Dubhe Carreño Gallery

Joan Winter

Artist's Statement

 My work explores the relationship of the visible and invisible. Influenced by contemporary Japanese architecture, I make forms that convey connections between abstraction and the timeless quality of nature.  I am interested in making objects that have singular presence and express ideas that blur the distinction of inside/outside space, play light against shadow, and mass against void.

 I work both in sculpture and printmaking with wood as a primary material. I work with three-dimensional forms and works on paper simultaneously and often in series, one medium pushing the boundaries of the other. I explore various aspects of intaglio printmaking and screen-printing. Layering copper plates or screens to make large prints is challenging and adds to the spontaneity of the process.

 Working with a band saw or lathe as a drawing tool is a beginning point for the sculpture. I am intrigued with thinking of wood as a soft material. I often cast wood forms in resin, introducing qualities of transparency or translucency, creating an open-ended form of light and air.

 Art, for me, is still and silent, both physical and emotional, and lives by companionship and contemplation.  Uniting all of my work is the desire to reveal the essential and timeless nature of form. I am searching for ethereal qualities concealed between the layers of the seen and the unseen - between light and shadow. I believe art has the power to bridge differences and express connections, however fragile, in the ways we are connected universally.