ARTIST STATEMENT

After a fulfilling career as an educator and scenic artist in the Broadway theater, I am blessed to be retired and living in Nags Head, NC, beginning a new creative chapter in my life. I have developed an activity that defines this phase of my life. It engages and obsesses me. It utilizes my particular artistic strengths: meticulous craftsmanship, celebration of detail, patience and perseverance. Even more than the great pleasure I took from my work painting theatrical backdrops, I take pleasure and satisfaction in creating these abstract string paintings.

I make designs using cotton threads glued to canvas covered board. I wash the canvas with a ground of color to fill the small spaces that occur between the threads as the glue dries and contracts the thread. I usually begin with a structural drawing and let shapes develop as I work. This keeps my project experimental and exciting for me through the long hours each takes to develop.

I am fascinated by color interaction and make spontaneous color choices as I work. Equally seductive is the play of light on the textural surface of the thread as it changes direction conforming to shape, modifying the value of the individual color and producing a pleasing sheen. The repetitive movements of the craft move me into a timeless, quiet, meditative space that is peaceful, nourishing, fulfilling and I can easily work for six or eight hours a day. I am compelled to work every day.

Although the particular environment of the Outer Banks is inspirational, the inspiration for my work is indirect. Informed by a lifetime of observation and art studies, my personal art baggage seems to be filled with images that emerge in their own time to surprise and challenge me.

My goal is to give you pleasure in looking. Are you drawn into the color and light? Do the forms suggest some meaning you can't quite define? Do you enjoy looking? If so, we are sharing this experience and I feel successful.

Janet Stapelman April, 2016