Pam Cardwell
My initial impetus to paint comes from the experience of looking at other paintings and objects of art.
I work with paint in the most direct way. Because I am a swimmer painting is a kinesthetic experience incorporating a full range of body movements, including balance and repetitive rhythm. I work through a body relation to materials.
Ethnography and the study of the ancient arts, particularly Turkey and the Caucasus countries form the basis of my work. The repetitive, rhythmic elements in their traditional art forms: carpets, vessels, architecture and calligraphy can originate in the shape and structure of organic life. Color in these arts is formed from the minerals and ores of the earth. Similarly, I aim for a specific materiality through color.
The beginning stages of my paintings are often inchoate. I begin by drawing with paint, using the shapes and markings on objects from nature. I may have an idea in mind, usually involving a memory or sensation of a place or I may not. It takes days and months of painting before I recognize something that I can respond to in my work. At this point emotion turns into felt response.
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