Artist Reception: InkDances! Toni Prehoda Kahler @ CAVU Cellars

Artist Reception: Toni Prehoda Kahler @ CAVU Cellars

CAVU Cellars is delighted to host this exceptional artist. Her beautifully worded Artist’s Statement is presented below.

 “I am obsessed with alcohol inks! Their brilliance and tendency to flow out of control creates an exciting dynamic. As ink meets ink, the bright white paper reveals itself through transparent color. Patterns and streaks of light dance across the compositions; atmosphere appears. Shapes within shapes are revealed and dry within seconds. I never use a brush---when ink drops on paper I let it flow! 

The Blue Mountain valley inspires me with its textures and history, with its magnificent, wild skies. I pour and repour my inks, experimenting with color and form, until each landscape holds something of what I desire to share: the emotion of atmosphere touching the earth, the moods of seasons, the way the late afternoon sun plays on curved and textured fields or highlights the ridges of the mountains. My symmetry work is intense, challenging and risky. The alcohol solution can cause the first layers to morph, or even disappear. If an extra drop of ink falls, if the placement of those drops changes if my hands vary their movements in the slightest, the mirror image is altered. Even my breathing can affect the results---yet it is these inherent qualities which allow me to fully explore exciting shapes.

I grew up in southern California, surrounded by music and art. I loved the color! My mother would cover the dining room table with newspaper, open her wooden boxes of pastels, and encourage me to play. Those joyful moments I spent immersed in discovering what colors would do blossomed over time into my current obsession. The techniques I use to create an unlimited variety of results. Each image is a surprise. This process of coaxing flowing ink into landscapes, orchids, or silk moths, of expanding abstract image into the story, satisfies me to my core. I hope that each viewer will not only look at but look in, to my work on a journey of their own imagination.”