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Ava Blitz
Artist's Statement
The Nature of Things

The Nature of Things implies the dualities of the physical, elemental state of nature, and the spiritual, metaphoric, and contemplative nature. I am intrigued by the mysterious and sometimes humorous similarity of structures, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, found in biology, botany, geology, and anthropology. My work is symbolic of the cycles of life, of the elements, and of the forces of growth, change, and evolution. It alludes to the passage of time, petrified in stone or concrete. Lines become blurred and distinctions ambiguous between fossil and artifact, natural history and cultural history, and the present, past and future.

Whether I am working in sculpture, digital photography, mosaic, textile, or painting, the joy of experimentation with material and process always contributes to my aesthetic.  Obsessive repetition, be they of marks or objects, and equally obsessive fragmentation and re-ordering, also plays a role. 

My two dimensional images often evolve from snapshots taken on walks near my home. They use digital technology as an experimental tool; the camera and the computer as a painterly and draftsman’s/printmakers instrument.  The images recall conventions found in Eastern and Western imagery, from classical to popular culture.  Each one takes its own intuitive path to completion, resulting in a new magical reality.

BIO

Ava Blitz is a visual artist who currently divides her time between studio work in sculpture, works on paper, photography, and public art.  Blitz's public works and commissions are many, including installations in Tokyo, Japan, at the Philadelphia International Airport, and at the University City Science Center.  Ava Blitz served on an International Sculpture Symposium panel in Japan, and has lectured on public art for the American Institute of Architects, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Michener Art Museum. She has been the recipient of numerous honors, awards, and fellowships, many of which have funded her public art projects. These include grants from the Japan Foundation, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Leeway Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.  Blitz has shown locally at the Michener Art Museum, the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Grounds for Sculpture, and the Allentown Art Museum.  From 1986 to 1998 she taught at Bryn Mawr College, where she directed the fine art department.

 
 
ava blitz | penn valley | pennsylvania | USA | 610-649-4872 | avablitz@gmail.com
 
 
 
 
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