An Artist Reception to welcome Featured Artist Ravenna Beck to Harlequin will take place on Thursday, August 20 5:30-6:30pm in the State Theater Lobby. All are welcome! Light refreshments will be served.
About the Artist
Ravenna Beck is an Olympia, Washington–based artist working primarily in oil, acrylic, and mixed media. Her contemporary impressionistic and semi-abstract work explores the emotional undercurrents of everyday life through expressive color, layered surfaces, and symbolic imagery. She has exhibited throughout the Pacific Northwest and is an Olympia ArtSpace Alliance grant recipient. In addition to her studio practice, Beck is a meditation teacher, recovery advocate, government bureaucrat, and parent.
Artist’s Statement
I use textured oil and acrylic paints and a vibrant color palette to make intimate-feeling modern impressionistic and semi-abstract depictions of people, objects, and places that communicate the familiar experiences of life’s melodrama.
I prefer the surfaces of my paintings to look like they’ve got a checkered past. Each piece begins with several layers of paint, creating unique scars and baggage that ultimately make for a more interesting final outcome. My reference photos typically come from ordinary moments that grab my attention, and I frequently photograph myself to work through figure poses.
Making art is my practice of authenticity and audacity. I’m drawn to the impossible task of transforming inherently meaningless materials into something emotionally recognizable, trusting that public embarrassment is a small price to pay for making something honest.
