Gail Skudera

There is something beautiful about the movement of tones between black and white in an old photograph that can evoke in the viewer an inexpressive sensation.  My work often begins with an emotive response to a particular photograph from my collection.  I have manipulated photographic images in my work for over 20 years as a point of departure for subject matter.  And I have combined pattern weave structures with photo-transfers using off-loom weaving methods.  I have worked with paint, washes and glazes, thread and collected objects, such as buttons and beads, and developed non-traditional printing processes.  In my drawings and print works, plant forms become animated in an interactive field with objects in an invented landscape.  I like the juxtaposing of time past (dated from the photographs and use of actual objects) with present, and juxtaposing of planes, colors, and surfaces.  The juxtaposing informs the work with a surreal, natural but unnatural effect and it also builds in lots of visual movement.  

- Gail Skudera