artist’s statement
The concentration focuses on the traditional dresses that represent Slovenian culture in juxtaposition with the movement of modern times. Despite the rapid progression in fashion for the past two centuries, Slovenian folk wear has remained largely the same. Each piece of the narodna noša (national dress) has a special meaning and is unique to each family.
The series was created by screen printing over gestural underpaintings on wood along with subtle relief collage elements. Tradition Slovene folk art features elaborate paintings done on wooden bee panels and the series takes the traditional media and transforms it into a more modern interpretation. Using collaged paper flowers to frame the pieces (seen in image 1), the flower element represents the importance of the national flower, a red carnation.Additionally, each dry brushed background was painted with important Slovene colors in mind. The white, blue, and red represent the pan-Slavic colors while the yellow represent the three stars found in the coat of arms. The green represents the color of the Dragon bridge found in Slovenia’s capital city of Ljubljana. For the portraits, the flower like splatter background mirror the shape of the figures and reinforce the carnation motif.
The series was created by screen printing over gestural underpaintings on wood along with subtle relief collage elements. Tradition Slovene folk art features elaborate paintings done on wooden bee panels and the series takes the traditional media and transforms it into a more modern interpretation. Using collaged paper flowers to frame the pieces (seen in image 1), the flower element represents the importance of the national flower, a red carnation.Additionally, each dry brushed background was painted with important Slovene colors in mind. The white, blue, and red represent the pan-Slavic colors while the yellow represent the three stars found in the coat of arms. The green represents the color of the Dragon bridge found in Slovenia’s capital city of Ljubljana. For the portraits, the flower like splatter background mirror the shape of the figures and reinforce the carnation motif.