Page 11 - the Noise February 2017

ElainE C. Dillingham still lifE têtE-à-têtE
“Creating a still life is like arranging two people on a stage — You sit here, no, to the left – and you stand here ... And then eavesdropping on their conversation,” says Elaine C. Dillingham a visual artist and art educator living and working in Flagstaff. Her work — featured at Arizona Handmade Gallery this First Friday and all February long — has been
described as playful, meticulous, more-than-meets-the-eye, strange, and beautiful.
Her process begins with quiet, focused observation of her favorite subjects, the still life and the human form, visually searching their “lovely idiosyncrasies.” She prepares her pan- els and canvases herself to achieve a luminous and subtly textured surface. Innovations such as sponges on the back for cushioned wall support are her own. “I draw and paint from life, then interpret. I like to glide on the edge of abstraction. Acrylic, watercolor, ink,
digital – I love them all,” she says.
Ms. Dillingham is an art instructor at Coconino Community College, where she teaches
drawing and painting. She is a founding member of the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff and a juried member of the Northern Arizona Watercolor Society. A graduate of Macalester College with degrees in art and English, she has lived in Flagstaff with her family since 1989. Her work is in numerous private collections. She accepts commissions.