Fine Art
PENNY DELL:
Printmaker, Mixed-Media Artist & Community Advocate
Cumulus
Monoprint © Penny Dell |
Security Star VI
Security Envelopes/Encaustic © Penny Dell |
Hubs
Woodcut Monoprint with Security Envelope Collage © Penny Dell |
Mirage I
Mixed Media Collage/Encaustic © Penny Dell |
Penny talks about the inspiration behind her security envelope pieces.
I’m in love! I’m besotted. I can’t stop! Hidden in plain sight are all sorts of unconventional artists’ materials. I’ve found a haven in the patterns revealed in the interiors of security envelopes. Bank statements, insurance company summaries, utility bills…are all protected by the very different interior camouflages printed there, and I find points of interest in all of them.
It’s a rich trove of lines, squiggles, dots and mottlings in a variety of greys, blues, black (mostly), but also greens and – rarely - yellows. They acquire their pictorial punch by being both familiar…and quietly subversive.
My exploration of the different ways these patterns fit together into artwork was very gradual - progressing through playful collages into a vocabulary of expanding references and metaphors. Security envelopes are a portal into a nation’s deep concern with security: homestead security, social security, cyber security, securities…the list goes on and on.
The optical “pop” of this series is enhanced by using printmaking methods - primarily woodblocks and a paper overlay which adheres the layer at the time of putting the block and its receptor through the press.
I’ve translated the patterns into silkscreen, layered them with encaustic, dried them over chicken wire, and I've also encased them within handmade paper. Each process communicates a very different experience. For example, the fragile delicacy of the handmade paper speaks of vulnerability and transience.
Like the concept of security itself, security envelopes find themselves at a vulnerable turning point: Many banks, utilities and other businesses are now urging us to go paperless. Soon these envelopes will be a memory from the past. But for now, I have lots to work with!
I’m in love! I’m besotted. I can’t stop! Hidden in plain sight are all sorts of unconventional artists’ materials. I’ve found a haven in the patterns revealed in the interiors of security envelopes. Bank statements, insurance company summaries, utility bills…are all protected by the very different interior camouflages printed there, and I find points of interest in all of them.
It’s a rich trove of lines, squiggles, dots and mottlings in a variety of greys, blues, black (mostly), but also greens and – rarely - yellows. They acquire their pictorial punch by being both familiar…and quietly subversive.
My exploration of the different ways these patterns fit together into artwork was very gradual - progressing through playful collages into a vocabulary of expanding references and metaphors. Security envelopes are a portal into a nation’s deep concern with security: homestead security, social security, cyber security, securities…the list goes on and on.
The optical “pop” of this series is enhanced by using printmaking methods - primarily woodblocks and a paper overlay which adheres the layer at the time of putting the block and its receptor through the press.
I’ve translated the patterns into silkscreen, layered them with encaustic, dried them over chicken wire, and I've also encased them within handmade paper. Each process communicates a very different experience. For example, the fragile delicacy of the handmade paper speaks of vulnerability and transience.
Like the concept of security itself, security envelopes find themselves at a vulnerable turning point: Many banks, utilities and other businesses are now urging us to go paperless. Soon these envelopes will be a memory from the past. But for now, I have lots to work with!
Jester
Handmade Paper & Chicken Wire Assemblage with Optional Lighting Gizmo © Penny Dell |
Security 37
Mixed Media: Security Envelopes Collage & Encaustic on Handmade Paper © Penny Dell |
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Matrix
Handmade Paper & Chicken Wire Assemblage with Optional Lighting Gizmo © Penny Dell |
Whooops!
Monoprint with Security Envelope Collage © Penny Dell |
Kite
Mixed Media Collage/Encaustic & Handmade Paper/Wire © Penny Dell |
Security Star V
Security Envelopes/Encaustic © Penny Dell |
Penny Dell was born in Mexico and grew up in Mexico City and Acapulco. She came to the U.S. at the age of thirteen. The artist Francisco Dos Amantes and the zoomorphic figures of Aztec friezes influenced her early work.
Penny studied English and French Literature at Simmons College and the Sorbonne, and she studied painting at the Triveni Kala Sangam Akademi in New Delhi, India. These intersections of cultures, techniques, and philosophies have fueled her investigations of states of mind, scenes from dream, fantasy and interior life – through drawing, painting, and print.
Penny is fascinated with the flexibility, experimentation, and the rich materials and technique of print processes. She has taught printmaking and experimental transfer processes throughout the New York metropolitan area, including the Hunterdon Museum of Art and the Printmaking Center of New Jersey. She has enjoyed residencies at the Women’s Studio Workshop and the Vermont Studio Center.
Penny’s works are in many corporate and private collections including Cablevision, Rutgers University and the New York Public Library. From 2005-2007 she served as President for the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA). Penny was one of five selected artists exhibited at the Barrett Art Center’s Springraiser in 2019. She is a recipient of a 2019 Dutchess County Executive Arts Award (Individual Artist). The recipients are selected from public nominations and awarded based on their important contribution to the growth of Dutchess County's cultural life.
Penny lives and works in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Penny studied English and French Literature at Simmons College and the Sorbonne, and she studied painting at the Triveni Kala Sangam Akademi in New Delhi, India. These intersections of cultures, techniques, and philosophies have fueled her investigations of states of mind, scenes from dream, fantasy and interior life – through drawing, painting, and print.
Penny is fascinated with the flexibility, experimentation, and the rich materials and technique of print processes. She has taught printmaking and experimental transfer processes throughout the New York metropolitan area, including the Hunterdon Museum of Art and the Printmaking Center of New Jersey. She has enjoyed residencies at the Women’s Studio Workshop and the Vermont Studio Center.
Penny’s works are in many corporate and private collections including Cablevision, Rutgers University and the New York Public Library. From 2005-2007 she served as President for the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA). Penny was one of five selected artists exhibited at the Barrett Art Center’s Springraiser in 2019. She is a recipient of a 2019 Dutchess County Executive Arts Award (Individual Artist). The recipients are selected from public nominations and awarded based on their important contribution to the growth of Dutchess County's cultural life.
Penny lives and works in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Penny Shows Off One of Her Pieces
in her Poughkeespie, NY Studio |
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS:
Trolley Barn Poughkeepsie, NY (An Exhibit by Penny Dell & Basha Ruth Nelson) Februrary 21 - March 28 Opening Reception: Friday, February 21: 6pm to 8pm 
Montgomery Row
Rhinebeck, NY Solo Exhibition October 2020 |
