Mesa artist Talia Dudley receives artist-in-residence award
Talia Dudley
Mesa artist Talia Dudley.
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Mesa artist Talia Dudley recently received the summer artist-in-residence award from Rancho Linda Vista Arts.
The artist-in-residence position is awarded annually to one gifted visual artist from entries received from artists across the Southwest. The residency includes a one-month stay, access to an art studio and a stipend. The artwork created during the residency was included in a solo exhibit, according to a release.
“Talia Dudley’s work invites the viewer to step into space with her. Using the sparest of means, white lines on a black surface, she uses those lines to define architectural happenings, loosely constructed, seemingly suspended in space,” Judith Stewart of Rancho Linda Vista said in the release. “The white lines are delicate, straight or curved or scribbled into an energy field, bringing a low illumination to the surface. They gather together, establishing a presence and an identity, become the edges of platforms and walls, steps and archways, footpaths and sliding planes, leading the viewer into space. There is a feeling of ‘seeking’, and of a desire to wander to the end of what is defined and step into the unoccupied spaces beyond.” -
Dudley studied at the University of Arizona in Tucson, majoring in studio art with a focus on drawing and painting. She graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of arts degree in studio art and a minor in art history. The artist now resides in Mesa where she continues her career as a full-time studio artist.
Dudley is a conceptual abstract artist who creates drawings, paintings and digital art. She explains her conceptual artwork by saying, “My work focuses on the architecture of the unconscious and subconscious mind. Exploring different techniques, such as long gestural strokes juxtaposed with bold mark-making, helps me to create a disoriented mindscape.”
The decision to award Dudley the residency was unanimous among the jurying committee, which included artists and professors from the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Pima Community College. The application process opened in the spring to artists living in the Southwest and invited committed 2D, 3D and mixed/multimedia visual artists to apply.
The Rancho Linda Vista Arts artist-in-residence award offers artists an opportunity to create a body of work in a serene desert setting surrounded by 100 wilderness acres. Following the trails of this vast open space became the inspiration behind Dudley’s new artworks that were created during the residency and which are now on exhibit, the release states.
The work she created is titled, “Little Trails” and reflects the artist’s movement, meditation and focus over the past month on the ranch.
The artist explains her inspiration for these new works, “When I first came to the ranch, I was enchanted to see veins of trails connecting the community to itself and the desert. Sometimes the trails reached far into the desert, other times they pulled me back to where I’d been before, connecting like a thread. Occasionally, I was so focused that I started following little trails away from my destination. Unknowingly, back in the present, I would look around, realizing I was not where I was supposed to be. That left me wondering where exactly I was supposed to be, and I discovered that sauntering on the trails was how I was meant to spend my time here.”
Dudley is an accomplished artist and actively exhibits her work. Her work is in several group exhibits around the Phoenix Valley that feature her art. They include group shows at Found:re Contemporary Gallery in Phoenix, Five15 Arts in Phoenix, Tempe Center for the Arts, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Dudley has had solo shows in Las Vegas and Phoenix and has exhibited widely in Arizona, Nevada and California.
