Gretchen Goss

All posts by Gretchen Goss

Gretchen Goss is an enamelist and educator who lives and works in the USA. "An ongoing attraction to the natural world is the inspiration for my work. Prevailing themes derived from the landscape include; farms, gardens, plant forms and water; an examination and view of the most valued aspects of my life." Gretchen featured in our first Heat Exchange exhibition in 2012.

the work is in Phoenix. I’m grateful for the blog since I won’t get to see the exhibit. My work has focused on bodies of water in recent years. I’ve also been teaching a photographic transfer method via gum bichromate. I love the process and results produced but rarely use it in my work. I’ve posted an image of an earlier piece using this process, followed by a series of platters that will be in the exhibit, in progress and complete. The second body of work sent to Phoenix is based on vernal pools.

gretchen, writing from the ohio. my first time blogging so we’ll see how this goes. i’ve been enameling thirty-some years. i began while in undergraduate school at kent state university with mel someroski. what i thought was a brief break from another studio major became the unintentional focus for life. my work is usually 2-d for the wall with an emphasis on drawing and a painterly use of enamel. images are most often derived from the surrounding landscape including garden, fields and water. my website www.gretchengoss.com shows examples of previous work but has not been updated for a couple years. recent work has focused on bodies of water impacted by our existence on the planet. studies of the gulf of mexico and arctic circle follow. the last work made focused on vernal ponds. reading recent posts about walking in rural environments remind me of the small ponds and their budding life in spring. the sound of spring peepers is a subtle joy of spring when living with widely diverse seasons.

blogging or time spend on the computer is not a favored activity. teaching full-time provides a flood of daily of email and work on the computer so when it comes to my studio interests i don’t head for the computer except for some digital imaging. i may not write often. work for this exhibit has been weighing heavily on my mind. i’m naturally inclined to work on the wall but have never been satisfied with work installed except through traditional hanging methods, ie nails in the wall. due to the gallery restrictions i’ve been considering all options and am not sure at this point where the work will land.