Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
“You See Right Through Me” demonstrates the foundation of my practice, recycling materials to create art that explores our humanity and the natural world. The work was inspired by the acquisition of the plastic swimsuit mannequin. It explores ideas on the growth and containment of women along with our historical correlate, Nature. Collected, protected, displayed but often not seen, the materials illustrate both our tenacity and fragility. The dried flowers, some of which are over twenty years old, are ephemeral as life itself and still maintain a delicate beauty despite their age. The floral design is reminiscent of the embroidered samplers my mother taught me to make. Of course the man-made plastic form that contains it all, will endure for centuries.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
My art is about seeing things, acquiring and re-imagining a wide variety of objects, functional and non, organic, inorganic, all shapes and sizes. The resulting assemblages take different forms influenced by the materials at hand. They have within them a literal interpretation of the objects and my conception of them as material for my visual narratives, exploring nature, science, mind, body and spirit.
Papier maché techniques offer me another form of sculpture more pliable than assemblage. Still reusing materials at hand I find the tactile nature of sculpting, different from construction, very compelling. Freely creating a sculpture and developing surface decoration from torn bits of colored paper or flower petals and glue has expanded my practice in new directions.
Whatever form my art has taken, composition and narrative are essential to the work. Dance and theatre defined my artistic life for years. I was classically trained as a performing artist, including a stint with the Saratoga Ballet Company and an MFA from the Goodman School of Drama, followed by years working in theater and voice-over in Chicago. I claim a visual art aesthetic as my birthright, learning from my mother, a painter and mixed media artist and at Guildhall Galleries in Chicago. My grandparents gallery of mid-20th century European and local Chicago art was the source of my early fine arts education and ongoing inspiration regardless of discipline.
I spent ten years as a member of Images Gallery Cooperative (Chicago) participating in numerous group exhibitions, salons & workshops, including solo shows “Arrangements”(2009) and “Processed”(2013). My work has shown in galleries, art centers & museums in Chicago and suburbs, Brooklyn NY, St. Paul MN, Leelanau & Traverse City MI.
© Carrie Betlyn-Eder