New ICB Artist spotlight: Lora Arbrador
See her work at the ICB Winter Open Studios Dec. 6,7 and 8 - 480 Gate 5 Road, Sausalito.
Lora Arbrador, a new face at the ICB, uses Egg Tempera, the technique perfected by the Byzantine icon painters.
Lora was fascinated with the egg tempera technique after an introduction to the medium in a Material Painting class in college over 30 years ago. "I was given a one page hand out with instructions about how to paint in egg tempera. The teacher knew nothing about it but since it was a historical medium he felt everyone needed to try it. Although my first experiments were very coarse, I fell in love with the medium and have struggled with it ever since. I mostly taught myself from Daniel V Thompson's book, "The Practice of Tempera" and from the 15th century manual by Cennino Cennini called "Il Libro dell' Arte" or The Craftsman's Handbook."
In the 1990's she came across an article in "American Artist" magazine called, "One Egg, Over Medium: The Struggle to Master Egg Tempera Painting" by Dianne Mitchell Ball. She wrote to the author and within weeks was taking a workshop with her. "That is when I finally started understanding the medium." Starting in 2006 she took three workshops with Koo Schadler who is a master of the technique. Lora now gives lectures about the history of tempera called, "Botticelli's Forgotten Medium - Egg Tempera Past and Present" and is the co-fouder of the Society of Egg Tempera Painters and founder of www.eggtempera.com.
While Lora's technique is classic, her subject matter is contemporary and partly inspired by her part time work as a registered nurse. Her subjects include daring portrayals of the life of the body including, menstruation, lactation, elimination, romance and sexuality.
Her recent exploration "Ways of Dying" was inspired by friends and patients who died during the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. Yet, perhaps because of the luminous colors and delicate surface produced by the Egg Tempera technique, the work, which may appear sacrilegious to some viewers, takes on a sacred ambience.
Visit Lora Arbrador and explore her work with Egg Tempera at ICB Winter Open Studios Dec 6, 7 and 8 in studio 345A. She will be doing a demo of Egg Tempera technique at 2pm on both Sat and Sun.
"Factory 45 - Artist exposed"
Here is Lora's Screen test for the group installation in Gallery 111:
You Tube Video of Lora
For more information about Lora visit:
http://www.arbrador.com/
