Artist Bette Blau is bringing a deeply personal and richly textured body of work to Hall Space in Eldred with her new exhibit, From Where I Stand. The opening reception takes place this Saturday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., and the show runs through September 7.
“In the last seven years I’ve been met with lots of challenges, as many of us have, and I’ve come to really understand… perspective,” Blau explained. “Circumstances change and continue to change… nothing is stagnant… So, From Where I Stand is really about right now, from where I stand, this is where I am.”
Blau creates layered collages from vintage paper, ephemera, and natural textures, transforming found materials into what she calls “landscapes and charts that invite you to look closer and see what lies beneath.”
“I love to flea market and estate sale,” she said. “I love plain paper. I love paper with writing. I love envelopes that have different colors inside. Some of my collages are completely made from old envelopes… as you peel away the paper, things are left behind and you don’t always know what’s going to be there. I love that kind of exploration.”
Her process is intuitive. “I start really by building… I just kind of start to layer and layer and I try not to get too attached with what I’m seeing. A lot of times I’ll paint a layer over that… and start to see how the color of the paint is coming through the paper. Most times I don’t know the direction of my piece.”
Blau’s background as a set decorator influences her visual style. “It was almost like painting with objects,” she recalled. “The bottle that I chose was very painterly to me next to the textured surface next to the napkin… that’s kind of how it manifested itself.”
When it comes to what she hopes audiences take away, Blau is open-ended. “Looking at art is so personal, just like the making of art is so personal. I want people to interpret from their personal experiences… I do feel that there’s a very calming element to the collages and I hope that they feel that.”
One standout piece in the exhibit is Hoan, created during a stay in Hoan, Vietnam. “We were fortunate enough to be at an Airbnb… that were organic herb gardens. Every day the gardeners… came out to care for their land and there was a scent in the air that was sweet and there was a calm over the entire thing. I made that collage when I was there sitting outside… and that evoked a lot of beautiful memories for me.”
Blau says the exhibit marks a turning point in her creative and personal life. “This has been a very healing year for me… personally this has been a good run for me.”
More information about the exhibit is at hallspaceny.com. Details on Blau’s work are at betteblau.com.
Note: Hall Space is a financial supporter of Radio Catskill
Image: Detail of “Untitled” work by Bette Blau. (Credit: Bette Blau).