REACHING

Reflection Inter-Stroke Blue Glint Blue Reflection Immersion
Emersion I Perspective I Clay 7 - Torn Clay 9 Outreach Golden Immersion Reaching Reaching I Perspective I Reaching Ingonish Reaching II Reaching III Clay 10 - Red Breathing Clay 8 - the Quiet Child Blue Immersion Setting Reach Immersion Immersion Emersion I Dune Clay 3 Dune Clay 4 - Tsunami Reaching IV Reaching V

Luanne E Witkowski:

ARTIST STATEMENT:
I work intuitively to create contemplative abstract paintings that are rooted in and extracted from landscape and experience. Strongly influenced by the shore and woodlands of outer Cape Cod, Maine, and now Nova Scotia, my ‘research sketchbook’ consists of documentary photography and video of environmental installations I create as references for my mixed and multi-media works in painting and video projection.

Process-driven, using non-traditional materials, I am intrigued as I translate experience –always reaching– into visual language… from the tiniest grain of sand to mountains of stone and architecture, from a drop of rain to a raging tsunami, the quietest sparkle of dawn to foreboding dusk. Incorporating the very elements that influence and inspire –clay, pigment, chemistry, technology– engages me to embrace the impact, to understand.

In my current work I explore reaching beyond the limits of the expected while expanding the possibilities of outcome and reflection.

I paint, install, sketch, dig the earth, and take notes in the beauty of nature. I escape from the craziness of the world – no TV, no internet, no street noise, no interruptions… solitude. In the studio I return – through gathered references – to nature. Channeling recollections of experience and collected documentation I distill my outdoor experience and observations. I draw on that… and then create paintings, made from the very elements that inspire me.

Using clay, pigment, graphite, ink, polymer, epoxy resin, aluminum, mylar, video & technology I delve into my fascination with materials and process. Through observation, investigation, preparation, and organization I manifest my translation in obsessive layering, adding/subtracting, and mark-making.

Art historical references fill my mind as I recall the grande plaza and seaport paintings of Europe or the landscapes of American wilderness in the times before photography could capture the images to document and share. Paintings once produced to be acquired during ‘grande tours’ as extravagant ‘postcards’ lead me to the questions of ‘saving/capturing’ beyond memory and megabyte. Sunsets, sunlight, dunescapes, bird songs, sparkling water, crashing surf… How can I keep it? How can I have/save it? These works use part of the places– the dune clay of outer Cape Cod, the blue bay clay of northeast Maine– mixed and layered with the traditional mediums of painting and non-traditional materials to bring a part of the tangible into the realm of memory and reflection… always reaching.”

~ Luanne E Witkowski 2011

>> View Press Release (08.11.11)

ARTIST BIO

Luanne E Witkowski is a studio & installation artist and consultant (Boston & Wellfleet, MA) with works in collections throughout the United States and abroad. Besides showing at the Hutson Gallery in Provincetown, MA, she is a member of the Kingston Gallery, Boston where she shows regularly with group and solo exhibitions. Luanne is a member of several artist organizations including the United South End Artists, Mission Hill Artist Collective, & the Provincetown Art Association & Museum. This summer (2011) Luanne is installing and documenting her environmental installations in Ingonish, Nova Scotia, Greensboro, NC, and Wellfleet, MA. Ms. Witkowski is Communication Design Studio Manager at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and faculty member of the Critical & Creative Thinking (CCT) graduate program at the University of Massachusetts/Boston.