JOHN TAYLOR OF DURAN DURAN
ADAM ANT
I FELL IN LOVE WITH COPPER ETCHING, IT COMBINED ALL THE TECHNIQUES I LIKE IN PENCIL ART AND THE LOVE I HAVE FOR DETAIL.
the bare copper. The plate is dipped in and out of an acid solution of ferric chloride and citric powder, which eats into the metal and reveals the lines and details of the design. The plate is washed off and inked in the colors of her choice, and the image is transferred onto paper using a printing press. “I wanted to continue that tradition,” Chelsea says, adding that the medium is increasingly rare because many artists prefer to use modern technology. In addition, printing presses often can only be found at secondhand stores or antique shops, and some weigh 800 to 1,000 pounds, making them cumbersome. And some of the chemicals used are a little risky because of the fumes they generate, so Chelsea keeps her workspace well-ventilated, wears protective glasses and gloves, and is careful not to sip a liquid from the wrong glass, she jokes. Chelsea’s two primary artistic themes, mythology and the Sacred Feminine, blend old and modern views. Her family hails from England and Ireland, inspiring her interest in Celtic mythology. Some of her images include “Bloduewedd,” a symbol of flowers and owls; “Artio,” a bear goddess; “Flidais,” a shape-shifting “lady of the forest” and “Earth
ROB THOMAS
Mother”; and “Rhiannon,” as in the Fleetwood Mac song, a character from Welsh mythology. The Scared Feminine is a philosophy emphasizing femininity and divinity. Her work often focuses on women’s anatomy, such as Mother Earth or her etching, “The Third Eye,” of a woman with kaleidoscopic patterns emanating from her “third eye,” representing intuition. “Women artists back then (during the Renaissance) couldn’t do anatomy, female forms,” she says. “I’m a woman artist doing women figures.” Along with the feminine images, she uses symbols of the transience of life and inevitability of death. “It sounds like it might be darker, but it’s based on an old Renaissance technique called vanitas,” Chelsea says, referring to a genre associated with Dutch still-life paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries. “I’m kind of doing a spin on that.” Those are heady themes from the past being explored by a modern woman. In the future, she wants to continue to expand her horizons with more festivals and gallery showings. In the present, she simply is realizing her dream to be an artist. “It’s very humbling,” Chelsea says. “Incredible things are happening.”
Chelsea Smith will be showing her artwork at the St. Johns River Festival of the Arts May 6-7 in Sanford, and the Mayfaire by the Lake Art Festival May 13-14 in Lakeland. For more examples of her work, go to artbychelsea.com.
May 2017
93