Colleen Sargen
Biography
Colleen Sargen is a multi-media artist; a sculptor working with metal, reclaimed objects and furniture, and natural stone which is often backlit. Also a painter and printmaker, her style is abstract with bold color fields and deeply textural layers constructed of both geometric and organic shapes and embossing.
Now living in the Northwest, Sargen’s work is most often shown in Washington and Oregon states. Having lived on the east coast for most of her life, as well as 2 years more recently spent in the southwest, regional influences from Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C. as well as coastal and desert areas of southern California have informed her sensibility and approach to content within her art of the last few years.
Her everyday life interwoven with some form of creativity - a continuum of design challenges encompassing the utilitarian and the decorative; over time, this practical experience led Sargen to pursue university studies in various art media. A former career in marketing and public relations inspired the idea to add communications to her studies, with an interest in learning more about the interconnectedness of art and communication; both in the viewing and the making of art - its power to communicate to the individual and/or to the masses. She questions, “What does art reveal to us, teach us, how does it manipulate us either positively or negatively, perhaps change the course of our lives in some way? What is my role and responsibility in this field I’ve chosen? For example, by re-designing a scrapped metal skeleton into a sculpture with softly glowing backlit stone, (also having functional capacity as a wine rack), am I able to provoke thought on the practice of recycling and environmental concerns?”
Statement
Whenever my eyes are open, I’m constantly bombarded by the visuals of textures, colors, details of objects and their composition. Little escapes this filtering. Eyes closed, this information takes shape into design ideas shifting, evolving, and finding their way into my constructions. The reining in of all this becomes my art that you see.
Most often, these ideas take shape in one of two ways: to express something – for example, my concern with the societal trend of excessive consumerism, its affects on the earth in landfill issues and industrial waste impact. One way that I express this concern is by using salvaged materials in my art. This brings me to the second way that ideas take shape.
Using these salvaged items inspire my desire to build their existing forms into function, (that is, a new function) and a purpose entirely different than their original designer had intended. Looking at salvaged scrap items from a perspective of how they could fit into a utilitarian design (‘function found in form’), appeals to my practical side, as well as my environmentally conscious perspective. You can see this reworking of material usage in my ‘stoned, unnaturally’ (image) which stands alone as a sculpture and could also function as a wine rack. This sculpture also combines man-made steel with (backlit) stone, both elements showing nature’s weathering, along with man’s processing. Further, this juxtaposition of materials illustrates my style of presenting disparate objects to accentuate their individuality, while stating an unexpected compatibility.
Events
DISPARATE FUSION: The Art of Colleen Sargen and Frank Janzen | February 27 - May 15, 2009
Artists' reception Friday, February 27 from 4 - 7 PM on the 3rd floor of Whitman College's Memorial Building
"stoned, unnaturally" on display at Reininger Winery, Walla Walla, WA
assorted works on display
Bank of America, Walla Walla, WA
Links
Bella Perla Gallery
bellaperlagallery.com
Reininger Winery
reiningerwinery.com
Contact
Colleen Sargen
Tel 877.506.3383
colleen@colleensargen.com