Alana Bergstrom Powers

Lives and works in South Carolina

Artist statement

ALANA BERGSTROM POWERS Lives and works in Sumter, SC www.alanabergstrom.com [email protected] Artist Statement I paint to stimulate the senses in order to share my physical experiences. I use pictorial devices to create sensations in the viewers that allow me to communicate my experiences as an artist, U.S. Army combat veteran and mother. I believe bodily memories transcend the analytical mind. I paint the feelings and memories of the body to communicate on a universal level. My reminiscences are told in abstract portraits of events, people and places. I paint about my emotional and physiological reactions to events and relationships. The paintings are a navigation through the 21st century as an artist, combat veteran, mother, wife, woman. Painting leads me to a better understanding of myself and is a means to connect to others and the world we live in. I lead the viewer to a visceral reaction that is not reliant on knowing the who, what or where of the portrait that sourced it, rather the sensate reaction it produced. I begin each painting with a sketch of a color relationship or composition. A great amount of time goes into thinking about the sketch: how I can stay true to the idea and simultaneously allow my intuition to drive the painting. Intuiting enables the meaning to expose and express itself in the painting. Prior to mixing paint, I gesso all canvases regardless if I stretched the canvas or purchased it pre-primed. I am interested in texture, surface...

Artwork