Watermarks, Fluid Color at Taylor Gallery
KUA celebrated the artwork of Wendy Briggs Powell, a mixed-media artist based in New Hampshire, at an opening at Taylor Gallery on January 14.
The show, entitled “Watermarks, Fluid Color,” features saturated hues and juxtaposed textures which attracted dozens of students throughout the duration of the event.
“Hopefully in the middle of a cold New Hampshire winter, the bright colors bring cheerful, vibrant and happy feelings in a way we don’t always see in the frozen landscape,” says Powell. This was her first exhibition since before the pandemic, and she was thrilled to engage with the Hilltop community.
Powell’s work is about the relationship between taking control and letting go. Her unique process involves submerging sheets of paper in vats of dye to create abstract color fields. Different forms and marks emerge organically as the dyes dry. She then embellishes the pieces with slick coats of resin or intricate stitches of thread. It’s a messy endeavor, but she finds beauty in the unruly.
“Every time a variable is introduced or altered, the piece changes,” she says. “This process mirrors the way I understand my own emotional life, and the end product reflects the beauty I find there, in all its imperfection.”
Powell’s work will be available for viewing by appointment through February 26.
