Midsummer Calm

Alex Ackerman

Notes from the artist:

In the spring of 2025 I made a series of six mixed media paintings on wood entitled, “All She Carried”. Although my work is not representational, I often find meaning once a series is complete and I can see the threads that connect them.

Lately I have been thinking about all the things we carry as women:

physical things (bags, purses, apron pockets),

and emotional things (joy, sorrow, loss)

light and heavy things,

memories,

pregnancies,

babies,

our ancestors DNA, and even

all of our past selves from childhood to adulthood.

These paintings represent “containers” - holding together the many pieces of a life. I also see them as patchwork landscapes in which I provide space for a conversation between past and present. I began these paintings by cutting a variety of shapes from painted or hand-printed papers and fabrics. I also use vintage fabric scraps or bits of clothing I have worn in different eras of my life. Then I spend some time playing with ways to arrange the shapes on the primed wood. Once I have a composition that feels balanced I glue them down, and paint thin layers of color around the collage. From that point I have something to respond to, as I connect the collage forms with larger painted shapes. The piece goes through many changes as I layer colors and shapes, until I add the final details.

turquoise, teal, collage, textile, patterns, fabric, layers, geometric, shapes, yellow, green, botanical, plants, abstract, figurative abstraction