Laura Kirchner

Artist’s Statement

There are certain events in one's life that change everything.

Living Thinking, a class I took this summer, has been an inspiration in my artwork.

Experiences and discoveries made during this summer session awakened and shifted relationships, connections, observations, thoughts. Nature has been revealed to me in a completely new light. I am seeing the world with a different lens.

At first I felt like a foreigner, coming from a place isolated from nature. Now I am beginning to understand and see the kaleidoscope of who I am in relation to this world. Being immersed in my surroundings, creating art, and responding to my experiences have driven me to respond prolifically to my observations and memory. Observational experiences have become emotional landscapes. I have been attempting to break down the rhythms of color, the intensity of light, the absence of light, the duality and layers of meaning that exist in nature, capturing my full attention. I am again, for the first time in a while, or even the first time ever, having a long-missed dialog with nature. Now that I have gotten to this place of seeing, I am open to read the patterns in nature that truly connect me with life!

The painting shown reveals my relationship to water, the reflection and blurriness of what is seen, how there is no line that distinguishes water from sky, and how the movement, and rhythm creates such an undeniable relationship and energy.

The water has shown me whatever comes to itself, to let it come, how the treading of water develops patience and supports our being.