Piece description from the artist
Rhapsody on the Sea incorporates the information gleaned from several studio experiments with acrylics, acrylic media, and media that mix well with acrylic. The earlier studio experiments suggested some new ideas to try and incorporate.
In other works extruded transparent and translucent media were layered over and under liquid media of varying transparency, translucency and tint. This approach creates a transparent paint film with a tangible depth. Ghostly textures can be incorporated into the transparent film by layering extruded heavy gels under the more liquid media. Marbled effects are achieved by tinting liquid media. Combinations of metallic paint, powder and foil create active metallic areas with a lot of movement.
These ideas are all incorporated into Rhapsody on the Sea, creating an abstracted seascape that is textured, turbulent, full of soft detail down to the microscopic level, active and changeable.
New ideas are incorporated as well.
Areas of the “sand” were built up using large flat mica flakes mixed with soft gel medium. The flat mica flakes naturally form irregular stacks and they have a soft almost metallic sheen. When combined with the metallic foil gilt and painted surface of the shore line in Rhapsody, they create interesting textural contrasts. Gilding with foil on top of portions of the mica stacks helps integrate the metallic and mica textures and keeps the light moving.
Silver foil was applied on top of rake textured gesso in areas of the sea. Blue tones representing water were added in layers of tinted and textured liquid and gel media. Silver colored metal leaf was incorporated in areas in between the transparent blue layers. The wrinkling and high reflectivity of the metal leaf reflects light and casts it into the paint film, creating a subtle water-like shimmer in places.
Shellac inks were added to change the mixing behavior in layers of color where marbled effects were engineered in. Glass beads were used as both texture elements (flow manipulators) and as light reflectors.
Dr. Regina Valluzzi has an extensive scientific background in nanotechnology and biophysics. She has been a scientist in the chemical industry, a green chemistry researcher, a research professor at the engineering school at Tufts, a start-up founder engaged in technology commercialization, and a start-up and commercialization consultant.
Even during periods of intense activity as a scientist, Dr. Valluzzi has always held a strong interest in the visual arts and in visual information. While she majored in Materials Science at MIT, she also obtained a second degree in music and a minor in visual studies. Visual arts have managed to permeate her technical work; during her Ph.D in Polymer Science and Engineering at UMass Amherst, she completed a thesis that required advanced electron microscopy, image analysis, and theoretical data modeling. These experiences provided the visual insight and information that now influences much of her artwork.
Dr. Valluzzi’s work has been included in private collections across the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai and Malta, and in the corporate collection of "Seyfarth Shaw" Boston law offices around Boston. She has a selection of pieces on loan to the MIT Materials Science and Engineering Department as indoor public art. Her accomplishments include having published thirty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, having made several scientific patents, having been a subject matter expert for an encyclopedia chapter, and having been invited to speak at science talks across the US, Europe, and Japan.
Her newsletter is a good source of ongoing information: http://eepurl.com/daiLQ
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