Propeller Member Since 2022
I’ve been making art for over 50 years. With a background of training at York University and Ontario College of Art, and regular classes for ongoing technical exploration and occasional inspiration, I work in a variety of media and artistic styles. Currently my artistic focus is abstraction and collage. In the past I have worked in printmaking, encaustic, oil, acrylic, pastels, oil stick, textile art, silk painting and embroidery. With my abstract work, I have been influenced by the work of Rothko and Motherwell as well as children’s art. Recently, I have been working in pastel and experimenting with oil stick to allow for more immediate results. And a little bit of chaos never hurts.
When I work, I work a piece in layers. I feel the thing that makes my art unique is the process – it’s very back-and-forth, add-and-subtract. I put things down on paper and then take them back, and put them down again. This movement creates a unique impression on the page that I can never predict. I create structure first, then introduce chaos into my work, often using asymmetry, disruption, and dissonance. Now it is my goal to try to recapture the freedom of making art, that uninhibited, childlike joy of mark making.
I like to experiment with media, which may explain the diversity of my work. For example, my abstract embroidery pieces use threads and patches to mimic drawings and collages. The way I work is often without preconceived vision – I have no plan and I have no intention. I’m allowing whatever is happening on the page to happen. And sometimes it’s a disaster, and then the next moment it’s finished.
– Anne McAlear
