April Bleakney
Artist Statment
I view screen printing as my core, using photography as an underlying foundation, often supplemented with painting, drawing, collage, and stencil into mixed media works. I am increasingly drawn to these types of pieces for the fluidity and texture they bring juxtaposed with the flats brought by screen.
Themes of memory recur in much of my recent work. Also recurring are issues surrounding the current political climate. Different facets of these thematic explorations are demonstrated in the images included with this application. I aim to capture moods, textures, and distinctive details to create a lasting sense of place and time in much of my work.
As different media can inform each other within a single piece or in body of art, so can seemingly opposing themes. With a background in history as well as art, I am especially drawn to themes that are inherently full of tension, yet exist everywhere: decay / growth - change / nostalgia - addition / erasure - memory / loss - all layers that speak to, interact with, and cannot exist without each other. In urban areas, these palimpsests are abundant and not only create mood and texture, but inform us about the present and the past (and possibly the future). On a broader level, these themes all speak to power and how different forces have power in this constant flux that shapes our relationships, our immediate environments and our larger world. As seen in the included pieces, these forces can take many forms: time, place, family, genetics, personal, political, and cultural.