Director's Special Mention - "Confluence" by Annalise Neil
Director's Special Mention
Confluence
Annalise Neil
Media: Watercolor and Cyanotype on Awagami Mitsumata paper mounted to acrylic-painted wood panel
Size: 10"h x 8"w x 1"d
Price: $1000
PROCESS
Neil constructs cyanotypes on paper or fabric using a library of hundreds of individual, hand-cut negatives of her photographs grouped into categories such as mushrooms, birds, and plants. Once the composition is made on the light-sensitive substrate, it is placed in the sun and then rinsed in water--a process that turns the work a glorious blue. Some works are toned after exposure, resulting in imagery that ranges from pale yellow to brown to eggplant. After completing the photographic stage of the work, she often uses watercolor paint to sharpen its formal qualities and to weave in narrative elements.
STATEMENT
With nature imagery as a visual framework, my cyanotype and watercolor work considers ideas such as perception, the unknown, quantum theory, and ecology. Metaphors that come from researching these scientific and philosophical tenets are woven into my pieces. The concepts and the images they lead to can be used to help interpret living as one species amongst wildly complex, interconnected social and natural environments. I am interested in discussing states of awareness and connection. All properties of all things are relational, and life is only possible through a collaborative symphony. Every living thing is a complex, multidimensional universe that interacts with others to form a prismatic web of energy. I endeavor to create work that will lead to contemplation and reflection, and that invites a thoughtful examination of our relationship to reality and our surroundings.
BIO
Annalise Neil has a BFA in Printmaking from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, with a minor in Art History (summa cum laude). She has completed several residencies and courses, including Playa Summer Lake in Oregon, with Mira Schor through the New York City Crit Club, and at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. Her work has been exhibited nationally at galleries and museums, including Field Projects, NYC, The Irvine Fine Arts Center, and The Oceanside Museum of Art. Neil’s work has been featured in publications such as ArtMaze Mag, Colossal, The On Being Project, Emergence Magazine, All She Makes, Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine, and New Visionary Magazine. Her work resides in public and private collections across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
