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BJ Adams

My artistic life began as a child with painting and drawing. As with many beginning oil painters and later using acrylics I turned from realism to abstraction. Discovering fabric and thread as another medium, a new textural world opened. My work may now combine realism or abstraction or even surrealism.

The sewing machine has become my brush and pencil; hundreds of colors of thread have become paint for varied images set on various background. I want this realistic or surrealistic work to give the viewer a surprise, an out-of-context image, incorrect size, or viewpoint of an odd juxtaposition.

One series I created was influenced by the social issues of our times and country. These challenges had my work going in several different directions to highlight problems that were and still are important to me.

I am influenced by my frequent visits to the National Gallery of Art. For a few years I have been enjoying drawing and then embroidering botanical images. These works may have been affected by my appreciation of the Dutch and Flemish artists and their fruit and flower filled still-life paintings.

While working on one piece, another idea often emerges, and it is this constant, stimulating flow that causes my work to evolve, to create new series, and to seek

different themes. The unusual or commonplace materials and techniques I use, the focus required by the slow working process of this art, and the infinite available subjects, keeps my work ever-changing, challenging, and unpredictable.

As Jacob Lawrence once said, “All artists are constantly looking for something, and they don’t always know what.”

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