Donna Gordon
Artist Statement:
I’m a figurative and portrait artist--relying upon photography, drawing, printmaking, and painting--in different ways and at different times--to investigate, deconstruct, and rebuild the human form.
My photography explores alternative processes and how they interact with solar plate etching and monotype. Three recent black and white documentary photography series include: Evidence of the Ocean,” “Born Enigmatic: My Sister’s Schizophrenia,” and “Cumberland Island.”
Over the past two years, I’ve been able to move back and forth between three large bodies of work: “The Body in Question,” is a series of large, figurative drawings on paper. “Double Vision,” is a series of lithographs and monotypes exploring dual imagery. “Inside Out and Upside Down,” is a series of alternative-process transfer images which combine photography, drawing, and monotype.
It all starts with drawing. I attend regular life drawing sessions, using toned gray or tan paper rolled out on a table and begin to build a composition of multiple figures, often more than six feet long. I use pastel, charcoal, and pencil.
I belong to Mixit Printmaking Studio in Somerville, MA and use the French Tool press on a weekly basis to create monotypes, collagraphs, and alternative transfer images. Another recent monotype series, “Broken Beauty,” made use of viscosity monotypes in which sections of the body were offset and rearranged.
I received the 2023 Julia Margaret Cameron Award in Photography for Portrait Series, and have recently been included in both Shots and The Hand magazines.
My work has been included in solo and group shows at Danforth Art Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Cape Cod Art Museum, Bromfield Gallery, Kingston Gallery, The Providence Art Club, Soho Photo Gallery, George Marshall Store Gallery, Concord Art Association, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Cambridge Art Association and others.
My debut novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, Regal House, was published in June, 2022. There’s a huge overlap between word and image, my language is imagistic and my visual art often tells a story.
I’m a figurative and portrait artist--relying upon photography, drawing, printmaking, and painting--in different ways and at different times--to investigate, deconstruct, and rebuild the human form.
My photography explores alternative processes and how they interact with solar plate etching and monotype. Three recent black and white documentary photography series include: Evidence of the Ocean,” “Born Enigmatic: My Sister’s Schizophrenia,” and “Cumberland Island.”
Over the past two years, I’ve been able to move back and forth between three large bodies of work: “The Body in Question,” is a series of large, figurative drawings on paper. “Double Vision,” is a series of lithographs and monotypes exploring dual imagery. “Inside Out and Upside Down,” is a series of alternative-process transfer images which combine photography, drawing, and monotype.
It all starts with drawing. I attend regular life drawing sessions, using toned gray or tan paper rolled out on a table and begin to build a composition of multiple figures, often more than six feet long. I use pastel, charcoal, and pencil.
I belong to Mixit Printmaking Studio in Somerville, MA and use the French Tool press on a weekly basis to create monotypes, collagraphs, and alternative transfer images. Another recent monotype series, “Broken Beauty,” made use of viscosity monotypes in which sections of the body were offset and rearranged.
I received the 2023 Julia Margaret Cameron Award in Photography for Portrait Series, and have recently been included in both Shots and The Hand magazines.
My work has been included in solo and group shows at Danforth Art Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Cape Cod Art Museum, Bromfield Gallery, Kingston Gallery, The Providence Art Club, Soho Photo Gallery, George Marshall Store Gallery, Concord Art Association, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Cambridge Art Association and others.
My debut novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, Regal House, was published in June, 2022. There’s a huge overlap between word and image, my language is imagistic and my visual art often tells a story.
Artist Bio:
There is always so much more to learn. To spend time in life trying to interpret and convey human experience, in both words and images, is a gift I don’t take for granted.
Recent exhibitions include Fitchburg Art Museum, Bromfield Gallery, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Providence Art Club, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Featherstone Gallery, Concord Art Association, Cambridge Art Association.
My work with Amnesty International and former political prisoners culminated in “Putting Faces on the Unimaginable: Portraits and Interviews with Former Prisoners of Conscience,” exhibited at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. My debut novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, will be released on June 8th, 2022.
There is always so much more to learn. To spend time in life trying to interpret and convey human experience, in both words and images, is a gift I don’t take for granted.
Recent exhibitions include Fitchburg Art Museum, Bromfield Gallery, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Providence Art Club, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Featherstone Gallery, Concord Art Association, Cambridge Art Association.
My work with Amnesty International and former political prisoners culminated in “Putting Faces on the Unimaginable: Portraits and Interviews with Former Prisoners of Conscience,” exhibited at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. My debut novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, will be released on June 8th, 2022.
donnasgordon.com/visual-art-1
@donnagordon8994
@donnagordon8994
