November 2010: Marcia Hindman & Janet Geib Pretti

Marcia Hindman paintings are best described as abstract landscapes. Her oil paintings are recollections from placesshe has lived, therefore the paintings can be divided into three categories: Mississippi, state of her birth; Louisiana, her youth; and Oregon, her home. She begins a new canvas by drawing lines and shapes, attempting to set in motion the rhythm of the painting.”The subject matter is a mystery to me.” Next, she start building up the layers, adding lines, deleting lines, etching into the wet paint, scraping off layers and continuing with more drawing, erasing, scraping until she’s satisfied. “I like to scrape off sections of paint to find the surprises, like unexpected gifts, buried beneath the layers of paint. My canvases must be tough because of the scraping, marking, marring, and using metal tools to draw into the wet paint. I’m nearing a finished piece when I recognize the scenery. The mystery has been solved because I get a peek, like a glimpse of the scenery from a moving car, a hint of where the painting is taking me.”

Janet Geib Pretti is a sculptor who works with the figure. She uses a combination of carved wood, cast bronze and found media in her work. Each piece has the ability to bypass the need for words and speak straight to the heart. Each of her sculptures are one-of-a-kind; no molds are made for future editioning. Unlike many sculptors, "I do not see the angel in the stone and carve to set her free."  I have to discover each piece over time and often reworking them over years.  My process includes creating a written concept statement for each piece, which is also reworked throughout the making of a piece. Writing and sculpting, sculpting and writing, slowly each sculpture matures.