Dec. 8, 2014
For Immediate Release
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| Spanish artist Eva Grande speaks to Campbellsville University students during her “Artist Talk.” Here, she is speaking about the texture she used in her piece and how it feels for the blind. (Campbellsville University Photo by Drew Tucker) |
By Drew Tucker, communications assistant
“Welcome to a different world,” said Eva Grande, an abstract expressionist artist from Spain, at her “Artist Talk” in the Art Building on Campbellsville University’s campus recently. Her interpreter was Connie Gough, a student from La Ceiba Altantida, Honduras.
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| Eva Grande |
Grande studied philosophy and psychology, but decided to dedicate her life to art.
“To live what we love is hard nowadays,” she said.
In Spain, she spent three years under a teacher learning techniques for drawing, but in her last year, her teacher decided she should bring a big white canvas to paint what she was feeling.
“The teacher started seeing how I grabbed oil paint and I needed other types of material – needed something with my hands,” she said. “I felt free working with my hands. He said I have to keep walking on this path,” and she has been for 25 years.
She discussed a photo she took on top of a car. She always drives through streets or on highways, looking for colors of earth to take with her.
“For me, it’s very fundamental,” she said. “It all forms what I’m going to paint later on. It’s a way of learning.”
While creating art from materials, she decided her art could be transferred to the blind. This year she led an investigation on what materials can be taught to the blind – the results showed it was mostly relief, a sculpture that projects itself from a two-dimensional background.
“With water, they can see the different colors – the more relief, the stronger the colors,” she said.
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| Eva Grande speaks to students about bull fighting in Spain, and how the painting behind her was made in opposition of the sport. Connie Gough, right, translated for her. (Campbellsville University Photo by Drew Tucker) |
In one exposition, she used parts of a tree and marble dust. In another, she used cloth to create the body of a woman without appendages, signifying that you can cut off her arms, head and legs, but never her womb. Each appendage signified something, such as the feet representing roots to hold up the weight of life.
Grande showed off a panting titled “Pathways of Water” to show that everything is about water and how important it is. Another painting showcased what Spain is known for, bull fighting, but her painting is against the bull fighting, and displayed the horrors of it, showing blood being spilled on the sand.
“The Woman in the Ocean of Tears” is about the subject of abused women, showing two closed eyes with a tear dripping down from one of them. Her final painting, “More Peace,” showed various blues on a white canvas and asked what people feel from it.
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| Eva Grande speaks about the expostion behind her, explaining why the body of a woman has no appendages. (Campbellsville University Photo by Drew Tucker) |
“You have to be open minded – depending on your mood you will see something different with the painting, and get a different perspective,” she said.
She said she was in love when she painted the piece, and feels that emotion when she looks at it. She chose to use blues to represent water because it’s peaceful.
“It’s very different to transfer emotion to a painting,” she said, “but if you have it inside of you it’s easier.”
Grande has created artwork since 1988 and uses a variety of materials in her work, including sand, earth, marble dust, different kinds of stones and recycled or natural materials. She has been visiting central Kentucky for the last six weeks and studied with CU’s English as a Second Language program.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master’s degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.