Rebecca Crowell

medium: painting
portal wisconsin featured artist

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Amber 2006 Painting	Anagama 2007 Painting	Aura 2007 Painting
Mountain 2007 Painting	October 2007 Painting	Overlay 2007 Painting
Patina 2007 Painting	Terrain 2007 Painting	Vertical 5 2007 Painting
Vertical 7 2007 Painting

Contact information
N45355 Isom Rd.
Osseo, WI 54758
Phone Number: 715-597-2001
Email Address: crowellart@yahoo.com
Web site: www.rebeccacrowell.com

Artist statement
Nature and the landscape are primary visual sources in my work, but memories, emotions and personal symbols all play a part. So do purely abstract elements that evolve during the act of painting, involving color, texture and contrast.

Most of my paintings are made of individually painted panels, juxtaposed in ways that evoke for me an idea, place or situation. The divisions between panels provide tension and structure. Arriving at the arrangement of panels is as much a part of my process as is actually applying paint.

My techniques come out of experimentation with a wide variety of tools and paints, with an eye to developing complex colors and textures. My tools include brayers, squeegees, palette knives, bits of plastic and foam, sticks and even the occasional paintbrush. I build surfaces by applying many layers of paint and also by scraping, gouging and dissolving parts of the layers so that underlying bits emerge. Liberal use of cold wax medium enhances transparency and facilitates the layering process. The resulting surfaces have an organic appearance that is resonant with their evolution over many painting sessions.

Each painting is an open-ended exploration, undertaken with a blend of spontaneity and careful analysis. It is my hope that in the end, my work has a certain clarity and integrity that invites contemplation.

Biography
Rebecca Crowell lives and paints near Osseo, Wis., in a rural setting that helps to inspire her nature-based imagery. She holds an MFA from Arizona State University and a BFA from UW-Eau Claire and has exhibited widely since the mid-1980s in solo, group and juried exhibits.

Crowell is currently represented by galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Scottsdale, Arizona; Minneapolis, Minn.; Door County, Wis.; and St. Louis, Missouri. Her Santa Fe gallery, Darnell Fine Art, has scheduled a solo show of her work for October 2008.

In fall 2001, Crowell was a resident at the Centre d'Art I Natura in Spain, where she plans a return trip in 2008. Other career highlights include several grants (including a Wisconsin Arts Board Project Grant) and selection for the juried publication New American Paintings. Her work is included in numerous private, public and corporate collections.