Strongheart The Artist<title> <style type="text/css">  </style>  </head> <body>  <table width=”700" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4" border=”5”> <td width="450"><p align="center"><img src="images/me22.jpg" width="149" height="172"></p> <div align="justify"> <p></p> <p align="center"><strong><font size="5">The Artist - Alexah Strongheart</font></strong></p> <p><br><font size="3"></b> For the past 20+ years I work in the financial planning and securities industry, crunching numbers and watching the stock market. (<a href="http://www.strongheartfinancial.com" target="_self">www.StrongheartFinancial.com</a>) For many of those years I have searched for that perfect creative outlet – a way to access and train the other side of my brain. <br><br> One day in the Spring of 2002, during a cleaning and organizing frenzy, I decided to attach a bunch of interestingly shaped and textured items I had collected, onto what I thought would be one-third of a wood screen I would use to hide clutter. The process ended up taking several months, but I fell in love with the texture... both visual and tactile... and the process, and was hooked. I worked on this almost non-stop in the evenings and weekends, much to the detriment of my yard and garden. <br><br> The cold weather made it difficult to work with the adhesives due to the ventilation requirements, and I became bored. That winter a friend introduced me to Encaustic (the art of painting with wax), and I had a new obsession! I began showing my work the fall of 2003, and was accepted into one of the top ten art shows in the country the next year. The constant art shows during the summers began to take a toll on the “fun” of art, and by the end of 2005, I decided it was time to focus on my Cultural Artifact Art again. <br><br> In early 2006, I was given the award for the Most Artistic Creations using junk, by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and also had a gallery showing of both my Encaustic Paintings and Cultural Artifact Art at the Canton Area Arts Council in Canton, MO <br><br> Why use the term “Cultural Artifact Art” versus the better-known “found object?” Well, I believes that the junk used offers a view of how our culture views items (and in some manner, ourselves), and speaks to the current society. <br><br> I'm often asked if I begin each piece -- either painting or Cultural Artifact Art -- with a particular image in mind. Often times the answer is "yes", however, I am learning to trust the creative process and not try to control the piece's journey to completion - sometimes a real challenge for a number-cruncher like me. <br> </div> <p align="center"><font color="#00000F"> <a href="index.html" target="_self"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">HOME</a> * <a href="theartist.htm" target="_self">The Artist</a> * <a href="theart.htm" target="_self">Encaustic Art</a> * <a href="gallery.html" target="_self">Stores</a> * <a href="foundobject.html" target="_self">Cultural Artifact Art (CAA)</a> * <a href="CAAgallery.htm" target="_self">CAA Gallery</a> <br><br> <font="2"></font><font size = “2”> <p class="red"> Copyright © 2003 - 2008, C. Alexah Strongheart, All Rights Reserved. </p></div> </tr> </table> </td> </table> </body> </html>