Indulging In A Passion For Mark-Making: the Artist's Statement

Diana Ludwig, Fine Artist and Illustrator HC 1, Box 169, Clarington, Pennsylvania 15828
330-530-2659; 814-752-6328; diwigy@yahoo.com
p15828@gmail.com
Engaging in adrenaline-charged mark-making, the artist is attempting to portray the writhing mass of life forms around her. She includes fields of energy and minefields of emotion and thought which are clearly visible to her. The landscape writhes; geologic history is compressed and covers about 37 hours which are all recorded in her piece. This vision is applied to figures and activities that capture her wits, are absorbed, digested & spewed back out upon the working surface. A piece is physically worked into, pushed, pulled, gashed, soothed and stroked. A wide variety of mostly water-soluble media are used to converse with the ground, usually crashing beyond any boundaries of tidiness. Neither is the evolution of the idea behind any piece tidy. She almost always begins with a concrete glimpse of nature, from which a dialogue ensues, arguments tumult, tempers flare, spirits plummet, and soar (and usually surprised herself)the artist emerges--quite scathed--on the other side with a rich piece, evidence of a journey. It's as if the artist steps off deliberately pursuing uncertainty.

Ludwig has a fine arts degree with an emphasis on drawing from Kutztown University.
She has spent 16 years in chocolate factories doing everything from running a moulding line to turning raw ingredients into the liquid chocolate product to creating fine European truffles by hand. She has circumnavigated the perimeter of the state of Pennsylvania on a solo bike-packing trip, and solo-backpacked across the mountains (small ones) of this most favorite state for 2 weeks at a time.

The artist found the bird form useful in translating her personal delvings into existentialism-- i.e. why make art at all? A rising bird, a seeking bird, a storm-tossed bird, a scrabbling-in-the-gritty-barnyard- dirt bird, a bird terrorized trying to escape the crazed snorting bull, and a carnival bird, all are used to symbolize the searching soul. Birds and Legs, was derived from images pulled from patterns in pressed powdered graphite suspended in water. The pigeon appears frequently as the artist would bring them into the studio to study.
The piece Dying Tracks, 2002, had its genesis in the smidgeon of brilliant surveyor's string and her interaction dove in from there, with the visceral yanking of the surface in and out. A sluggish fly approached (fatally), gesso was applied, and as the hapless insect ran out of air it left a tiny swirl of tracks in the media. Mushroom Picker, captures the artist's experience in the eerie atmosphere of the commercial mushroom house; Berry Picker, is a Mennonite fellow compadre in the commercial strawberry fields; Kneeling Woman, depicts the digging of potatoes from a garden.

The East End Gallery, Appleton, Wisconsin, is the first, and currently the only, venue to show Ludwig's work. Gallery website: www.eastendgallery.net dave@eastendgallery.net

Diana Ludwig, Fine Artist and Illustrator
HC 1, Box 169, Belltown Road, Clarington, Pennsylvania 15828
330-530-2659, 814-752-6328
E-MAIL: diwigy@yahoo.com
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Listing Site Updates i accidentally blew up my site and blackering away to twiddlikewper it back into some semblence of infotainment for any passerbyers...	Clarion River Spring Ice
Notifying Visitors of Site Enhancements I'd like visitors to sign my guestbook more pages here future fight the future "All the Money's Gone" Gregg Brown That was a trip. Wasn't that a trip, my darlin I love to see ya happy in the mountains But who's that knockin on the door now How many pennies in that stack you're countin All the money's gone. All the money's gone Gut it out, pack it up and move on All the money's gone. All the money's gone Do you know how much I love you I'd like to buy ya the world's largest bathtub But I put my hand so deep in my pocket I found some lint, some burnt matches and a couple of ticket stubs But all the money's gone. All the money's gone Gut it out, pack it up and move on All the money's gone. All the money's I've been walkin the streets Where the shoes and the clothes and the haircuts, they holler and they holler We Americans, we are so easily pleased A jug of wine, a loaf of bread and fifty thousand dollars But all the money's gone. All the money's gone Gut it out, pack it up and move on All the money's gone. All the money's All the money's gone. All the money's "Worrisome Years" Greg Brown And the worrisome years--over the hill I thoght it's supposed to get easier to pay your bills I got nothing to show but a worrisome heart Can ya please tell me--when does the good part start? I done like they told me, I done like I should Ever since I started, I's trying to make good trying to make a good life for my family but I can't buy any stuff the kids want from TV I think about leaving--but where would I go? How would I get there? I don't know I took my stand here--I don't want to roam This old town ain't much but it's all I know of home I look at Cheryl--she looks at me We don't talk no more about our dreams We don't have no fun the way we used to do Don't be disappointed in me baby I ain't disappointed in you And the worrisome years--over the hill I thoght it's supposed to get easier to pay your bills I got nothing to show but a worrisome heart Can ya please tell me--when does the good part start?	Porch View 2001, Clarington, Pennsylvania; mixed media