NOCTURNE
an exhibition featuring works by Monika Teal
September 6th - October 18th
With an opening reception 09.06.24 5-8 PM
The Nocturne series explores the night, its colors and its moods. It comes from an interest in what darkness offers, and how to successfully paint it.
Artist statement:
I work from the insight that art is a form of social material. My own art seeks to address issues of our awareness and understanding of our presence in the world. It is meant to mediate and guide our actions, by focusing on recurring themes, such as innocence, magic and the loss of magic in our lives. Through my work, personal traumas and loss become bridges to what we as people have lost - our deep connections to nature, to each other, to community and landscape. Art is how I make sense of everyday experiences, especially the more unexplainable parts of existence.
The materials I use and my subject matters are traditionally female. I love working with "women's" materials, fibres, beads, and craft materials, as well as painting themes that lend themselves to a woman's perspective. Much of my art making is also centered on process, namely on creating problems and then solving them.
My art comes from my personal life, reflected by lore, stories and myths. It is grounded in my heritage and in my past. As with many present day artists, I am engaging in conversation with the natural world: what we have done to our climate, our creatures and ourselves. The conversation also speaks to innocence, and more particularly, the moments we lose or have lost our connections with the natural world. I want to breach the gap between life and art by raising appreciation and awareness of our earth and real world issues.
IG: @monikateal
Web: https://www.monikateal.com/