Member Since December 2nd, 2009
It all started with crayons
I guess I was fated to be an artist—what else could I have become with a mother who, from the moment I could hold my own spoon, put crayons and paper in my hands? Or when my husband and two best friends from high school were all photographers; or when I grew up in New York City with the inspiration of skyscrapers like man’s homage to giant sequoias reaching for the sun?
Mine was a world of constant visual and tactile stimulation, and I was drawn to people who were drawn to the same. I used to love watching the Adams Family on TV — minus a few torture devices and with a lot more artwork thrown in — my house looked the same, every surface (even doors to cabinets, bathrooms, and closets) covered with an eclectic array of paintings, prints, and objects de arte from all different cultures and eras.
Still, art was something a person did in her spare time (even though I married a professional photographer), so I got my BA in Economics and a year and a half later my MBA. No real regrets because it lead to a great day job as Coordinator of the NM Radioactive Waste Consultation Task Force, but something was missing. I compulsively collected art supplies kept pristine in original boxes and organized in spectral order, I designed patchwork quilts that were never made, crocheted afghans until I got Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, and was a prop in my husband’s scenic shots. Despite my push down the “grown-up” job path, I still had to express myself in some visual way, so during meetings I created intricate doodles in the margins of note pads. And, after my workplace bought a digital camera to record work events, I rediscovered photography. I am a certified computer addict so slipping into the world of Photoshop was almost out of my control.
Most artist statements feel so contrived to me, abstract and often flowery words to describe inspiration and processes that sometimes defy imagination. I have none of that. I can’t tell you there is “meaning” in my work or that I’m trying to capture the essence of anything. All I can tell you is that I think about it almost constantly, writing notes to myself on new ideas, cutting leaf or petal shapes out of magazines then sorting them by tone and color, doodling in the margins of my office note-pads during meetings. Sometimes I obsess on a theme (like female faces peeling away). But mostly I find shapes, tones and patterns that draw me in and then I have to spit them back out in some semblance of order. I think it was Michelangelo who said of his sculpting that he was just releasing the image that was already inside the block of marble. I just rearrange what I’ve already found in my world. I distill it down to a few pieces of paper, some lines, or an instant image of light and dark.
On the other side, but maybe in the same vein, I love to watch people. My job allows me to travel frequently. In each new city, I walk the streets with my camera, snapping at anything I think might be interesting to me later. At home, I look at my images over and over. I put them into my computer screen saver and live with them for months. Then I go back to the ones that repeatedly caught my eye. Those are the ones I take to Photoshop. Some I barely change and others I toil over for hours stretched over weeks, maybe months, refining every detail. In the end, it is all about liking what I see. My hope is that you like it too.
I donated a 4 foot by 9 foot collage entitled "Bosque del Apache at Sunrise," to the New Mexico Environment Department. The piece hangs in the department's Office of the Secretary. Other of my pieces hang in the Office of the Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, individual offices of numerous state employees, and in private collections in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
I also create and install work upon commission. Commissioned works (both decorative and thematic) have been installed in New Mexico at Sanya in Santa Fe, the Albert I. Pierce Foundation in Albuquerque, and the NM Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department in Santa Fe. Many of my commissioned works incorporate my black & white photography of flowers.
All of my artwork begins either with an original photograph by myself or my husband, or an original drawing by me. These images are then digitized and frequently digitally manipulated then custom printed by me using high quality ink jet printers. Printed images are then collaged into other pieces or augmented with physical collage and/or hand applied inks. A few of my works are simple giclée prints on hand torn specialty art papers. These prints are of original drawings by me that have been digitally manipulated. I consider myself to be primarily a collage artist.
All artwork, art prints, and photographic prints bear original signatures and the year they were signed. All photographic prints are printed on an Epson Stylus® Pro 3800 with pigment based UltraChrome K3™ Ink. To discuss commissioned artwork and customized print sizes, you may contact me at annedelain27@aol.com.
My portrait is by my husband Blair Clark, Photographer for the Museums of New Mexico, and was taken in Motovun, Croatia.