Featured Artist Irene Yesley

Artist Irene Yesley presents a striking and contemporary portfolio of mixed media work created in layers. See more of her fascinating portfolio on her website.

 

 

I was born in Spokane, Washington and attended universities in Washington, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Eventually I earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking.

 

 

After I graduated, I wanted to make work which had more actual texture than printing paper. I became a fiber artist with two floor looms. For a few years I made rugs, then switched to designing and weaving large tapestries. I dyed my wool and sometimes used a spinning wheel to make the yarn.

 

 

Weaving was a convenient medium, having two young children. I could walk away at a moment‘s notice without washing brushes and covering up paint. But I was becoming increasingly frustrated. I wasn’t able to see more than a foot of whatever piece I was working on because it rolled up on the cloth beam in the front of the loom. After a couple decades, I sold all my fiber art wool, warp, dyes, and looms to explore other ways to work which would give me actual depth.

 

 

In the process of having my mother’s small plexiglass table repaired, I came home with three sheets of plexiglass.  That experiment led to plexiglass becoming my favorite support. I can create not just visual but actual depth by painting on three layers of plexi, then stacking the layers using spacers to create a 1/8″ space between each layer.

 

 

Over the last couple of years, I have been making 3-dimensional compositions with folded paper. I then enclose the pieces in bespoke plexiglass boxes.

 

 

My work is non-objective. I like working with more options than what reality as a subject can offer. There is a freedom in using my intuition rather than reality, to make choices about colors and other elements that go into making a piece. My image choices often include grids and repeating patterns, ideas from landscapes and calligraphy.

 

 

I’ve moved many times, and now live in the San Joaquin Valley. My home is on three acres and had space to build a large studio separate from the house, where I can work and listen to music uninterrupted (most of the time).

 

 

Making a piece of art is a kind of meditation. It requires my full attention, which effectively shuts out the chaos of contemporary life. I feel extremely fortunate that I like to make art—plus I have a place in which to make it!

 

Irene Yesley Invites you to follow on Instagram.

 

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