Making A Way | Freedom
Artists: Ling-lin Ku, Jonathan Pellitteri, David Sparks, Torina Stark
Statement
My work accompanies me in all facets of my life. Each medium I use intertwines with the next. Nature’s complexities and beauty infuses each piece with its tendrils, infectious and comforting. Regardless of medium, color and shape guide me to capture the many beautiful facets of entire universes that reside within seemingly individual life forms. In my Minnesota Found natural arrangements series, I am examining seemingly mundane aspects of nature and breaking them down to highlight color and texture to release the beauty that would have gone otherwise unnoticed. I will often take pictures of a subject and, if it is possible, bring it back to my studio and create a painted background before I photograph it again against the background, focusing on whatever part of it is the most striking, bringing that particular focus to the forefront. Then I edit and manipulate the photos until I am pleased with the composition. It is sometimes difficult to tell where I began when you see the ending.
Bio
Torina Stark is a textile shape shifter, mixed media artist, writer and teacher. As a lifelong Minnesotan, Torina combines her love of nature with different mediums to create art that challenges the ordinary. Her work is visually-layered creating a sense of how craft and art walk hand-in-hand with nature. When she creates, she draws on her experiences of living immersed in the northwoods of Minnesota to establish a sense that we are firmly connected to and affecting our Earth. Torina uses her art as therapy to cope with her disabilities and also to put her voice into a world that undervalues humans who are not in the traditional workforce.
mnartists.org/torina-stark
Instagram: @torinawashere
Zazzle: zazzle.com/store/torinawashere
