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Inspired by Ancient Art

by Alison Rieder

It is my hope to take the viewer on a journey that is ethereal yet deeply rooted in the earth by the use of color, texture and ancient symbolism.

History inspires me. I love the art on cave walls because it represents a sacred kinship with our ancestors. Tiny footprints of children chasing after a fox while their parents created masterpieces on the cave walls are still carefully preserved in some of the caves of France and Spain. There we can find a sense of community and unity that feels atavistic to me.

I believe we are all connected to each other and to all of nature, in one way or another. The ancient cave paintings of the Paleolithic age prove to me that we have been doing soulful work for at least 35,000 years. That means, to me, that art has always been an important part of the lives of human beings. It's in our blood and in our souls.

I am immensely inspired by the economy of line with which the cave paintings were depicted. A swipe of pigment, and it's as if the animals were born from the rock. I love the simplicity. I try to create the same in my own artwork, along with a sense of the soul of the animals I paint.

I begin my paintings by layering on thin glazes of raw sienna paint. This color gives the paintings an inner glow. I like to use heavyweight handmade paper as a base, for the rough edges resemble torn pages from old history books. Having grown up in Vermont , where the Autumn blazes with a color palette that deeply inspires my own, I'm not afraid to use it liberally in my paintings. I'm not as interested in recreating the images from the caves as I am in really speaking my own language with texture, color, and ancient symbols.

Just recently, I have expanded my artwork by creating my own stamp carvings. It's a very exciting outlet; I love actually carving my own stamps and using ultra-thick embossing powders to create the same deep impressions in my art that I love so well. I'm finding that the possibilities are quite endless when it comes to incorporating paper arts into my pieces.

It's thrilling for me to be able to create art full-time because, like our ancestors, we are creative beings. In my mind and heart, I am just a small piece of a larger scheme, doing my part to stay connected to those who have come before me.

Sachet Pillow
5" x 4 1/4"

Fabric (crinkled silk, bronze, on front; organza on back) is stamped with an image hand-carved by the artist. The fabric was then cut into 5 1/2 "x 5 1/5" pieces, edges sewn together with a small opening, filled with a mixture of rose buds and lavender, and then sewn closed. The artist then beaded around the edges with seed beads and added bead dangles to the corners.

Galloping Horses: Hand-carved Stamp
6"x4"

The artist drew a herd of wild horses on the face of a stamp carving block, and then used linoleum cutters to carve away the negative space.

 

Cave Paintings: Refrigerator Magnets

The artist used her hand-carved stamps to impress images of animals into flattened Creative Paperclay®, and then allowed the clay pieces to air-dry (can be baked at 200° for 15 minutes). Once dry, she painted the clay with acrylics, and then added Rub 'n Buff to the edges. She glued magnets to the back of each clay piece with E6000 jewelry adhesive.

Deep Impressions: Papier Mache Boxes
3 3/4" x 2"

Using round and oval papier mache boxes with rusted tin tops, the artist layered ColorBox® ink onto the box lids and then sprinkled them with bronze Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel by Suze Weinberg. She heated the powder and added more, reheating until she had a thick layer of molten powder, and then pressed pre- inked, hand-carved stamps into the powder. She removed the stamps, allowed the box lids to cool, and then painted the boxes with Pearl Ex powders, using a soft dry brush. She also used gold Rub 'n Buff to highlight the edges. After painting the bottom of each box with a base coat of acrylic, she sponged on gold paint. Images may also be stamped on the box with Ancient Page inks. Ribbon or wire may be used to embellish these boxes. Small wooden pegs are used for legs on each box, which may be painted to coordinate.

 

Field Notebook
8 1/4" x 6", closed

The artist made a notebook from a wooden book with white pages, which she coffee-stained before stamping and writing notes inside. For the cover, she cut two pieces of plywood, each 8 3/4" x 6". She then cut a strip 1 1/2" wide from the short edge of one of these , pieces to use as a binding. She hinged these two pieces back together, and then drilled holes through the binding edge where the holes in the paper line up. She wired the pieces together, and then added beads and tied on decorative fibers. The wood was then stained and rubber stamped with twig (hand-carved) and leaf images (Stampin' Up!), using Stucco and Verdigris ColorBox pigment ink.

The artist then rolled out some polymer clay, cut out a square from the center, and impressed hand-carved stamps into the clay before baking it. After baking for 15 minutes, she allowed it to cool and then glued it to the front of the notebook over a color photocopy of one of her own paintings. She then rubbed various colors of Rub 'n Buff onto the clay. She glued a twig and a small bottle to the front of the notebook as well.

 

Field Box
9"x 6 1/4 " x 2 1/2 ", closed

The artist painted a cigar box with blackened bronze paint, and then applied crinkled tissue to the box with decoupage medium. She lightly accented the surface with gold acrylic paint, using a sponge. She then glued wooden pegs to the bottom of the box in each corner, and painted them to match. She used suede matboard to create compartments inside the box, cutting her section pieces after deciding where to place her artifacts. She glued the matboard compartments in place, painting the edges to match the cigar box. She then made artifacts for the box, starting with Crayola®'s modeling foam to make faux teeth and a small horse. The foam, once dry, was rubbed with burnt sienna and raw umber paint. For the shards of sea glass, the artist stamped images with ColorBox pigment ink and embossed them with Verdigris Antiquities embossing powder (by Delafield), heated, and then rubbed with black and gold Rub 'n Buff. For the manilla coin envelope book, she used ColorBox cat's eyes inkpads to rub roussillion ink on the edges, and then collaged handmade papers and color photocopies of her own paintings on the front of each envelope. She punched holes in them and used bronze mini grommets to run a black wire through the holes to create a book. The miniature bottle contains a small photo copy of the artist's painting; it has also been embellished with wire Coffee-stained tags with handwritten notes complete the ancient "field box." .

 

This article was printed in the May/June 2003 issue of Somerset Studio magazine, Vol. 7, No. 3.

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