Meet Marge Feldman, an ARTsister who makes surrealscapes. It is a reality inside her head, just as the original surrealists found themselves after WWI. They were unable to rely on past beliefs any more, and they could only rely what they knew within themselves. That is classic surrealism.
She has been making art continuously since she was a child. Her mother decided she had talent and she believed her. Marge compared herself to others in elementary school. Only one other girl was a better artist. She became Marge’s best friend. “Because I thought I was an artist first, I was interested in taking lessons in area colleges starting when I was about 12 years old. I was thirsty for better ways and instruction, I chugged it all down and incorporated it. I took lessons for kids until I entered college as an art major, “ explains Marge.
She make art as much as she can. If she only get to it one or no sessions a week, she gets. Irritable. She has home studios- one here and one in Florida.
“I guess because I have a personal universal theme , I am continuously gathering images to portray it. My best tool is my cell phone camera. I have always been puzzled and intrigued by the contradictions of life and place. It's astounding how inconsistent our situations and surroundings are. I put modern things with antique things...technological with botanical...natural with invented.
I sketch and take photosketches. I search the Internet. I imagine how the present or next contradiction would look. I compose a reasonable composition of various images. As I commit it to canvas, it changes. The colors, the shapes and the relationships tell me which direction to take. And it all comes out as surrealism. A place that exists in my mind. Sometimes it has people, sometimes it intimates people,” explains Marge.
Although Marge has her favorite tools and brands, she wouldn't recommend them, because everyone works differently. She started with the traditional oil paint. It took several years before she got it to do what she wanted it to. Often she had to quit painting to allow a day or two of drying before she could continue working without making muddy colors. About 25 years ago , she decided to use only acrylics. They dried quickly. She apparently handled them well (after two years of experimentation), and others think her paintings are oil, so she is able to achieve the color brilliance that is only supposed to be accomplished with oil. She has tried slow drying acrylics, and she doesn’t like them. She does use a variety of medium add-ins according to what she needs at the time. “If I am teaching, I will suggest what the student might use when I see what his/her natural direction is. If another artists think they see something I am doing they would like to learn, I would then share what I have learned,” adds Marge.
As far as influences go, Marge says, “My art ed professor and a private teacher, both in Baltimore, widened my scope of vision and opened my mind to past and future. They have helped me bring my work beyond the strictly representational. I can paint roses and apples, trees and people. Easily. It matters where I put them and how I choose to portray them and in what time period that relates to my personal theme. Those two teachers gave me that. I find myself in Magritte, Dali and Hopper (and I don't even like Dali's work). I relate to the detailing of Bosch and Klimt. Although I love Kline and Rothko, that doesn't mean that they influence my work.
See Marge’s work on her website www.margefeldman.com or at www.ARTsisters.org
