Kate Cheney Chappell - Artist Statement
I believe that art-making is a sacred act. Martin Heidegger defines the holy as
"that dimension of existence through which there is illumination of the things
that are…a creative act at the point of engaging the Nothing." Since the death of
both parents, I find myself struggling with the ultimate questions of my existence
and purpose on earth. More and more, I am aware of our need as humans to connect
with the earth and know ourselves as part of a web of being. Alienation and denial
are lending to unprecedented degradation of what envelopes and sustains us: the air,
soil, water, plants and creatures on which we depend for life. I invoke this essential
interdependence in: Earth Envelopes" which I have been making since 2002. They begin as
flat, full sheets (22x30") of Rives BFK paper that I print as monotypes, then paint and
collage over, and fold into womb-like shapes that hang on the wall. Each has references
to the elements, to creatures, to genetic information, or to growth patterns.
Earth Envelope VI: Evolution, is one of these. Vessels, smaller in size and closed at
both ends, like the wooden "double-enders" early islanders used to fish from, have a
continuous visually connected line running through them all.
Drawing and painting have always been ways I engage with the natural world. I am also a
person with likes to explore the boundaries between traditional forms. I like to put poetry
and monotype together, collage and watercolor, make artist's books, experiment with installations.
Inspiration has come from visits to stone circles in England and Wales, reading poetry, looking at
"Li", the Chinese study of dynamic forms and correlations in nature (e.g., the similarity of a
single brain neuron and the branching habit of a tree). Most of all, Monhegan island remains my
soul place. There I am surrounded by sea, alone with the waves, doing the little acts of a simpler
way of life, painting all day on the cliffs, or singing at night in community with others who love
and live and work on the island.
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