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Mimi CahalanMimi Cahalan lives in the coastal town of Santa Cruz, California, where she works full-time on her wall-mounted constructions in painted metal and wood. She earned a BA in Art from San José State University and an MEd in Art from the University of Washington. Mimi has shown her work in California and Santa Fe, New Mexico.Mimi has had people take her work off the wall to see how it is made. That is not an accident. She allows the materials to define and enliven the finished work with a strong physical presence. She uses simple products and tools that are used by most people, to connect by a way of a common language. Mimi's methods and design decisions are meant to produce a fresh, unrefined texture. These pieces express her themes in a continuum that ranges from pure abstraction to motifs that use simple images for symbolic and narrative context. Creating color relationships engages her the most strongly, even when she brings representational elements into a piece. Initially, Mimi chooses her concept for a piece with only a loose idea of the visual results. This allows her lots of discovery while the piece progresses. She forms a basic wood shape over which she will nail aluminum pieces in mosaic style, as a "skin" covering the form and wrapping around to the back. Aluminum sheets are prepared and painted in a palette of colors. Then, she cuts the aluminum into shapes with scissors, carefully fitting the pieces together, and tack-hammers them into place with small nails. The nails add another layer of design integral to the artwork, and the effect of nailing the soft metal in place creates a particular look, as does the flaking and peeling that can happen to the paint.
16 Lyndon Avenue • Los Gatos, CA 95030 • 408.354.2095 |
