Artist: Deborah Griffin
Digital Alchemy: An Exploration of Archetypes
Friday, November 5 – Saturday, December 22, 2010

Closing Reception Nov 20th, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM with an Artist Talk at 4:00 PM

The Artist Talk will run around 30 minutes and be of interest to artists and the public alike. There is a question posed to all artists and writers at some point in their career. Where do your ideas come from? Or how do you dream this stuff up? Part of the answer is just that. Dreams. Daydreams, sometimes --if you've seen my work you'll know what I mean -- nightmares. Or that place you go when you are deep into a creative spree, not that different from a dreamscape, or a trance. Yet the answer is far more complex than that, including history, both personal and more global, as well as observations from my journal. I will explore these ideas a bit with examples from my work. The last half of the discussion will be of a more technical nature. For those interested in how an image is constructed, I will break down a couple of the artworks and show how using digital technology, particularly scanning and Photoshop, contributes to the finished piece. Although this is not a Photoshop workshop, I will be happy to answer more specific questions in the Q and A at the end.

Hope to see you a the reception. Deborah Griffin

About the Artist:

Deborah Griffin is an artist and a storyteller, who constantly seeks ways to incorporate the two into a visual narrative. She pursued art and design at the University of Arkansas and studied with Henry Hensche, Wolf Kahn, Jane Wilson, Don Lee, Josepha Vaughn, and Maggie Taylor. She is a member of NAPP National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Autobody Fine Art, and the Frank Bette Center for the Arts where she has won numerous Honorable Mentions and three Best of Show awards in 2009-10, and is a board member of the Alameda Women Artists. Visit Deborah at deborahgriffin.com

Event Description:

Using ephemera from the past and photographic elements both vintage and developed especially for the project, Deborah repurposes and repositions the people, places and things to tell a new story, to fashion a new narrative that explores archetypal characters and ideas. She derives her cast of characters from many sources, ranging from E-bay auctions to estate sales and flea markets. Deborah prefers to create an arranged and developed space; an environment layered with images, symbols, and meaning. She creates worlds that are intended to lure the viewer into succumbing to this place, to realize there is always more to explore, or mysteries that will be revealed, if you spend some time in the constructed story.