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   Alanna S. Graboyes | Alexandria, VA  | asgraboyesart.com
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“A painting is not a picture of an experience but is the experience.” – Mark Rothko

A thank you note to New York City:

Fortunately, I grew up a subway token away from many of the world’s greatest museums – and later worked for a time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the Museum of Modern Art. With these museums so close, I could learn light and composition directly from history’s masters.

Fortunately, I had easy access to many of the world’s finest art galleries, giving me immediate access to the latest artistic styles and movements.

Fortunately, I was privileged to study art under some of the 20th century’s great masters of abstract expressionism. They helped me to see color and energy and incorporate them in my paintings.

Fortunately, I could step out onto the streets and see people from around the world wearing stunning fabrics of every variety – an endless parade of colors and textures. This enabled me to develop paintings that mimicked textiles and textiles that mimicked paintings.

Fortunately, I was able to use these skills to work as a designer in the textile industry. There, I learned first-hand about weaving and printing processes, skills that eventually enabling me to fuse silk with wool for wearable art.

And fortunately, I witnessed the rise of the SoHo Art District and was privileged to co-author the first book written on its streets, artists, architects, musicians, and performing artists. The memories of that project enabled me to insert the rhythm and movement of the city streets into my own artwork.
———–Alanna Siegfried Graboyes

I’d also like to share two newly published essays that offer some background on my work:

• “SoHo +45: Avant-Garde’s Hot Center Revisited” recalls how I co-authored the first book ever published on New York City’s then-nascent SoHo Arts District. A New York Times reviewer said the book signaled the arrival of SoHo as a tourist destination.
• “Concrete Lessons from Abstract Expressionists: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman” offers seven life lessons I learned from seven cutting-edge artists under whom I studied—plus a bonus lesson I learned during my one encounter with Salvador Dali.

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