Lures were initially created for the "Design Council of the Denver Art Museum's tenth annual incarnation of Design After Dark, an annual winter party and fundraiser benefiting the Department of Architecture, Design & Graphics at the Denver Art Museum".
The theme for 2014 was CAST, and I considered so many other projects before landing on this one. Once committed to the notion, returning to the familiar world of fabric sculpture was a pure delight. I worked from materials that I had on hand: mops, feathers, beads, glass eyes, jute rope, glitter, wood chips, colored pencil ends, scrap wood, chains, fur pieces, fabric studies, and so much more.
This project brought me so much joy and received Best in Show at the event. Yeah!
Father and Son, mixed media, 30" x 20" x 12", 2014
Father and Son, mixed media, 30" x 20" x 12", 2014
The Elder, mixed media, 36" x 16" x 8", 2014
The Elder, mixed media, 36" x 16" x 8", 2014 (detail)
The Nose, mixed media, 22" x 14" x 9", 2014
The Mop, mixed media, 24" x 20" x 7", 2014
The Mop, mixed media, 24" x 20" x 7", 2014
The Marker, mixed media, 28" x 22" x 9", 2014
The Marker, mixed media, 28" x 22" x 9", 2014
These mask drawings represent vessels where spirits can enter with called upon purposes – to protect us from menacing forces, to honor nature and the earth, to ask permission for varying desires, to call upon needed powers, to inspire healing.
Begun in 2013, the Mask series is an evolving project. It is inspired by the headdresses and masks of past cultures and also from the materials and forms of our current globalized one. The obscured characters create a loosely invented history which does not expect to be held as anything other than a fantastical mythology spawned by the intuitive method of my creative process.
My individual interpretations are inspired by my belief that imagery has the power to create change and inspire growth, humor, spirituality, health and life.
Focus Freebooter, mixed media, 20"x 16" x 28", 2016
Focus Freebooter, mixed media, 20" x 16" x 28", 2016
The Revelator, ink and colored pencil,15" x 18", 2014
The Silencer, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
The Confuser, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
The Death Distracter, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
The Trickster, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
The Spirit Warrior, pen and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
The Spring Sower, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2013
Objects in Place explores seemingly mundane objects of daily life gathered from my personal archived photographs. Taking the primary object from the picture and abstracting it into flatness and non-materiality, I delete all other forms and leave only the shape which may at best trigger a memory of a familiar silhouette.
The activity in the background also becomes abstracted into vibrant explosions of pattern which possess their own kaleidoscopic depth.
The juxtaposition of objects portrayed as emptiness with surroundings portrayed as surfaces begins a playful visual oscillation as well as a rewriting of the relationship between the two.
Translating this exploration sculpturally, these objects as negative spaces have been crafted as three-dimensional non-objects devoid of specificity afloat in their patterns as space.
What began as a simple experiment in simplification, like my Ropes series, developed into a highly involved, process-based and complex exploration. This series is ongoing...
Objects in Place, Firehouse Art Center Longmont CO, Installation View, 2013
Our Courtyard, Marion Street, Denver CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Mathias and His Pizza Slice, Colfax Avenue Denver CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Gifts for Mathias, Snowmass Village CO, wood and paint, 5” x 1.5” x 8”, 2013
Gifts for Mathias, Snowmass Village CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Traffic Cones, Black Rock Desert NV, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Catamaran in West Neck Harbor, Shelter Island NY, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Paper Cut-out Kite Study, Denver CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Water Cooler and Bin, Kiowa Creek Sporting Club, Bennett CO, wood and paint, 7” x 1.5” x 6”, 2013
Water Cooler and Bin, Kiowa Creek Sporting Club, Bennett CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Tyrell Ranger Station Rooftops, Cloud Peak Wilderness WY, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Baba Wali Food Cart, Josephine Street Denver CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Spools of Rope, Hog Island Oyster Farm, Marshall CA, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Mathias’ Old Scout, Marion Street, Denver CO, wood and paint, 7.5” x 1.5” x 4”, 2013
Mathias’ Old Scout, Marion Street, Denver CO, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Berrocal's Patio Furniture, Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga Spain, 5" x 7", 2013
My Old Schwinn, Green Street, Brooklyn NY, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Tallulah and Finnegan’s Blocks, Shelter Island NY, wood and paint, 5” x 1.5” x 4.5”, 2013
Tallulah and Finnegan’s Blocks, Shelter Island NY, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
Absinthe Glasses, Burning Man, Black Rock Desert NV, ink and colored pencil, 5” x 7”, 2013
'Objects in Place' Reference Photographs
Back in art school, we were shown the film Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames, an exploration of the universe from the atomic level to the cosmic infinite revealed through the system of exponential powers. It was astonishing and left me contemplating the inner and outer worlds of our experience and the wonder of scale. Years later, I stumbled upon the book Heaven and Earth by Katherine Roucoux and was reminded of the infinitesimal and the astronomical. There was something in the expansiveness of it all that had me in its clutches.
In 2012, as I began my exploration into what concepts to investigate for an upcoming exhibition, I pulled out my pencils and began drawing highly detailed patterns of organic shapes. Images developed and what appeared were three large pages of tiny realms. Unexpectedly, it was suddenly clear that the exhibition would be an exploration of invented worlds in a universe of my own making, explored through a similar system of scale as the Eames’ film.
The building blocks of my universe consist of pinwhickles, cells, ropes, branches, crystals, terrazzo, lily pads, cocoon eyeballs, feathers, and flotsam - shapes both real and imagined based upon inspiring forms, textures, movements, colors, and patterns.
There are ten drawings in the series which stand alone as individual pieces but together comprise the artwork. Think of it as a circular slide show, where three layers are evident in each image at one time with varying degrees of magnification. As you travel through the universe, each drawing shows a change of magnification from 1:1, 1:500, and 1:1000.
Corresponding letterpress prints of each building block that comprise this universe were printed by Smokeproof Press.
All works were created in 2012.
Powers of Ten: I, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: II, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: III, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: IV, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: V, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: VI, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: VII, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: VIII, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: IX, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: X, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 40", 2012
Powers of Ten: I, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: II, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: III, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: IV, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: V, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: VI, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: VII, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: VIII, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: IX, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
Powers of Ten: X, letterpress, 10" x 10", 2012
I've been struck by the large quantity of tornadoes that have been ripping through the US as far east as Massachusetts in recent years. It is unprecedented and being from Kansas, I feel somehow that something of mine is being lost. I've wanted to do a series of sculptures and drawings that investigate tornadoes, and “What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours” is that continued exploration. The title responds to my personal sense of perceived loss and also to the emotional and physical collision of the families directly affected by a tornado’s path .
As I Slept You Carried Me, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 44", 2012
We Listened and You Moved On, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 44", 2012
What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 44", 2011
What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours, mixed media, 7' x 5' x 13', 2011
What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours, mixed media, 7' x 5' x 13', 2011 (detail)
Ropes began as an exploration in simplicity. I wanted to spend time with drawings that were more abstract and less hectic, to veer away from the figurative, narrative and surreal content that is present in the Mount Create, Harbingers and Transportation Stations series.
True to form, the series only briefly held onto its minimalist roots. It grew in its complexity as each piece of paper arrived on my drafting table. The scale increased, as did the quantity of ropes and the intricacy of pattern. In the end, both the sculptures and the drawings went from having a soft curvilinear movement between one rope, to being an enormous heaping pile of ropes with varying textures, sizes and formations.
No matter my initial intention for a sublime quietude, the work evolved into a dense byzantine, knotty mess. I love that there is something basic and simple within the chaos and intricacy of everything, and especially that this holds true in the reverse.
This series also marks the first time I called in a coloring crew to help. Ropes in Blue, Green, Orange and Brown with a size of 5 by 10 feet, my largest drawing to date, was just too large to color in with the time I had left before my exhibition opened.
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art - Installation, 2010
Rope Pile Triptych, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 88", 2010
Rope Pile Triptych (detail), ink and colored pencil, 30" x 88", 2010
Ropes in Blue, Green, Orange and Brown, 51" x 110" - Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art - Installation, 2010
Ropes in Blue, Green, Orange and Brown (detail), ink and colored pencil, 51" x 110", 2010
Ropes in Aqua, Rust and Brown, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2009
Ropes in Turquoise, Bronze, Red and Brown, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2009
Ropes in Grey, Tan and Yellow, ink and colored pencil, 30" x 44", 2010
Ropes in Grey, Tan and Yellow (detail), ink and colored pencil, 30" x 44", 2010
Rope in Green on Grey, ink and colored pencil, 22" x 30", 2009
Rope in Blue on Tan, ink and colored pencil, 22" x 30", 2009
These drawings mark the first phase of a series that delves into the relationship between the human body and the natural world. By deconstructing and intersecting the structures and layers of various components within these subjects, I seek to create original structures and abstractions that read as environments – locations to imagine traveling within.
The series is motivated by my interest in how the imagination in conjunction with basic knowledge visualizes the microscopic inner workings of anatomy. What is it like to move within these structures, to see and feel these spaces at such a minute level?
Down By the River My Lungs and I, ink and colored pencil, 20" x 26", 2009
Between the Breathing and the Bones, ink and colored pencil, 20" x 26", 2009
The Psychescapes project focuses on creating motifs, symbols and scenarios that represent emotions, ongoing and universal (human) or individualized, experientially induced. Instead of giving a verbal response to express feeling, these images present an illustration, however abstract, that exposes the mood. In some ways, the pieces are anti-narrative in that emotions are not explained through a story of circumstances, but instead as pictograms.
For example, a grouping of sticks, flotsam, may symbolize a sense of foreboding, of something closing in on oneself, a pushing into with nowhere to go. A grouping of flowing stripes nestling perfectly into one another expresses free flowing creativity and energy acting upon itself and growing, but these forms, wrapped within a rope fence, may suggest a lock down on that freedom, a containment.
Process and Communicate, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2012
Inner Dialogue, ink and colored pencil, 15" x 18", 2012
Music and Humanity, woodcut, 30" x 30", 2011
Flotsam in Yellow and Grey, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2009
Taking in the Masses, etching and colored pencil, 12" x 18", 2010
The Restructuring of Death, etching and colored pencil, 12" x 18", 2010
Anxiety, etching, 9" x 12", 2010
Intruder, etching, 9" x 12", 2010
Discussions on Fear, etching, 9" x 12", 2010
Blockaded Inside Dream Travel, etching, 9" x 12", 2010
Anderson Ranch - Installation: Relational Bonfire, wood, paint and fabric, 66" x 52" x 64", 2010
Anderson Ranch - Installation: Relational Bonfire/Overhead view, wood, paint and fabric, 66" x 52" x 64", 2010
Building Communities, ink and colored pencil, 19" x 24", 2007
Building Communities, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Crystals with Legs, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Eyeball Balloonists, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Finger Boomerangs in Grey, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Finger Boomerangs in Yellow, ink and colored pencil, 9" x 12", 2007
Rebirth to the Stars, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2005
Saturday Explosion, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Strawberry City, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Transportation Station, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2008
Wave Reveal, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Emmett and I at Alice's, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2005
Not Knowing What I'm Thinking, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2005
Not Knowing What I'm Thinking, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2005
Building a Community, MDF, acrylic, paint, glue, 30" x 18" x 22", 2005
Finger Planet, wood, acrylic paint, ink, varnish, 58" x 53" x 18", 2005
The Diamond and Its Shadow, wood, MDF, steel, acrylic paint, 74" x 41" x 61", 2005
The Day the Gumdrops Lifted, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2005
Seeing You Seeing Me, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Building Communiites, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Plants and Dice, ink and colored pencil, 9" x 12", 2005
When Hattie Wells Let it Be, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Making Our Way, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Plant Burst, ink and colored pencil, 9" x 12", 2005
Roots and Leaves, ink and colored pencil, 9" x 12", 2005
Looking for the Answers, ink and colored pencil, 18" x 24", 2005
Flowers and Envelopes, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2005
"One day, in a moment of great disquiet, an urgent animal conference is organized to discuss the demise of their kingdom, forging a plan to hunt for an ancient portal, spoken only of in myth, in hopes that its discovery will offer passage to a new land. Over time, it is unearthed, and through this find, our animals leave us. Later, far into the future when our lands are not the only ones we know, when people are giants and lifeforms are scarce, this portal is rediscovered opening up possibilities to restore our world with species and kingdoms once thought gone forever...."
For the Troubadour, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Diamond Thief, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
The Offering, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
Flame Carrier, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2007
ESP Preparation Chart, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2008
Dream-Linking, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2005
The Portage, ink and colored pencil, 11" x 14", 2006
Reconnoiter, ink and colored pencil, 9" x 12", 2004
Fortune Teller, ink and colored pencil,9" x 12", 2005
She Arose from a Vast Volcano, ink and colored pencil, 14" x 17", 2008
The Gatherer, ink, 11" x 14", 2005
The Collector, ink, 11" x 14", 2005
The Collector, mixed media, 44" x 76" x 8", 2005
The Collector (detail), mixed media, 44" x 76" x 8", 2005
Campfire Evolution, mixed media, 66" x 54" x 42", 2003
Campfire Evolution (detail), mixed media, 66" x 54" x 42", 2003
Electric Discovery, mixed media, 44" x 76" x 8", 2001
Electric Discovery (detail), mixed media, 44" x 76" x 8", 2001
Unicorn Hoof Redevelopment Organism, mixed media, 48" x 96" x 32", 2002
Unicorn Hoof Redevelopment Organism: Hooves, mixed media, 48" x 96" x 32", 2002
Beaver Nest Hideout, ink, 12" x 17", 2006
Convergence #5, ink, 11" x 14", 2006
Convergence #6, ink, 11" x 14", 2006
All works © Pattie Lee Becker 2012 - 2019