- https://www.viktoriaford.com/
Viktoria Ford
A deep and abiding connection with the natural environment developed early in my life growing up in Aledo, Illinois, a small town near the Mississippi River. I learned the value of solitude and the rewards of the creative thought process, spending long hours observing and creatively interacting with its raw materials. These experiences formed the foundation of my early aesthetic education. I was an outside girl, barefooted and in need of a daily bath. I did not look at nature through a window, I breathed it, knelt on it and tasted its fruits. I created imaginary worlds with sticks, mud, and rocks under the towering elms that lined our yard.
My work reflects my interest in the ecology of the earth, its balances and imbalances. I am interested in how systems break down through human manipulation. At the root of this I am fascinated with aspects of time and change. In my paintings multiple layers of visual complexity engage the viewer in a reflective dialogue that deepens over time. It is important to me that the layers of thin glaze entice the viewer to examine and reexamine the richness of the surface, to go deeper into their own psyche as they mine the visual surface of each painting and during the process make associations to personal experiences.
Artist Statement
Philosophically, my work investigates relationships through the lens of cause and effect. My aim is to explore how we find meaningful resolution from the decisions that we make and the actions that we take. On a functional level as an artist, my process embodies this idea. Initially, I work freely and spontaneously and move steadily towards completion through layers of intuitive decisions, embracing the happy accidents that result and incorporating them. Description of work: Flow was made during a time when I was recovering from hand surgery. I did a series of works on paper where I poured sumi-e ink of various shades and white ink to create layers to draw the viewer in. The paper is 9×11″.
