Artist Cathie Bleck scratches away handmade pigments and black ink on clayboard to reveal splendid nature scenes revolving around ideas of spirituality, mythology, and the interconnectedness of the world. Sensual goddesses, winged creatures, and all kinds of wildlife loom larger than life in her artwork. Dynamic, gestural lines link each form organically, emphasizing the harmony of the world even in chaotic scenes. Bleck's subtractive process of creation fits the themes of her images, as she scrapes away the darkness to reveal powerful light at the core of each work.
“When I was a girl I fell in love with darkness,” Bleck writes in her artist statement. “The tools I work with–pen, ink, fine knives, and clay–became natural choices for someone drawn to observe and record the world in close detail, and to best orchestrate the balance between opposing forces. Through the exploration of symbolic narrative imagery, carved into earth's clay, I speak to relationships that are intrinsic, permeating through human experience. I rely on intense contrasts of tone and imagery to form dualities of interconnectedness, observing the equilibrium all species are challenged to establish in a world of constant change.”
