By Cecelia Feld

Cecelia Feld's ability to transform paper and images into organic layers of textures and shapes is magical. For Cecelia it's the journey that is the most fun. Her camera is as important a tool as her paper cutter, as it often leads to surprising, unconventional themes in her artwork. (Note - hover over the images with your mouse to see the titles of the artwork and where the photos were taken.)

I am an artist working in a variety of media, painting, printmaking and collage. In addition, I have always liked taking pictures. For many years my focus was taking slides when I traveled. I added photography to the mix and I enjoy incorporating parts of my photos into my collage projects. Much of what I do is hands-on so photography gives me a chance to think about other subject matter in a different format. I like the immediacy of the medium. I get excited by the action, the light, the drama and the unexpected of what’s happening around me.

My artwork is about exploring relationships. The lines, shapes, colors and textures are probably, at the most basic level, influenced by my encounters in the real world. They are transformed by my imagination into layers, intersections and juxtapositions within the picture plane.

I find inspiration for all my art, including photography, in the world around me. In a lifetime of making art I would be hard pressed to single out just a few of the influences on my work. Wherever I look I am aware of the colors, patterns, textures and spaces that surround me. I am surprised by what I encounter. I almost always have a camera with me. I try to have a point of view when I shoot although the random shot is sometimes the best. It’s the photo that later makes me see something I did not expect to see.

The photograph is of a moment in time. How it is altered and what it means after it becomes part of a collage is up to the viewer. The mysterious workings of memory and/or metaphor act on the image and its relation to the other collage elements.

I have an ongoing photography project called Underfoot. From Dallas to places far and wide, the streets and sidewalks show evidence of our presence. We were there. We made marks. We have altered the terrain. I like the abstract quality of these marks. There is often a contrast between them and the more neutral ground on which they are drawn. What do they communicate? How long will they last? My photographs capture the marks at a particular place and point in time.

My Have Map, Will Travel series of collages incorporates my Underfoot photos as well as photos I have taken of maps, plus etchings, recycled monotype and collagraph prints and found paper. The maps, which I have collected over the course of many years, were used for travel navigation before we came to depend on digital devices.

I use the maps and prints for their lines and colors rather than their reference to a specific place. Cutting them up, like the Underfoot photos, disassociates them from the specificity of place. Here too, memory may take over for the viewer but that is not my intention. The emphasis is on spatial, shape and color relationships.

I also like to photograph ghost signs on buildings. The faded signs are usually found on old buildings and often reveal former occupants. The signs are easy to miss as we pass by, our eyes looking straight ahead. However, they are reminders of the past which I want to capture. In my series Ghostly Impressions these photos are central but sometimes slightly obscured by pieces of prints and paper moving across the page.

These collages are constructed on marbled paper with monotype, which give the collage a ghost like appearance. This ghosting is one of several relationships between the photograph and the collage.

Serendipity is the hallmark of my work. The trial and error exploration, the unpredictability of working with paint, paper, ink, plate and camera leads to some kind of resolution in the assembly of disparate elements. It can be a single image or a group of images that fall into place as a theme. That resolution is often the impetus for the next phase of my art-making journey.

Cecelia Feld grew up in the Bronx, New York and majored in art at Hunter College. She has lived and worked in Dallas, Texas since 1969. In 1976 she received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas. Cecelia has shown her work in many juried and solo exhibits. Her artwork is in private and corporate collections including Frito-Lay, IBM and Delta Airlines. Cecelia has been a member of TPS since 2011, finding like-minded souls who are as passionate about photography and art as she is. To see more of Cecelia's work, go to https://www.studio7310.com/.