabel@gmail.com! karenchaussabel.com! FB: Cradledhearts Artists Statements - June 1, 2015
Attend to Beauty
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ARTISTS STATEMENTS - !
KAREN CHAUSSABEL
“Play on word” embodies how I go about creating a piece. I am curious and I like to try new techniques, and use materials in different ways. Being open to the creative process is at the heart of my making art. And this piece is very much about following my curiosity and trusting the process. !
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Play on Words! Paper, thread, acrylic, ink! 6.25 x 8 inches! $420
It started off as an experiment. The initial idea was to brush medium gel on mulberry paper to render it transparent. I decided to see how I could play some more on the transparent effect and tried to use the mulberry piece as a layer on top of other pieces. It all came together when I laid this experiment on top of a thesaurus page that I had sketched on. After I finished collaging the layers, I realized that the thesaurus page contained the word “play.” One can see it through the translucent paper (top right middle). ! This word indeed described both the process and the spirit of this piece. Playing with techniques, materials, words, letting them be my guide, is my way to explore and cultivate my creative voice.
I started using thread in my work to see what it would be like to use a different material. What I found is a way to make a mark, add a line that allows for my gesture to remain loose, and playful. I pick up pieces of thread and drop them lightly. I do very little to manipulate them and actually the challenge for me is to retain the shape created while fixing them permanently on a piece.!
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I find that I enjoy the process of creating in a way where material is my guide. Following the Thread really embodies this approach. Following the Thread! Paper, thread, pencil! 11 x 3.5 inches! $345
Contact: kchaussabel@gmail.com! karenchaussabel.com! FB: Cradledhearts Artists Statements - June 1, 2015