I was educated at Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon. I graduated with undergraduate degrees in Criminology and Arts and Letters, along with minors in English and writing in August of 2009. In December of 2013, I completed a masters degree in 'Adult Education, Leadership and Policy' while in the PACE program at PSU, and in 2014,I completed a masters certificate in Teaching Adult Learners. .
My approach to painting abstract is unpretentious, straightforward and practical. I believe in a pragmatic approach to artistic processing that is entirely unique to each individual artist. I promote complete freedom in that process and in each artists understanding of what works for them and what does not. However, I do eschew the often tedious academic pretensions that certain approaches to fine art seem compelled to perpetuate.
I engage in nonrepresentational painting primarily, but I also involve myself in occasional representational abstract. Generally, I do not use figurative reality as a reference in that processing. Rather, I attempt to create emotional responses within a painting through process that impact the actual viewing and ultimately create greater opticality.
I am convinced that paintings primary purpose is to engage the pleasure centers of the human brain. The opticality of a painting and the manner that form, color, line and texture combine to activate those pleasure centers is my own personal gauge for whether or not a painting has been successful.
I am not interested in artistic 'epiphany' during the artistic process of painting, as I do not believe this even occurs. I am interested in the acquisition of skills and confidence of expression, as those skills develop and solidify over time. I'm also quite interested in learning the intricate methods of applying texture, and how that relates to presented form, color, line and how the viewer responds to that experience.
The pleasure that these practices impart to the artist, while engaged, is one of extreme importance to me, not attempting to conceptualize the painting as a living entity, (which it is not) but rather as a vehicle for human expression, pleasure and ultimately, for consumption.
I do not confine myself to only creating paintings within a limited contextual process. For example, I am not an 'only paint in oil' kind of painter, or an 'only paint in acrylic' kind of painter. I firmly believe in utilizing mixed media while in the process of creating a work. I enjoy working with gel and gloss mediums, particularly, as I believe those agents add a great deal of depth and visual appeal to a painting, and I generally always seal each painting under a heavy layer of gloss medium. I also use Black Lava in my paintings, which is a wonderful medium, available through Liquitex.
My most prized sentiment or goal, with regard to painting, is that I engage in promoting artistic versatility.
Too many painters become fixed on the idea of one painting and they recreate that painting repeatedly, with little variation. Their work, as a result, becomes familiar and predictable. I make conscious choices to create something new, fresh and original each time I buy a new canvas and come up with a new plan or idea.
Adhering to that plan or idea is almost always interfered with by the natural serendipity that painting employs. Because what we are tapping into are the forces of our unconscious awareness, and what it may wish to express. While starting out with a plan, that plan is often changed and the unexpected is embraced and worked with, while engaged in process. I delight in that experience and derive genuine pleasure from the process of painting and the sharing of my paintings with others.
Theresa Kennedy DuPay joined Pixels.com Licensing on January 12th, 2019.
