bio

(b. 1991, Spokane, WA) Payne is a multimedia artist based in Portland, OR. She has led a number of community art projects supporting women's and youth education in rural communities of El Salvador. Her work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest, most notably in the Object Space Gallery, Spokane, WA and the Center for Contemporary Arts and Culture, Portland, OR. In addition to her studio practice, Payne has participated in a number of community art projects, including curating the group exhibition, “Along These Lines,” Alberta Abbey, Portland, OR. Her practice is centered on formal concerns of color and the concept of shifting inner landscapes, drawing inspiration from her personal experiences and histories to create her large-scale, abstract works. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art. 

practice

My work centers on concepts surrounding psycho-emotional process and labor. In my abstract paintings, I aim to express a feeling of being steeped in ruminative thought, chasing elusive answers to abate a psychological or emotional state of disquiet. My paintings offer a place to disentangle events, ideas, and memories. Through generative mark-making, I am able to orient my body with a mental space and begin to uncover the temperament I bring to that space. From there, I am able to bring in clusters of forms and shapes, washes of color, and meandering lines which all speak to my modes of thinking. The evolution of these thoughts is preserved in the layers of each painting. Some seep through translucent screens of paint. Other details are covered up entirely. Both their presence and their absence reflect an oscillating dynamic as I labor to understand their complexities and their significance. These traces of my thinking relate symbolically with the experience of being human moving through time and space. When viewing the remains of this process, the pieces together convey a sense of a person, a place, or a history. They are at once mirrors of thought, echoes of experience, and relics of emotions.


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