Previous Workshops - September 2001

Workshop with Deb LeAir
September 13, 2001
5:00pm - 9:00pm

Artist's Statement

I live in the woods on a ridge, on a gravel township road, in the coulee region of west central Wisconsin.  Typical driftless area geography.  I landed here 14 years ago, and have been trying to live up to the term ever since.  The landscape here is extravagant in its pastoral beauty; extraordinary in its lushness.  It provides relief.

This work is a response to the experience of living in relationship to this place.  A response to waking up in my little house in the woods, to daily walks when I observe woodland plants at all stages, to seeing seasons come and go, to the dancing lines of leafless trees, to the gentle rolling forms that make up this landscape, and to the spirit or presence that makes itself known in everything.

Before turning to the studio full-time, I worked as a gardener for ten years.  While filling the warm months with a labor that enhanced the visual lives of my customers, I worked with plants.  Their structure and color and habits of growth have surfaced in this work.

My basic interest lies in taking a surface (be it the surface of a pot or a slab of clay ), drawing on it and then carving back into it to pull the image into three dimensional relief.  With the addition of color and line, I hope to develop the gesture--to bring life to the image.