Penni Montalbano assemblage,collage,sculpture

Portfolios

Hand Sewn Reliefs II Notions Series

Artist Statement

I am interested in creating a poetic narrative through the combination of mixed media collage, representational drawing, and found objects. Each piece is developed over many years. My working process entails an intense study of the composition as it evolves. I enlarge or reduce the work by adding or subtracting different elements, and after countless permutations, the composition slowly emerges.

The drawings are informed by a life long study of classical form, Italian Renaissance art and the observation of nature. They are situated within an atmosphere created by the larger surrounding assemblage. The physical qualities of the found objects, their implied history, and their abstract form encourages visual exploration and discovery.

Assemblage

Spheres

Renaissance, 2014, paper, handmade paper, oil paint, acrylic paint, oil crayon, watercolor, pencil, height 10"

Needlepoint Pastorale, 2014, needlepoint, petit point, embroideries, lace, thread, acrylic paint, oil crayon, height 20"

Lace Garden, 2014, embroideries, handkerchiefs, lace, acrylic paint, oil crayon, height 15"

Moon, 2014, fabric, buttons, wire, thread, ribbon, pearls, metal, acrylic paint, oil crayon, height 6"

Planet, 2014, shirt, buttons, ribbon, cord, wire, plastic, snaps, height 10"

Landscapes

Hand Sewn Reliefs I

Hand Sewn Reliefs II

Notions Series: Part II

Fabric as Meaning and Metaphor:
Threading through Generations

These entirely hand sewn fabric sculptures were originally conceived as sketches for paintings but have evolved into an independent body of work.Constructed from inherited material and family clothing, they become three-dimensional objects that are built from a mine of personal archaeology. Fabric and trimming are manipulated into wall mounted, suspended, and free standing works that explore the inherent character of material while also being repositories of memory.With antecedents in Abstract Expressionism, paint becomes fabric; ribbon and wire, line. The integrity of the material is important for the retention of its history. Some of the inherited material had already been manipulated by previous owners: folded, tied into bundles of different fabric, or mixed with other trimmings.

I treated these units reverentially. By changing them as little as possible, the resonance from the previous owner is not erased. Thus an implicit narrative of the continuity of family history is threaded through the associative intimacy of this inherited fabric, clothing, adornments, notions and objects.These sculptures explore the inherent character of material but are also very specific and collective repositories of personal memory and relationships. Remnants (material and memory) are recombined to form new and singular objects that exist now, but which resonate with my past.