Carolyn Grady

Moving to the shadow of the majestic Sandia mountains, several years ago, I found realism was no longer answering my need for expression. Wanting a way to portray the energy in the landscape, and my swirling emotions, as well as the contemporary world we live in, I turned to abstraction. The contemporary resurgence of abstract expressionism, with its limitless possibilities, inspires me, opening my heart to joy and fueling my passion further. It is often said that artists fear facing the white canvas, but I love the space I can enter there. Watching colors and shapes unfold as I move a brush across the surface is truly where I feel most myself. The paint begins to lead me to a place I’ve never been before. Or maybe that place is within and has always existed. The process often pulls thoughts and feelings out of me, via paint on the canvas. It’s the world’s motion, the roll of time, or the physical geometries of our space that often inspire a painting. My art comes from a deep energetic space, full of memories, dreams, and visions of this world we all inhabit. My intention is that these paintings will invite the viewer on a journey of their own introspection.

Growing up on the New Jersey shore, in a large, boisterous and science-oriented family, I became an elementary teacher and a poet, seeking to express the universal human experience and the world around me in metaphor and rhythm. After a year as writer-in-residence at the American School of Bombay, I returned to Western New York State in pursuit of an M.A. in literature. After receiving my degree, I taught literature and writing at the State University of New York at Fredonia as I continued my own writing and publishing my poetry. Meanwhile, I trained in working at the edge, going deep within my heart and soul as a practicing yogini and yoga/meditation teacher. Experiencing unknown territory with my body and my mind has had a fundamental impact on my art making. My actual art training began later when studying with the drawing and painting faculty at SUNY Fredonia. I learned traditional techniques, creating representational images, portraits, interiors, and landscapes. That shifted when I moved to Albuquerque, NM where the vistas of sky and landscape, and the desert living inspired me to open myself and go deeper, painting intuitive abstraction. This freed me and offered a way of expressing naturally all that I experienced.

2-D, Collage/Mixed Media, Painting (all materials)