Just Art-e
 
 
Hyperrealism       |Realism        |Surrealism       |Expressionism     | Impressionism    |Abstracts
 
 
 
Katherine Treffinger
artist website
 
 
Artist's Statement


I spent my childhood in Sausalito, California in the 50's. It was a magical place, teeming with artists and creative expression. Across the street from our house was one of the coffeehouses where the ?bohemians? came to listen to music, and writers such as Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac read from their work.

It was a time when San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Sausalito were home to the abstract expressionist and Bay Area Figurative movements. My missing toys were found in the neighbor?s sculptures. I was often on tiptoes, peering into the windows of nearby studios and coffeehouses. I thrived in the wondrous mystery of this world.

Later, as an adult I had the good fortune to befriend Joseph Raffael and spend time in his studio . This was before I realized I wanted to be an artist myself. I was greatly influenced by his enthusiasm, dedication, and his ability to create beauty.

In hindsight, there was nothing else I really wanted to be than an artist. I paint and draw because I love to ? and because I have to. I am primarily self taught.

When I stand before an empty canvas or piece of paper, I am lost, unaware of what to do. In fact, my most satisfying work comes from staying lost. Navigational confidence is seldom productive for me. Each piece becomes the recording of a unique introspective exploration.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************
Collaborative Artists: Statement with Cindy Bilotti

Katherine Treffinger:

For the last few years I have been painting and drawing next to Cindy. Often, when frustrated with a piece of work, we toyed with the idea of giving our pieces over to the other to work with. When I happened upon the fine book "Zhou Brothers: 30 Years of Collaboration", not only did I love their art, I became very excited by the idea of collaborative painting. I knew exactly the person to approach with the idea. Cindy was enthusiastic. Many of our conversations over the years had been concerning the relationship of the mystical and mythical to art and life. An idea arose: We would each read the same myth before initiating a painting, allowing the myth to inform the process. We started with the agreement to follow our impulses/intuitions, and to not hesitate working over the other's work. As the paint and colors flew, paintings emerged out of the excitement of the process. Full of energy, they often contained a Rorschach like imagery. We paint on each individual piece at the same time, enjoying each other?s contribution. We love to experiment with texture, tools, and ways of working with the paint. During the process, at times we are silent for long stretches. Other times, we converse. Often we laugh, and occasionally a shout of excitement erupts. It has been a wonder of an adventure.

Cindy Bilotti:

When Katherine approached me with the idea of a collaborative painting project I thought the idea seemed exciting. We had been sharing model fees and working on our own paintings in her studio for quite some time. The common starting point for each painting was the separate reading beforehand of a fairy tale/myth that was randomly selected from a book. The idea was not to illustrate anything, but let the myth surface in a more intuitive way (if it surfaced at all). We were free to begin in any way, using any color, with the understanding we could each paint over anything the other had painted. The experience was very freeing for me, because there was a knowing that every mark made an impact on some level, and yet no mark became so precious to me that it could not be painted over. The paintings began to build in layers as each session progressed and the main force driving the work was the sheer joy of manipulating paint. It was amazing to me that with very little dialog the process itself began to lead us to a resolution of the painting. After several sessions images started to take shape, composition took form, and color harmonies began to appear. The process of painting collaboratively has been exciting and joyful.

 

 
 
 

 Jusart-e.com 2009-2015