CONTACT INFORMATION

206-388-8913

evanduine@elizabethvanduine.com

www.elizabethvanduine.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

I come from a long line of creative types and have been surrounded by writers, painters, photographers, and musicians (and even doll makers) my entire life. My intense need to create art of one form or another must come with this territory; for as long as I can remember I have been in the process of creating something, anything.

My earliest art memories are both positive and negative. I distinctly remember feeling inadequate and confused in traditional art classes yet equally blissed out when alone in my parents’ workshops creating whatever poured out that day. My earliest expressions were elaborate black and white designs colored in with markers.  Another early memory is of taking hammer and nail to wood scraps in my father’s workshop. I’d fabricate an entire dream or story out of wood and then create clay figures to act out the plots or sew together a rough doll out of fabric scraps from my mother’s studio. Over the years I have made my own clothes and candles, learned to throw on a potter’s wheel, written and told many children’s stories, and dabbled in guitar and stained glass.

Recently, my passion for graphic black line drawing, tactile arts, texture rich paper and vibrant color merged to become my newest creations.

The process begins with a vision of the completed design. The images come to me either right away in complete form or over a period of weeks where one aspect of the design emerges at a time. Then I translate the image into a black and white drawing with pencil and permanent marker. Next I create a paper cut by carefully cutting away the white paper, and finish by pasting papers on the back.  I am so singularly focused during this process it calms me like meditation.

Nature is my muse. Its beauty is boundless, visceral, and constant. The human condition, complete with its joy and pain, either intense or subtle, also provides enough fascination for endless creative expresssion.