Costanza Knight:

I want to create beautiful paintings for people to walk into. I do not want to tell the whole story. I want each person to have their own experience. I enjoy watching people entering my pieces and perhaps telling me what they have found there. They may find something different than I intended the day I painted the work. My inspiration comes from many sources. Studying art and art history in Florence, Italy, at age 19, opened my mind up to the other ways of seeing and being. Having a first career as a speech and language pathologist allowed me to observe people expressing the human experience. Studying with Tucker Cooke in Asheville, NC, instilled an awe of the human figure and an ability to put that awe into form. Studying with Alex Powers in Myrtle Beach, SC, showed me a way to harness the passion I feel when I paint. A final and most important source of inspiration is taking walks through the mountains that are near to my home. I work primarily in watermedia. I like the transparency created by watercolor and thin layers of acrylics. I also love paper and what the paint does on its rich absorbent surface. Recently I have been creating painted box environments. These environments provide a three dimensional space for the viewer to enter. Using found objects I have collected over many seasons is another form of layering for me. The multi-layered affect that I can achieve with all these materials is in concert with the liminal state that I want to paint about. A “space in between” is called forth which can lead to new perspectives It is this state between waking and dreaming that has brought grace into my life. I would like to pass it on to others. I choose to use only non-toxic materials in my work. This is in consideration of my own health and the health of all living beings on the planet. --------------------------------- Costanza Knight creates beautiful paintings for people to walk into. She does not tell the whole story about her work. She wants each person to have their own experience. She creates introspective narrative paintings. Knight works primarily in watermedia. I like the transparency created by watercolor and thin layers of acrylics. I also love paper and what the paint does on its rich absorbent surface. The multi-layered affect that I can achieve with all these materials is in concert with the liminal state that I want to paint about. A “space in between” is called forth which can lead to new perspectives It is this state between waking and dreaming that has brought grace into my life. I would like to pass it on to others. The watermedia and mixed media paintings of Costanza Knight are contemporary expressions that explore and celebrate the human form and the landscape. These images often take place in gravity free worlds. Poetry and stories are frequently her inspiration. The paintings Knight creates beckon you to walk into them. She does not tell the whole story about her work. She wants each person to have their own experience. The result is an introspective narrative painting. The multi-level affect that she achieves with layers of transparent acrylic on rich absorbent surfaces of paper are in concert with the liminal state that she paints about. A “space in between” is called forth, one between waking and dreaming, one for which the viewer is called upon to linger. The watermedia and mixed media paintings of Costanza Knight are contemporary expressions that explore and celebrate the human form and the landscape. These images often take place in gravity free worlds. Poetry and stories are frequently her inspiration. In the process of creation, a private understanding is made communal. Influenced by Chagall, a fantasist. Expressionism and cubism = romanticized poetic art.