Claudia Cilloniz Marchini

bio

claudia

My work addresses the individual (observer), the painting (observed), and the source of inspiration. The interaction suggests meaning within context. The technique is oils or acrylics on canvas, and on meteorites. The method of applying paint to the surface is a process which includes moving the field instead of the paint. In other words, paint makes forms from continuous motion and chance. This process of painting is reminiscent to life: in order to feel, I need to experience; to generate thoughts, the presence of real or imaginary obstacles; and for possible solutions, analysis of probabilities through reason and imagination. And the imagination usually comes from inspiration. All these suggest stemming from continuous interactions within a moving contextual framework.

For the source of inspiration, nature and color are my platform. Before I go to my studio, usually a hike is needed to find sources of energy and the appropriate colors. The blue is from Crater Lake, and the whites are from the snowy peaks of Mt. Ashland, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Bachelor. The yellow is from the wild flowers at the coast, and the red from the Rose Garden in Portland. Green is from the Redwoods, and orange, pink, and gold from the lakes and rivers at dawn. The black is from midnight. At this time, inspiration comes from the stars.

My studio is located in Southern Oregon, on a mountain with a view to the forest where it is quiet, the air is clean, and night the stars shine bright. I live by Viktor E. Frankl’s imperative “live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now” (Frankl, 1959). Suggesting through action and repetition, improvement and appreciation of life are achieved.

I was born and raised in Peru and am the fourth generation of painters on my mother’s side of the family (Spiers). My bachelor’s degree is in fine art (B.F.A.) from Memphis College of Art, and my master’s (M.F.A.) is from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Currently I am pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology with expected date of graduation in 2011. My paintings are exhibited nationally. Among the highlights in my career are a Fellowship Grant by the Oregon Arts Commission in 2000, a commission to paint a mural for the Oregon State Capitol Building in 1994/5, and in 2009, my work was semi-finalist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C

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