Dragon Vessel

Being an artist is not a choice for me, rather a burning drive. I need to create something everyday. My husband and I have built a life full of studios to reflect these passions - the Painting & Jewelry Studio over the garage, the Wood Shop, the Photography space in the basement. My hands are always busy. I began taking adult art classes when my mother decided to give me the big push. I was seven. At first, the teacher and other students didn't take me seriously, but what I lacked in technique, I made up with enthusiasm. The instructor talked process, wanting the class to “unlearn” and approach a piece without preconceived ideas, the way a child does. This is where I had a leg up on all of them, because I was a kid. Much later, filled with rules & techniques, I was doing tight, precise work. It makes my shoulders stiff to even think about it. Then I met the love of my life in the form of a cocky, blonde, barefoot boy (Mark Hall), who filled squirt guns with paint and taught me about abstract expressionism. The result was a liberation of all my artistic training. I became a colorist. No matter what medium I am working in, color is my unifying vocabulary. I try not to be constrained to brushes and knives when there are turkey basters and fingers at the ready. I taught myself to be ambidextrous, after a mentor told me my right hand knew all my lines already. So, when I am tired, I just switch hands. Working in so many disciplines is invigorating. There is a clear design thread that connects all of my art. I am inspired by Picasso's many “periods”, during which he reinvented himself & his work (and often took on a new mistress), all the while still keeping a kernel of his essence in each collection. When seen as a body of work, you can recognize my hand. I find delight in a wavy grain pattern in wood and a slash of light on a collarbone. For me the medium is not the message.

- Carol Hall