Columbia City Gallery | Diane Bradley

My relationship with art began in childhood and grew with studio classes in printmaking, watercolor and oil painting. Traveling throughout Europe and the United States, residing in Germany for four years, and spending time in Belize, CA challenged my view of the world. Eventually, the timeless works by Romare Bearden, Horace Pippin, and William H. Johnson captured my interest. From studying these masters and glimpsing other cultures, I have developed a passion for creative expression, using multimedia. With digital printing, I have discovered that gicleè prints of the collages effect a three-dimensional experience in a two-dimensional format.

Peculiar personalities in quaintly queer spaces populate my dreams, tossing me into the milieu of the shadowy past where my muse resides. Small rural settings somewhere near Georgia but not far from Alabama inspire faceless subjects in collages, yet at other times, the Northern experience dominates the layered focus of a media project. In all compositions irregular shapes stubbornly cling to one another to reveal unnatural and natural elements that regulate life through its cycles.

Here also, protected by naive innocence, small children play together in imaginary realms, giggle about silly secrets, and invent their own adventures in open fields or in suburban backyards. At other times, older family members reveal duty and care through their toil, yet unexpected tragedy besets the young as well as the old. I conjure up an individual's pictorial presence by piecing together scraps of paper and bits of textiles to honor all humanity.