January, 2025
About Lynn Dunham
The common thread running through Dunham’s various disciplines is conceptual in its origin and often connected to her Quaker education and existential philosophy. At her core is a preoccupation with light, community, acceptance, dynamism of communication, balance and symbiotic relationships. She creates in a space which erases the defining lines between photography and painting and painting and sculpture forging a unique path without adhering to traditional classification.
Interested in Paul Rand and Milton Glaser, Dunham pursued graphic design and illustration at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY from 1976-1980. As a design student, she became more broadly influenced by the Bauhaus known for its approach to teaching and integrating craft, design and the fine arts. Residing near her hometown in New Jersey, she worked in the field of graphic design until 1996 when she launched Fine Art Flowers, a floral/event design business. She relocated to the Hamptons in 2004 where she continued floral design working for major event florists for a short time. One business she worked in had an unused spacious greenhouse that she used as a painting studio. Deciding to spend more time pursuing a career in art, in 2005 she took a job as gallery assistant to Mark Borghi in Bridgehampton. Inspired by his vast inventory of modern artists, she continued painting in her Southampton home. While employed at the gallery, she also became a freelance curator for an art rent and lease firm. She sold her work, and that of an exclusive group of artists she championed, to collectors and architectural and design firms. Concurrently, she rented artwork to the film and television industries for set decoration and to offices in New York and Philadelphia. She returned to New Jersey and since has been focused on a practice of photo-based work that may or may not be defined as photography and may or may not be defined as print-making.
“My practice begins with the illustration of a concept which is relative to my experience as a graphic designer whereas a problem solver, I interpreted ideas into logos for corporate identity/branding. In terms of outside experiences in secondary education and museum study, influential artists (to name a few) are Hans Hoffman, Joseph Albers, Kenneth Noland, James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Mary Corse and Larry Bell. Although my works on paper are realized in print form, I view the pigment ink printing of “digital images” more parallel to painting or drawing than print making. In print making, typically pigment is transferred from a plate, stone or screen making an impression. Digital “pigment prints” are not made from an impression or transfer of pigment; the mechanics of print heads dispense the pigments to create an image with droplets of ink on the chosen substrate. I predominently print on 100% cotton archival paper with some exploration printing on textile - mostly silk. Compositions are made with keyboard commands and a mouse or stylus such as a painter uses a brush or other implement, which is why I find my work is more akin to painting than printmaking. The archival digital medium allows for editioning the work in numbers and variable sizes, making it somewhat more accessible than a painting might be. The principles of conceptual thought, color theory and design, and the decisions one makes regarding composition and palette working in any medium remain essential acquired assets for an artist and such are unique to each artist; technology has provided a new instrument and the knowledge and ability to use such in a compelling and exclusive manner is as personal and unique to one working in this space as it is for any artist working in any medium. I begin with images of my own or appropriated from video stills from the internet then with manipulation, digitally create distance from the image’s origin. Additionally, I make images on the computer without photography as a starting point. When painting, I think like a sculptor handling materials and manipulating elements manually; my preference is to pour and slather in direct contact without brushes. I add and subtract materials such as wires, thread, yarn, textiles, concrete and polyurethane which in some cases moves my work into the sculpture and fiber art spaces. Paintings begin on canvas but transform into dimensional, sculptural works. When creating in clay, the alchemy of wood fire and Raku firing methods whereby control gives way to spontinaity chance interests me. Although my ceramics works concern three-dimensional form, the surface texture is equally important; the use of fire in the Raku and wood firing processes produces textures and marks that emulate process-based painting and drawing. As diverse as my work is, my interest in problem solving, concept and the process of making art remains consistent across disciplines.
About Lynn Dunham
The common thread running through Dunham’s various disciplines is conceptual in its origin and often connected to her Quaker education and existential philosophy. At her core is a preoccupation with light, community, acceptance, dynamism of communication, balance and symbiotic relationships. She creates in a space which erases the defining lines between photography and painting and painting and sculpture forging a unique path without adhering to traditional classification.
Interested in Paul Rand and Milton Glaser, Dunham pursued graphic design and illustration at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY from 1976-1980. As a design student, she became more broadly influenced by the Bauhaus known for its approach to teaching and integrating craft, design and the fine arts. Residing near her hometown in New Jersey, she worked in the field of graphic design until 1996 when she launched Fine Art Flowers, a floral/event design business. She relocated to the Hamptons in 2004 where she continued floral design working for major event florists for a short time. One business she worked in had an unused spacious greenhouse that she used as a painting studio. Deciding to spend more time pursuing a career in art, in 2005 she took a job as gallery assistant to Mark Borghi in Bridgehampton. Inspired by his vast inventory of modern artists, she continued painting in her Southampton home. While employed at the gallery, she also became a freelance curator for an art rent and lease firm. She sold her work, and that of an exclusive group of artists she championed, to collectors and architectural and design firms. Concurrently, she rented artwork to the film and television industries for set decoration and to offices in New York and Philadelphia. She returned to New Jersey and since has been focused on a practice of photo-based work that may or may not be defined as photography and may or may not be defined as print-making.
“My practice begins with the illustration of a concept which is relative to my experience as a graphic designer whereas a problem solver, I interpreted ideas into logos for corporate identity/branding. In terms of outside experiences in secondary education and museum study, influential artists (to name a few) are Hans Hoffman, Joseph Albers, Kenneth Noland, James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Mary Corse and Larry Bell. Although my works on paper are realized in print form, I view the pigment ink printing of “digital images” more parallel to painting or drawing than print making. In print making, typically pigment is transferred from a plate, stone or screen making an impression. Digital “pigment prints” are not made from an impression or transfer of pigment; the mechanics of print heads dispense the pigments to create an image with droplets of ink on the chosen substrate. I predominently print on 100% cotton archival paper with some exploration printing on textile - mostly silk. Compositions are made with keyboard commands and a mouse or stylus such as a painter uses a brush or other implement, which is why I find my work is more akin to painting than printmaking. The archival digital medium allows for editioning the work in numbers and variable sizes, making it somewhat more accessible than a painting might be. The principles of conceptual thought, color theory and design, and the decisions one makes regarding composition and palette working in any medium remain essential acquired assets for an artist and such are unique to each artist; technology has provided a new instrument and the knowledge and ability to use such in a compelling and exclusive manner is as personal and unique to one working in this space as it is for any artist working in any medium. I begin with images of my own or appropriated from video stills from the internet then with manipulation, digitally create distance from the image’s origin. Additionally, I make images on the computer without photography as a starting point. When painting, I think like a sculptor handling materials and manipulating elements manually; my preference is to pour and slather in direct contact without brushes. I add and subtract materials such as wires, thread, yarn, textiles, concrete and polyurethane which in some cases moves my work into the sculpture and fiber art spaces. Paintings begin on canvas but transform into dimensional, sculptural works. When creating in clay, the alchemy of wood fire and Raku firing methods whereby control gives way to spontinaity chance interests me. Although my ceramics works concern three-dimensional form, the surface texture is equally important; the use of fire in the Raku and wood firing processes produces textures and marks that emulate process-based painting and drawing. As diverse as my work is, my interest in problem solving, concept and the process of making art remains consistent across disciplines.