Sky Power is an abstract and figuraive painter, printmaker, piano tuner, and woodworker. Active in the arts since childhood, Sky studied figure drawing with Ed Gothberg at Casper College in Wyoming, and continued her studies in Fine Art at Cornish School of Allied Arts in Seattle, Washington in the early seventies. An exhibiting artist since 1974, Sky has shown her work in galleries in Provincetown, Boston, and Washington, D.C.
With roots in Texas, Sky lived on both coasts before moving to Cape Cod in 1976 to launch a horse and carriage business in Provincetown. In addition to establishing her profession as an artist, Sky forged a career as a piano tuner on the cape. A woodworker by trade, she has brought that element to her paintings as seen in the triptych ‘The Middle Passage: View from the Ship’s Hull’, oils on masonite framed behind grids of padouck wood. Each panel dipicts the only view of the world a slave would have had from the ship’s hull on the journey through the Middle Passage: sunset or dawn, midnight, and mid-day, seen through the grate on deck.
Sky’s ‘Ikage’, pronounced ee-ka-jay, and ‘Talking Leaves’ series draw from the spirituality of her Cherokee heritage, and ‘The Bardo of Dream’ series explores the connection between mysticism and psychology. Many of her abstract paintings convey the feeling of the expansive sky and turbulent weather so familiar to the plains and coastal regions.
In describing her process, Sky states, “I start off by presenting myself with forms and colors that I have to tie together by creating other forms and colors: like a puzzle. The experience feels like unraveling a mystery by creating one, whether I am adding or subtracting color. In the beginning of each piece, I give myself complete freedom to do whatever I want. As the painting developes, my process becomes more analytical. However, I trust myself to take risks, allowing myself to venture into the unknown. The process is cathartic, revealing, and paradoxical.”
Image Courtesy of Marian Roth
Website
http://www.skypowerart.com
