Anne Alexander is an artist who lives in a village along the Presumpscot River in Southern, Maine. She seeks inspiration from her surrounding, natural environment. She is concerned with inspiring emotional or kinesthetic responses in the viewer. She also wishes to enhance one’s awareness of his/her body, size, and surrounding space as it relates to the natural world. Her work is successful to me, when it causes these reactions in many ages and types of people. Small parts of nature are the source of ideas and inspiration. Natural forms are abstracted and enlarged to create works which suggest themes of regeneration, growth, life cycles, and stages of maturation.
These hang on walls. H.10 x 2 x 1″
The title of this series is “Gandules”, the Spanish word for pigeon peas. When I was living in The Dominican Rebublic, I helped my Dominican husband’s family shell these peas fresh, to cook with rice. I am often fascinated by small, inconspicuous, natural specimens for inspiration for forms for my work. I am drawn to forms that suggest themes of life stages and cycles; including growth, regeneration, fertility, and maturation. I seek and explore connections the natural world to the human body.
As for technique, an original bean pod form was made out of clay and plaster was poured around that form to make a mold. Clay is pressed into this mold, then edges and textured surfaces are refined. I experimented with various glaze combinations on these numerous pieces. They have been exhibited in two different installations: One at The Maine Farmland Trust gallery in Belfast, ME and the other at St. Lawrence Church Gallery in Portland, ME.