Alicia Forestall-Boehm

I often begin a new work from a sketched design.  The lower design in this image from my sketch book was the inspiration for a new sculpture.   Beginning with a circular wire support, I created a 3 dimensional version of this sketched image.  The problem was that, to me, the actual sculpture didn't please me as much as the sketched image.  So it sat in the back of my studio waiting for a creative revelation.  Then one day, as I studied this piece, I envisioned it "exploding" open, so I took an  knife to it and, leaving the circular wire armature intact, turned the single form into one that had five connecting sections.  This  alteration added interest and movement.  Hmmm, this certainly was a dramatic departure from the original sketch but it was a move in the right direction. Knowing that this piece was not finished, I returned it to it's spot in the back of my studio.  I lived with this new form, manipul...

I was invited by the talented artist Bridgette Guerzon Mills to participate in a "Blog Hop" in which I answer a few questions about myself and my work and introduce my readers to three creative blog-writing artists.  I met Bridgette when she lived in the Chicago-area.  We both were members of  FUSEDChicago , a group of Midwestern artists that use the encaustic medium in their artmaking.  Unfortunately for all of us in the Chicago-area, Bridgette and her lovely family recently moved to the East Coast.  Fortunately the internet has made the world a much smaller place, making moves like this one much easier and allowing for a continued sense of community. Bridgette is an award-winning artist whose mixed media paintings communicate the inherent beauty of nature.  The multilayered surfaces of her canvases speak to both the visual and tactile senses. Her artwork has an ethereal, almost dream-like quality, incorporating a variety of materials including photog...