Patterns #13

Anna Alfredson’s work is typically guided by the systems and structures she notices in her environment. Her inspirational sources have included interpersonal connections between groups of people, the cellular formations at a microscopic level, the reforming of land by a river, the development and erosion of language, and even sets of sewing instructions. She is awed by these structures and grapples with their complexity. Studying these, Anna finds the structure for her imagery. She takes the bones of a system and creates her own vision upon it. Anna then digs into the reconfigured framework and defines new caverns and boundary lines between them. Employing natural materials in the process helps to maintain a connection to the natural world. Delicate papers, fibers, wax, or flowing water media are often used in a manner that intentionally leaves their natural quality, their inherent structure, visible. Her process is a meditative one. Each artwork is a new terrain to be explored. Each small step within it determines the path forward. Abstract and enigmatic, Anna’s work invites her viewers to puzzle out its origins, dig through its layers and search for recognizable features that might connect to the world around them.