Arlene Chaplin

Through many classes in drawing and painting, experimentation with acrylics, oils and pastels, making artist books and collages, I searched for my own voice and always landed in the zone of abstract painting, collage and mixed media.

I am currently working on collage, which is a way of making sense of fragments of paper and other materials by piecing them together to create something new. That idea resonates with me both in life and in art as paths we take in life often have road blocks and we are forced to create something new with the pieces left.

Some of the torn papers in my collages are from art books purchased at library book sales.  Others were made by me using gelli plate techniques. The process for each collage is different, one idea may be sparked by a fragment of a master’s painting or a page from a book , another just by color and all its variations.  I set the first piece down and then, like a scavenger, rummage through books and boxes looking for the pieces that will tell my story.

In the “ART STORIES” series, I imagined what it would be like to be in the room with some of the masters like Matisse, Cezanne and Gauguin or Picasso, Matisse and Miro. 

Surrounding myself with images of their work is like a visual symphony.

Contact email: arlenechaplin@comcast.net