Featuring Dianne Wolter’s paintings and sculptures.
August 3- October 5, 2018
Reception September 8, 3-5PM
ARTIST STATEMENT
Painting provides me a process driven opportunity to experiment, discover, manipulate, play, and sometimes even tell a story. I value mark making and like to see evidence of the history of the process in the finished painting. Narrative has been a component of my art that allows me to ask questions and make observations. I use whimsy as a means to enliven or to soften the content. Recurring themes and images return to new environments. Images that possess a personal iconography are infused with content from experiences and memories that hold power. I begin by creating an active ground plane, and then working out to the surface, sometimes finding rather than imposing imagery. I enjoy working figuratively, layering, searching for ideas and inspiration from the manipulation of the media, and often but not always embracing a narrative.
Adding papier-mâché sculpture to my studio involvement has been a logical and natural extension to my previous singular focus of two-dimensional work. The process is reductive, starting with foam forms that have been created by gluing construction foam into blocks that can be carved. Papier-mâché mulch and layers of paper finish off the surfaces and ease transitions and contours. The torn paper can communicate a new narrative while holding onto its past. I find myself stacking forms which is another way of layering, bringing elements together in proximity or support, contrasting familiar with fantastic.
BIO
Dianne Wolter graduated from Michigan State University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a teaching certificate. Teaching and studio involvement have been the focus of her professional life since then. She concentrated on fabric collage for the first 14 years of her creative journey, teaching it in public schools throughout southern Michigan sponsored by the Michigan Council for the Arts. In 1979, Wolter began teaching after school art classes in her home studio to area children. Sharing her studio with children was a rewarding and meaningful opportunity. To concentrate more fully on her own art, she retired from teaching in 2002 to focus more on painting. A whim to make a cat riding on a unicycle introduced sculpture as an additional interest. Since then, Wolter has been enjoying both sculpture and painting.
For more information about Dianne’s work please visit her website:
