In this series of “Field Notes,” I explore the ways in which we create, classify, understand, and ultimately remake systems, and systems of understanding. From the incorporation of images and things found on the streets, to the study and imagining of the streets themselves (including what is under, on, and above them), my current studio work has been influenced by my time and experiences in NYC. In an expanded view of 'the street', I am interested in what inhabits visible space, and things that exist outside of our range of vision both at the micro and macro level.

These mixed media works on paper combine fine art and craft materials with traditionally women's methods of making to create images invoking the body and mind.

I am interested in memory: the neuro-bio-chemical creation and hardwiring of memory, and the physical processes that occur allowing the degradation of memory and memory loss.

Within my works, biological components are suggested, emerging from the drawing space: neurons, white matter, blood cells, the double helix. A chaotic crazy quilt of colors, patterns and shapes gleefully resist categorization and control. Layers are created, stitched together, wiped away or obliterated, redrawn and cut away, recombined. Corollaries for the experience of the maturing brain, finished pieces become very physical records of their lived histories – works that are layered, process-rich explorations on the brain and the construction/ deconstruction of memory.

Specimen Series parallels my extended interest in and work about the brain and the way in which each of us mentally catalogs and attempts to understand our worlds from the various pieces that make it up. Works are inspired by individual object examination and discovery, and equally importantly, by the ways in which we organize and understand this information. Akin to the way museums attempt to enlighten an audience, pieces both present the viewer with samples for examination and also, through interpretation, attempt to weave discrete parts into an overall understandable pattern.

These drawings lie between a finely curated and interpreted exhibit, and a museum’s collection storage, as we imagine wandering through and opening drawers at random to see what lies therein. Works are informed by extended time spent in Britain and Ireland.

Marilee Salvator and Kristina Arnold were introduced to each others’ practices when they became colleagues at WKU in 2015, discovering that their work shares both a similar set of biologically-based inspirations and a compatible visual aesthetic: collaborative experiments seemed like a logical next step. Working multiple pieces at a time, the artists trade off, layering down marks via press, screen, hand and sewing machine. They work back and forth, making editorial decisions together along the way.

Layers and marks simultaneously create both addition and subtraction. Through a process of continual accretion, elements combine, imagery emerges, is removed, and eventually stabilizes. With references to botanical and human biology, the duality of growth as both generative and destructive is explored. Working together, the artists have created an energetic, new series that that encapsulates a combined aesthetic and contains recognizable elements from each artist. 

To see Marilee Salvator's work, visit: http://marileedsalvator.com/