Inspired by Tools of the Trade

Carnegie Art Center, Three Rivers, MI, June – August 2010
Artists take their inspiration from a host of sources internal and external, personal and universal,
sacred and profane. . . but one of the many things we have in common is a “connectedness”
with the tools that we use to explore ideas and create our work.

For this exhibition, I asked a group of Kalamazoo area artists to consider their tools in a more conscious way,
to allow their imagination to dwell on the things they use on a daily basis to create their work,
to look at the tools they may take for granted in a new way. . .

Show Statement

Nancy Stroupe, Drafting Table, oil on canvas

The tools of my trade have to do with painting and printmaking. Both the easel and drafting table are essential to painting and the drafting table is involved in print design as well. The toolbox displayed here is decorated with a linoleum block and its print, x-acto blades and the art papers used in print collage, and mat cutter blades used in framing. The contents of the box have to do with both printmaking and painting and speak for themselves.