Since the
At Home in Central Illinois magazine is not available in Springfield, I am going to add Elyse Russo's article to my blog so people can read it. I wish that you could also see Robert
O'Daniell's wonderful pictures. With the pictures, the article is 5 pages, but the pictures take up most of those pages.
"Springfield artist makes mixed media creations
Fruit books. Clarinet ladies. The Springfield alphabet. Painted mannequins. Satiric
Blagojevich greeting cards. To name a few, these are the artistic endeavors of mixed media artist, Katherine Pippin
Pauley.
'A lot of the articles about doing art now are on the play aspect; just play with it and see what comes,'
Pauley said. 'And that's what I do.'
While the Springfield artist has no formal training,
Pauley has established herself as a local mixed media artist whose works often emerge from play; specifically, playing with materials and playing with words.
'She is what I think of when I think of an emerging artist,' said Jane Johnson, executive director of the Prairie Art Alliance. She said some artists struggle to find their niche, but
Pauley has already found hers.
Pauley got her start producing art by playing with cloth and sewing. First it was making costumes for her daughter's childhood plays, and later feminizing men's jackets for women to wear for a company she and a friend started called True Glitz.
In 1996, the jacket company disbanded, but
Pauley's creative flame was ignited. So she began making figurines called Character Creations, which truly began her fascination with using different materials to create artwork. One Character Creation which she has kept is a figure of Noah at a drawing board sketching the ark. It uses clay, cloth, woodwork, sewing and other artistic techniques.
'It was hammering, it was sewing, a little bit of everything,' she said.
Pauley was still producing Character Creations when she joined Prairie Art Alliance in 1999, marking her membership as a mixed media artist. She said the mixed media field at Prairie Art
Alliance was wide open , and still is, which allows her a lot of freedom in what she showcases there.
'I decided when I retired, I was just going to go for art and so I started feeling my way, trying different things.'
Pauley said, and that's just what she's been up to. Retiring from teaching in 2004,
Pauley has devoted herself entirely to her art.
While playing with many materials inspires
Pauley's artwork -- 'Mostly I like taking junk I find at flea markets and garage sales and turning it into something' --words and word play often give
Pauley an artistic springboard.
'I can't remember never reading,' she said. "It was just something that I always did, and reading has been a huge part of my life.'
An English major in college,
Pauley loves to incorporate letters and words into her art, from alphabets to witty greeting cards. Her Black and White
Inchie Square Alphabet -- S is Shadow, Z is a Zebra, and so on -- was accepted for publication in a national craft magazine Somerset Studio. Every letter is one inch square.
Sometimes words are art in
Pauley's works. One of her most recent artistic accomplishments, for example, was decorating one of the large top hats that dot the city of Springfield in honor of Lincoln's bicentennial. Titled 'In Mr. Lincoln's Words,' the top hat features white stars with quotes from the famous 16
th president.
'She just keeps coming up with new ideas and new things,' said
Johathan Reyman, of Springfield. He and his wife Laura own many of
Pauley's pieces. He said her work spans a very wide range. She incorporates humor into a lot of her work but sometimes her serious pieces, like the 5-foot long 'City of God' collage that the
Reymans just purchased, are emotional and thought-provoking, he said. 'It changes color as the light in the room changes,'
Reyman said, describing the collage.
While
Pauley was the featured artist in the November/December 2007 Prairie Art Alliance showcase, she said she hasn't really felt comfortable calling herself and 'artist' until just recently. 'I have a very hard time with the a-word,' she said. 'So I'm beginning to feel and now I can say. Yes, I'm an artist. I'm succeeding. I figure if I can cover what I spend, that's good enough.'
Katherine Pippin Pauley's works are on sale at Prairie Art Alliance of The Blue Door, both located in Springfield. Or you may shop online at her Web site, http://www.katherinpippinpauley.etsy.com/."Photos include two of my figures, "Gift of Creativity and Gift of Endurance", me holding my Ear Worm, the bowl of fruit books, the quilted violin, the Lincoln Hat in front of the Widow at Windsor Antique Shop, and one of my cards--Zach who wanted a Mustang for his birthday. Right now, the fruit books, violin, and cards are for sale on the
etsy site. The figures are at the Blue Door.
I was very please with Elyse's article and felt that she captured the essence of what I do. I am going to work on Barnes and Noble to carry
At Home in Central Illinois because it is a lovely magazine which showcases many central Illinois locations.
