Artist's
Statement of Terri Markle
I work in a variety of media because
that frees me to
experiment and play, focusing on line, shape, texture, color, pattern
and
rhythm.
I
am the Will Rogers of media—I haven’t met a medium I did not like!
The purpose of my work is to discover and
reveal the beauty found in unexpected places.
This beauty is an essential and joyful part of life, too often
forgotten, negated, or overlooked.
As a child, I was fascinated by other
cultures, especially those of the Far East, and those
influences often show up in my work. I
also admire the fluid abstract works of Georgia O’Keefe, the
beautifully
rendered drawings of Edgar Degas, and the ornamental or spiritual
qualities of
Gustav Klimts’ portraits and landscapes.
I am captivated by different papers--their colors,
textures, weight, and translucency or opaqueness. I
enjoy the interplay of hard edges vs. soft
edges, as well as the fun of decorating papers and then using bits and
pieces
of the decorated surfaces to form the final piece of art.
My work proceeds from a pre-planned
concept and
develops through a process of exploration and improvisation until a
satisfying
result emerges. I know it is finished
when it conveys a feeling, mood or spirit that either whispers of its
beauty,
or that shouts at the top of its lungs:
“I’m beautiful, dammit!”
When I seriously started making
art, I worked in water
color alone. I loved the spontaneity of
the medium, but I hated waiting for the paint to dry so I could lay
down the
next layer. I solved that problem by
working on several pieces at once. Once
I tried other media, I found that working on several pieces at once
still works
well for me, and that I still do not like to wait for the paint
to dry!
Quotes from Famous
People (frog):
- Art is frozen
zen. (Reginald
H. Blyth)
- Art is more than a
product of your efforts – it should be about feeling, life, attitude,
soul. (Sergei
Bongart)
- Art is a
necessity – an essential part of our enlightenment process. We
cannot, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened
without the arts. (Ken
Danby)
- Every
genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the
sun. (Ralph
Waldo Emerson)
- Art is
just a pigment of your imagination. (Tony
Follari)
- Art is a
staple of mankind... So urgent, so utterly linked with the
pulse of feeling that it becomes the singular sign of life when every
other aspect of civilization fails. (Jamake
Highwater)
- All art
forms, including painting and music and poetry, are vehicles
for us all to participate in being alive. Whatever adds richness to the
experience of being alive is an art. (Quang
Ho)
- Art is
our one true global language. It knows no nation, it favors no
race, and it acknowledges no class. It speaks to our need to reveal,
heal, and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us
imagine what is possible. (Richard
Kamler)
- The arts
are encroaching one upon another, and from a proper use of
this encroachment will rise the art that is truly monumental. (Wassily
Kandinsky)
- How
important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that
the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I
could be prejudiced. I am a visual art. [muppet] (Kermit
the Frog)
- Art
evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. (Rene
Magritte)
- Art
enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. (Thomas
Merton)
- Art
teaches nothing, except the significance of life. (Henry
Miller)
- Art is
the journey of a free soul. (Alev
Oguz)
- Art is
art. Everything else is everything else. (Ad
Reinhardt)
- Art,
being quite useless, except to the soul, is the highest of all human
endeavors. (Bruce
M. Rogers)
- Art is a
paradox that has no laws to bind it... When art exists it
becomes tradition. When it is created, it represents a unity that did
not exist before. (David
Smith)
- People
who love art really do need it in the same way they need oxygen. (Martin
Zimet)
- Art
thaws even the frozen, darkened soul, opening it to lofty spiritual
experience. (Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn)
