Patricia Brett: Line Weights
My artistic practice is a bit of “mad scientist meets conjurer”. I set up an experiment with materials, allow my hands and body to take over and engage intuitively with them, then see what happens. The resultant gestural acts of making both leverage and subvert the intrinsic nature of materials, and highlight the overlaps, gaps, and folds between artistic mediums as they are traditionally defined.
A residency at the Morgan Paper Conservatory in Cleveland allowed me to explore the interplay of sculptural casting and printmaking languages through dimensional handmade paper. Utilizing wax rods traditionally employed in bronze casting, I formed gestural drawings which became a matrix upon which to cast paper. Although pliable, the wax did not completely conform to my will; the resulting arcs and bends were informed both by my artistic intention and the inherent properties of the material. Handmade paper applied overtop further removed the resultant work from my control: the drying paper may conform to the wax drawing, or may shrink and pull away from the matrix resulting in calligraphic scaffolds of line and gesture.
“Line Weights” is a direct reference to my time as an architect. In cast paper, the weight of the line may be a subtle wave in the paper, divots where the paper just catches the ends of the wax, or fully-formed, deep, continuous ridges or valleys in the paper. The resulting forms evoke language, topographic landscapes, or figures in motion. Interpretation shifts with the viewer’s perspective and the presentation of each piece, whether the forms are recessed or raised above the surface. My paper reliefs play on these inversions: Is it language or form? Does it recede or project? Which is front or back? Is it sculpture or a print?
Whereas my former career was concerned with planning, control, and precision, I have begun to accept and embrace the beauty of the imperfect and the unknown through my artistic practice.
About the Artist:
Patricia Brett is an American sculptor, printmaker, and former architect working in stone, paper, prints and ink. Her interdisciplinary approach, particularly her blind-embossed prints and cast paper works, blurs the boundaries between sculpture and printmaking.
She received a BS in Architecture from The Ohio State University, a Master of Architecture from Yale University, and studied printmaking and stone carving at the Art Students League of New York. Her long career in architecture has informed her artistic practice with its focus on form, materials, and processes. Prior to a career in the visual arts, she created Veronica Brett, the first line of designer swimwear for breast cancer survivors. She is a past recipient of the Sonia Albert Schimberg Prize, the Schweinfurth Scholarhip, and the Charles Blaze Vukovich Scholarship.
Patricia’s work is in the permanent collections of New York Public Library, the Art Students League of New York, the Morgan Paper Conservatory, MetroHealth Hospitals, and private collections in the US and Europe. After spending over 30 years in New York City, she now resides with her family in Cleveland Heights.
