Individual Expression

…there was a long time when I wasn’t completely satisfied with what I was doing…not that I didn’t think each collage was good, but they didn’t have the message…finally, when I felt I had the message, then I thought, okay, now.

~Hannelore Baron

Making art is like a conversation for me. As I work I converse with the piece and the piece converses with me. I hope to communicate my message through the work.

If I am lucky the work tells me what it needs. Once the painting or collage is complete, I hope the conversation continues between the work and the viewer, and on some level between the viewer and the maker.


Sometimes that awareness of the message, the conversation, can distract me from the elements that go into a work of art. The techniques, the design and the craftsmanship remain important, and I must remember that part too.


I’ve been trying to move to another level with my work, one with the message and the craftsmanship equally expressed. I have tried a number of ideas and approaches to my current subject matter. Each experiment has been worth while. I think I have found my direction, although I’m at the beginning of this series.

We make art because we have to! We have no choice but to express ourselves visually. We share our visions, our sensitivities, and our compassion. We share our agony, our wrath and our frustrations. Through our art we lay ourselves out on paper for all the world to see. When we exhibit our work, others can explore and experience our beliefs, our reactions, our biases, our loves and our spiritual beings. It takes special people to share themselves with others in such personal ways, and such people are called artists.

~Gerald. F. Brommer


These two small studies are satisfying to me. I can work from this place. The working title for the series is Story Line. The concept is solid and I know the message, at least at this initial level. More may be revealed to me as I work.





Mr. Brommer goes on to say of course our products have something to do with technique, decoration, craftsmanship, design and subject mater. But these are merely tools that help us create more effective art…help us communicate more articulately. What we express visually is what is within each of us, for that is the foundation and purpose of our art. We express reactions; we help others see more differently or more clearly; we assist in the recognizing of relationships. We explore visual dynamics and report on human events. We decorate surfaces and we express unbounded joy in the very act of creating. We create because it is an essential part of our lives. We cannot help but be artists…Regardless of the media, styles, size or subject matter, good art is determined by the quality and effectiveness of sincere visual expression.