The featured artist this month is
Pat Dunn-Walker
(detail) Where I Live
Acrylic, collage, 11”x14”
“Where I Live" remembers a dollhouse my mother had which is now in my possession. A friend of my grandmother’s made this as a gift for my mom in 1936 and it was modeled after what was thought to be the ideal home at the time, equipped with a modern kitchen, a nursery and a living room with the finest furnishings.
This ideal 1936 home was the inspiration for “Where I Live”. I thought about what makes a home in 2021. People who share your home are as important as the structure of the home itself. Who are the people I would want to include in my home? Perhaps I would expand from my family of origin to include people of I haven’t met but still care about. My house is painted rainbow colors to symbolize people from a variety of backgrounds. The people included in the collage are from the past and present.
I collect lots of different print materials from many sources such as old record covers and discarded signage. These materials are included here. I enjoy using found paper because of its texture and also how it adds an element of surprise to my work. I love the texture of acrylic paint and its mediums and am experimenting with different color combinations. Currently my favorite artists are
Henri Matisse, Raymond Hains and Romare Bearden.
I love Matisse’s colors and his later collages and Bearden’s way of telling a story by changing things up with varying scale and juxtaposition. Raymond Hains abstract collages of found print are elegant and mysterious and I aspire to this feeling in my work.
Want to try a collage?
