Teresa Roche
"We are products of our past memories and current environments. My work can be seen as a fusion between the past and present, the inspiration often coming when traveling. As I explore a new place, my attention focuses on mundane, everyday details which will often trigger something from my past. For instance, I have an enduring childhood memory of laundry hanging from clotheslines in the backyards of my mother and grandmother. When in Italy, the memory of that was so clear as I saw the clothes hanging from balconies - it was a different interpretation but I think it resonated so strongly because of that memory. I began to see line in a new way and it has become very prominent in my work.
In excavating memories among the minutiae of life, I am seeking to unearth something old, worn, perhaps forgotten. I add layers of paint, sometimes dry, sometimes not, and gradually scrape away. Markings and lines are revealed and the paintings become something vibrant, saturated with color and graphic line. I see much of my work as a rebirth and renewal- the final paintings reflect a clean, new version of a preserved memory that I lifted form the ashes, resulting in a delicate tension between the dark, graphic lines revealed against the simplicity of a bright new surface."
Teresa lives in Greenville with her husband, Will and their German Shepherd, Sky, just a few steps from her gallery Art & Light.
