Carole Stodder

Statement

Recently my studio practice has turned to collage as more than just a warm-up exercise. By cutting and pasting painted papers or pages from print media, I create two-dimensional structures which can be embellished and developed further. I am especially drawn to adding words, letters and numbers that have been stamped or printed or cut from graphic material. The resulting paper collages serve as sketches and become more permanent compositions when translated as paintings on prepared canvas. As finished designs that utilize space, color and form with some found material, the collages suggest a renewed system of symbolic references akin to visual poems.

Brief Bio

Carole Stodder was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated with Honors in Art from Lake Forest College in Illinois and later earned her MFA from the University of Chicago. As a painter, she was greatly influenced by New York artist Will Barnet, with whom she studied after college. As an art activist, she was a founding member of the Chicago Artists Coalition, serving at different times as president and editor of their newsletter. She established a studio on the West Side of Chicago and worked as an art instructor and as an arts administrator for the Illinois Artisans Program. In 1996 she moved to northwest Indiana where she has continued to paint and exhibit her work with the Area Artists Association and the Lubeznik Center for the Arts. In Indiana, she has had solo exhibits at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, the Marshall Gardner Center in Miller and South Shore Arts in Munster.

Website: www.carolestodder.com