Abby Burrell

Rocky Mountains from Afar - Reductive screenprint - $550.00

View of Chiefs Head Peak - Reductive screenprint - $550.00

Artist's Statement

The mountains of Colorado evoke a gravitational pull and a sense of belonging within me. Since first traveling there eight years ago, my attachment to this place has been ongoing and intense. The Colorado mountains offered me more than just grandeur and a newfound atmosphere; they gave me an immediate sense of home. However, my home is currently in Ohio and my time in Colorado has been limited to short trips every few years, leaving me with a yearning to return to the mountains.

The longing that comes from being away from Colorado, both the geographical distance and the emotional separation, drives my work. My goal is to convey to the viewer the physical vastness of the mountains, the feeling of awe, as well as a sense of separation. I have chosen to utilize the process of screenprint for this body of work because the flatness of screenprint ink accentuates the emotional distance I feel. As such, my prints lack the richness, atmosphere, and ethereal beauty that exist when standing amidst the actual mountains. Instead, the sky is given importance. Through its intensity and the gradation of color, the elongated sky is intended to reference a sense of magnificence, hovering over the landscape and reminding me of the intangibility of this place. Transforming the photographs I’ve taken into the form of a print allows me to reconnect myself to Colorado again, layer by layer.

If you wish to purchase any of these pieces, please contact the gallery director, Jacqueline Nathan (jnathan@bgsu.edu.)