Aggeler aspires to create a piece of work that is open and abstract enough to embrace the experiences and visions of the viewer. Kundell uses a variety of methods (knife, cloth, brush, finger) to create the surface texture and flow of the works.
Recent Work
Artamo Gallery presents an exhibition of recent work by Karin Aggeler and
Elana Kundell; abstract paintings in oil and acrylics, on canvas and board.
Karin Aggeler came to Santa Barbara from Munich, Germany in 1963. Since then
she has participated in the Santa Barbara art community as a career potter
and sold ceramics to shops and galleries throughout the United States,
Canada and Europe. She has received numerous awards for her works in juried
shows. For fourteen years, Karin was the Arts and Crafts Coordinator and
Ceramics Teacher at the Braille Institute, where she continues to teach
weekly classes. Before beginning her 30 plus-year career in pottery, Karin¹s
first love was drawing and painting. Since 2000, she has returned to the
canvas, now dividing her time between creating new works in clay and
enjoying a focus on an alternate medium, painting with acrylics. Karin is
inspired by her memories, as well as landscapes and vistas. Rather than
simply capture her own feelings on canvas, she aspires to create a piece of
work that is open and abstract enough to embrace the experiences and visions
of the viewer, and can change as the mood of the viewer changes. She says,
"My hope is to create work that avoids a static position on the wall and
instead joins the viewer in a dynamic, continuous conversation."
Elana Kundell, a California native who earned her B.A. in Art at the
University of California Santa Cruz and has also studied at the Universita'
di Bologna and Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy utilizes a different
approach in her paintings. Consisting of abstract atmospheres the paintings
work with color and texture to create a mnemonic landscape. Imagination is
broken down to the most basic level allowing memory to come into focus,
which brings new, emotional experiences to surface. This is done in part
through the intuitive surfaces of the paintings as Elana Kundell uses a
variety of methods (knife, cloth, brush, finger) to create the surface
texture and flow of the works. The works almost seem to pulsate as so much
energy is imbedded in the pieces through the play between color and form
that the pieces seem to not only hold memories of their own design but be
memories of their own design ‹ a self-perpetuating motion of emotion.
Elana's work has not only been shown in a variety of galleries and at events
all over California, but also in New York and even as far away as Korea.
A reception for the artist will be held on Sunday, April 15, from 4 to 7 PM.
Artamo Gallery
11 West Anapamu Street - Santa Barbara
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 15:30 PM, 1st Thursday until 8:30 PM & by
appointment