Estelle L. Roberge

Estelle L. Roberge
Magdalena, New Mexico, USA

STATEMENT

In these three collages, I explore visual ideas through surfaces created from photographs and decorative papers developed in my studio. Some of the cut and torn images originate from the world around me, while others are deliberately staged and photographed to achieve a conceptual outcome. I draw inspiration from a range of surfaces—textiles, marble, wilderness areas, and tree bark. For example, I might float color into a bath of Irish moss and then photograph the resulting surface. From these photographic prints and papers, I create new collages by combining textures, colors, and forms—juxtaposing them with visual intention. The resulting two-dimensional surface becomes an entirely new image, constructed from two, three, or four mediums: photography, collage, painting, and printmaking.

My photographs of textiles, for instance, may remind me of bird feathers due to the airiness of folded fabric or the structure of the weave. I use these qualities to evoke ornithological references. A previously painted photographic surface might resemble a night sky, prompting me to use it in that context. One suggestion gives rise to another. Folds in textiles can take on figurative qualities—suggesting gesture, movement, spatial relationships, and a sense of ephemeral playfulness. I use these visual cues to further imply content and context, allowing the work to shift between abstraction and narrative.

BIO

I grew up in Biddeford, Maine, the sixth of nine children, in a Franco-American Irish-Canadian household. The town was full of factories and triple decker tenement buildings, and we played in the streets. After graduating from the nearby Portland School of Art in Printmaking and the University of Southern Maine in Art Education, I traveled west in search of employment. In 1992, I began a teaching career at Navajo Community College in Tsaile, Arizona, a college dedicated to the preservation of Navajo traditional life. Later, I pursued an MFA at Idaho State University with a focus on wilderness desert landscapes in South Central Utah. After receiving a MFA degree in Painting, I taught in Maine and Utah for five years. Finally, I made a home in Magdalena, New Mexico, where I continue to reside.

ARTIST CONTACT

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IMAGES