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“When the Sky Rained Fire”

(and other new works)

One Woman Show at Trinity Gallery, 2011

Go to Artist Statment

When the Sky Rained Fire

Show Card.
To get the most out of this web presentation: click on a thumbnail image on the left side to view larger image on the right. By clicking with your mouse on one of the words below a thumbnail you will see a detail or the piece, a comment by Marty on the piece, or other works of art that “sparked” the piece.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“When the Sky Rained Fire”(and other new works)

 When Pittsburgh was in its heyday of steel production, a few artists saw the smoke, fire, filtered light and toiling bodies as subjects for their art.

Through paintings, etchings and drawings, they caught the drama unfolding before them, not realizing that it would nearly come to an end in less than 100 years. These are works in fiber inspired by the art of Jean-Emile Laboureur, Otto Kuhler, Raymond Simboli, Aaron Harry Gorson, and others. The fabric medium itself seemed to me to invite touches of fantasy and inventiveness.

Plus of course I am looking through the softening filter of time and distance. Many of these pieces use fabrics altered to reflect my own experience with industry, and living in an industrial area.




I include here a closeup detail of each piece to help the viewer to better appreciate the three-dimensionality of each piece, and, hopefully, replicate as closely as possible in the digital format the experience of viewing the original. Click on the word “Detail” under each piece to see a close-up shot of a section of particular interest.

As in the gallery show, here I include reference copies of the original works that inspired each piece to help boost the viewer's art history appreciation. You can access these by clicking on “Spark” under the thumbnails where the word appears. There is a secondary theme in this show: enigmatic figurative pieces that invite viewer interpretation.

In some cases I add a speacial comment about particular pieces, these can be accessed by clicking on the word “Comment” where it appears beneath a thumbnail.

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Martha Ressler’s work now on ‘Fine Art America’ Prints and Originals Available
Selected pieces of Martha’s paintings and fabric creations can be purchased on the web. Follow this link: http://fineartamerica.com/artwork/tag/martha+ressler.
 She will be adding pieces regularly. If you don’t see a piece shown on her web site you would like to order, email Martha to request having it added.
Copyright © 2011, Martha Ellen Ressler