Roz Stendahl

Artist Statement

A flash of feather drew me into the woods when I was a child. I've been stumbling around there ever since: an urban girl on the fringe, where suburbia meets wilderness, seeking out nature in my surroundings. I incorporate a narrative thread in my portraits of birds and mammals. My paintings-realistic in style, mixed in media-grow out of my life-long practice of journal keeping. However, when I work in beads alone or with other materials (baskets, fabric wall hangings), I am constantly seeking ways to capture abstract feelings and emotions using only texture, color, and shape.

I work as a graphic designer, illustrator, and book artist. I teach classes in bookbinding and journaling at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis and other institutions. I teach a variety of art-related classes at different locations as well. Please check my website for details: www.rozworks.com.

I am process and materials oriented. I delight in experimentation with new and old methods of creating art. I am largely self-taught, relying on my inquisitive nature and my love of research to seek out ways of capturing my vision. This has transformed me into a mixed media artist. I work with colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, acrylics, inks, and a variety of marking tools and printmaking methods. I will use any or all of the materials I have at hand. I also use the computer as an art tool in my personal art. Beadwork and fiber arts provide additional tactile approaches.

As a visual artist working as a graphic designer and illustrator I employ an approach of realism. This is fed by my love and observation of nature and the visual journals that I keep. When I work on a design or an illustration there is always immediate visual pay back in the form of rough sketches and more refined drafts. With beadwork I start with sketches, but find the execution of an idea cannot be adequately assessed until a beaded piece is completed. Often I'll depart from my sketches when I find that a stitch or pattern I'd intended to use didn't work as I'd anticipated. The resulting process becomes a meditation on a thought or theme such as gratitude, healing, or a connection with other life energies. Beading becomes a way for me to slow down my thoughts and life and focus on the many intangible aspects of being present in the moment.

My art is personal: my observations, my moments of connection. I believe all steps to understanding man's place on earth begin with an unsentimental grasp of one reality--we are not other.