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Maggie Clifford-Bandstra (b.1970) Bandstra is a multi-disciplinarian artist. Her paintings and pottery are nature abstracted. Her work uses movement and patterns to deliver a healing message. She encourages us to take notice of the beauty in the world around us. The unifying undercurrent in Maggie's work plays with ideas and concepts surrounding nature, healing, and the human connection. Bandstra holds an M.F.A. in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design, a Masters's in Educational Leadership from Michigan State University, and a B.S. in Education from the Loyola University of Chicago.
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Artist Statement:
Making artwork is the way that I communicate and connect with the world around me. My work's unifying undercurrent plays with ideas and concepts surrounding nature, healing, and the human connection. The paintings I make are layers of dye, ink, acrylic, and oil paints that depict abstracted forms and colors found in the natural world. The viewer might find these familiar shapes and forms going for a walk in the woods, an open field, or in a neighborhood. These mundane everyday images become joyful and rapturous on the canvas. The shapes and forms are familiar but seen in a new way. Exploring nature in this way signifies our layered human connections to the world and how we as we humans move through our lives. Being an artist that creates images that provoke a smile is a delightful privilege during these stressful days.
Creating colorful paintings and ceramics using abstracted appropriated forms from nature is what my artwork is. Using traditional techniques to prepare the substrates acknowledges the early Arts and Crafts movement's ideology. William Morris says, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." Surrounding the viewer with beautiful colors and peaceful calming forms found in nature is the purpose of this work. My Connection series is about the connections we humans have and need and how we affect one another. It began in the summer of 2020. The circles and squares are the doodles I make on my paper when I sit in meetings or classes taking notes; they help calm me. So I decided to make them big. I hope they help to calm you too.
Making artwork is the way that I communicate and connect with the world around me. My work's unifying undercurrent plays with ideas and concepts surrounding nature, healing, and the human connection. The paintings I make are layers of dye, ink, acrylic, and oil paints that depict abstracted forms and colors found in the natural world. The viewer might find these familiar shapes and forms going for a walk in the woods, an open field, or in a neighborhood. These mundane everyday images become joyful and rapturous on the canvas. The shapes and forms are familiar but seen in a new way. Exploring nature in this way signifies our layered human connections to the world and how we as we humans move through our lives. Being an artist that creates images that provoke a smile is a delightful privilege during these stressful days.
Creating colorful paintings and ceramics using abstracted appropriated forms from nature is what my artwork is. Using traditional techniques to prepare the substrates acknowledges the early Arts and Crafts movement's ideology. William Morris says, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." Surrounding the viewer with beautiful colors and peaceful calming forms found in nature is the purpose of this work. My Connection series is about the connections we humans have and need and how we affect one another. It began in the summer of 2020. The circles and squares are the doodles I make on my paper when I sit in meetings or classes taking notes; they help calm me. So I decided to make them big. I hope they help to calm you too.