I love art because it’s a very messy process. My goal as a printmaker is to celebrate the hand-made aspects of the art form. By exploiting flaws in the printing process and layering images, I heighten the energy and uniqueness of my prints. Including fibers, found objects and stitching brings additional texture and life to the artwork and allows me to explore variations on a theme thoroughly.
Traditionally, sewing is valued most when it is neat, controlled, invisible. I love to do the opposite, using raw, unavoidable stitching in my work. I’ve also been obsessed with gathering discarded elements of the urban landscape and American culture. I collect street trash, fallen leaves, illustrations from instruction manuals, sales flyers and vintage fabric scraps. Introducing these found pieces into my art is a way to reference my surroundings by collecting and editing them into artwork.
My most recent work explores the themes of self-imposed protective isolation and its effects on our creative process and output. What happens when we confront the insular worlds we live in and start conversations with those whose responses are not expected? How do we deal with uncertainties and possible negative reactions? Can we find and embrace the new interactions and experiences just beyond where we’ve ventured so far?
By exploring new processes (starting before I know the end) and mediums (deconstructed screen printing, linoleum block printing, mixed-media quilting) and by inviting others to participate in a conversation about isolation and what it means to them, I’m attempting to confront and answer these questions, or at least see what new creative paths they reveal. How can we stop preaching to the choir? I invite you to think about that question and see where the answers take you.
Woodie Anderson
Winston-Salem, NC
October 2010