Eve Slinker

Eve Slinker
artist statement

At this time in my life (I'm 75 going on 45) it's difficult for me to express an Artist's Statement. Art has been a part of my life - even before I knew it. As a child, paper dolls kept my creative juices flowing. Then my parents let me attend dress design classes and I was in"special arts" classes in grade school. In college I took watercolor classes in the architecture department and drawing and design in the humanities department. It was not until I was 45 years old that I took college classes. From then until I was 58, divorced, and my kids were all grown and gone, art really began to mean something to me.

Through taking classes at Oregon's colleges, studying abroad and teaching, I came to learn how much art could enrich the way I lived my life. I saw more; colors, shapes, directions, habits, contrasts. I felt more; emotion, discipline, quiet. I enjoyed being alone and the energy that was spent on creating new works of art. Still, I was merely advancing my craft; learning more and more about how to say more.

It was not until graduate classes that I did a series of paintings based on a single idea. That I had enough skill to do what I wanted, and additional skills were an accident of learning how to say more. That process was as important as a final result. It wasn't 'til I had a life-threatening diagnosis, that I was able to put into "picture words" what I needed to express. Journals pictures, paintings, - all said what I wanted to say about my life: good, bad, or indifferent.

Even now, painting is challenging me. No longer do I want to do large pieces. Small work is hard for me and I want to express what I have to say in collage and painting. So, how can one be bored with life? There is always a new challenge. I am (you are) an individual and no one sees the world in the same way as you (I) do. Spend what energy you have - make that picture and put it away for future generations to see.

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