My artwork is done in oil paintings, a printmaking processes that captures both land and animals with a decorative element to be incorporated in homes and public spaces. There is nothing like being surrounded by nature’s beauty. As a child I grew up sleeping on a sheep skin in a hogan (dwelling) that was on the ground during the summers. This taught me to appreciate the land and animals from my early youth, having to herd sheep and shear wool to be used for my paternal grandmother’s Navajo rugs. With nothing around for miles but the open sky and plains of the desert Northern Arizona land. Imagining things in my mind, that flourished my imagination and started drawing in the dirt with a stick. Drawing things in front of me, that was all land, sheep, cattle, and reservation dogs. The sheep became the inspiration and having to sleep on the sheep skin gave me something to study at an early age. Observing the texture of the wood that we had to chop and bring in during the winter. Playing with kaleidoscopes, small trucks, and army toys was my way of passing by time while I was sitting next to my grandmother making her rugs. Thus, comes forth within my art for appreciation with memories, land and animals…
Please feel free to contact Kathleen Dinges Rice, Artists Resources and Outreach Director, at anytime with questions. She can be reached at 503-581-2228 x312 or Kathleen@SalemArt.org.
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