By Paige Eckensberger
Summer 2020 Issue
Titles, from top to bottom: Figure, Profile, Dance, Companions
In this time of isolation and stillness I have found that focusing on a simple gesture, the line, has allowed me to alleviate artistic pressure and evoke the emotions I usually try to elicit in an audience in a more simple way. My initial intent was to freely express lines in space intertwining and following each other, but through this process the lines have developed into representations of emotions, relationships, and patterns. The flowing motion of creating these works reflects my current mindset; by allowing myself to surrender to thoughts and anxieties, I more easily see the beauty of life within hard times.
The works begin with a selection of color – I wanted the colors to play off each other in dramatic ways or with more subtlety depending on the piece. Some of the pieces have almost identical lines which represent unity – oneness. Other pieces have lines that are joined for some stretches and eventually veer off in separate directions. In some works I see the lines as representing different types of human relationships: lovers, friends, strangers. Some can encompass the entirety of that relationship – a never ending loop of togetherness and distance – but others represent a snapshot of a moment in time, a oneness with another or a divergence in life.
Through this experience I have also noticed the imagery that can be unintentionally created with line. Discoveries made accidentally. The profile of a human head, the feminine figure, an embrace. These symbols emerge from line because of our associations with the visual forms. While showing these works to colleagues in conversation more and more of these connections were made, creating an increasingly rich collection of meanings behind the work.
I invite the viewer to make their own connections both visually and emotionally with these works.
Paige Eckensberger is a Bard College graduate of 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts. Today, Paige lives in Chicago, Illinois and is available for commissions and freelance work.
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