STATEMENT

I have been working with painting and found materials since the 1970s. I love the idea of using non-traditional materials in artmaking. My work reflects my interest in spirituality, my love of reading, travel, collecting and being in nature. My interests outside of art are often pulled into my artwork. I accumulate old paper items, small objects, beads, rocks, tiles, twigs, broken glass and pottery shards. My pieces often start as small abstract or landscape paintings, born of my imagination. I prefer to paint on wood so I can scrape, gouge and manipulate the materials. These paintings often refer to weather imagery, energy states or symbolic states of mind. I then add collage elements such as old scrap or cut paper, beaded mosaic, or found objects to the piece. I respond intuitively to an image or object. Certain materials seem emotionally charged to me. In the crafting of my pieces, there is an interplay between the flow of ideas and responses and the organization of the materials into a finished work.

Ranal Harrell Young
September 2015