Bella Feldman: Writ in Steel

Opening reception for the artist: September 11, 2021 | 3-5 pm PST

Bella Feldman’s work straddles many decades and continues to surprise us in its rigor, rhythm, and rapacious curiosity. At the tender age of 91 she is, as many who know her, a force. The title of the show is certainly a testament to her choice of materials as well as her persona.

The pieces for this show come from a body of work that is complex due to the choice of multiple mediums that do not necessarily exhibit congruency with each other.

In Bella’s own words:

“The RPM series of mixed media works (steel, glass and manipulated prints) resulted from a residency at Kala Art Institute, in Berkeley, CA, when I was chosen as Artist of The Year.  As my prize I was given print making facilities and a technician to work with me.

I had only made sculpture at that point in my career. I was at a loss for two-dimensional images to use in printmaking. I decided to photograph the grind marks that were visible in my metal sculptures before they had a patina.  The grind marks had always intrigued me, reminding me of the cross hatchings in old etchings. The technician and I manipulated the photographs on the Kala computers by adding evocative color, distortion and enlargement. In the end we produced very attractive prints, however, they did not have sufficient content to satisfy me.

I put them away for several years.  After coming across them in recent years I decided (since I was not an official print maker) to cut them up and combine them with steel and glass creating a sculpture/print. 
The mix of two and three dimensions seemed a fresh new approach for my art making.  I’ve always been interested in combining different materials in my sculptures juxtaposing the materials inherent qualities both against and in harmony with each other."

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