melindalightfootstudio: January 2017

Melinda Lightfoot

Spiral Fragments

Curated by Ann West

This new series of paintings will be on view during concerts In Mildred Owen Concert Hall throughout the first quarter of 2017. The public is invited to an opening reception, Friday, January 13, 7–9 pm.

I love colors and shapes. Much of my artwork is based on geometric shapes, swirling colors, or both. I paint with acrylics and also with soft pastels. I am what is called a “naïve” painter; my degrees are in Russian and psychology rather than art. But I met a wonderful Jungian analyst during my studies, a writer, who inspired me to begin drawing and painting. Thirty-some years later, making art is still at the center of my life, bringing purpose, meaning, joy, and a sense of personal accomplishment that I don’t think I could find any other way.

In 2012 I was sidelined from painting due to a shoulder injury, so I made small 6” x 6” drawings instead. These became a series, Spiral Fragments, and in 2015 and 2016 I turned the drawings into ten 36” x 36” acrylic paintings. I used algebra to keep the shapes proportionate to the original small drawings—my mathematician father would have been proud. It was fairly arduous making the edges of my shapes look crisp and defined, but I persevered. When images come to me in a burst of inspiration, as these did, I feel it is my responsibility to manifest them as faithfully as possible, and that is what I tried to do in this series.

Spiral Fragments #3: Deep Seabed, 2015, acrylic on canvas

You can find me in Studio #4 at Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica or contact me at wordsmithediting@comcast.net. The paintings in this show are posted here, and you can see more of my work at www.tangerinearts.net.