color / movement / shadow / language / light
These define my work, whether I'm photographing the streets of New York City, designing a custom wedding invitation, or painting with pigmented wax. I love the unexpected moment when bodies become silhouettes in the sunlight, when the edge of the ink defines a sensuous new shape, when that last perfect detail makes a page design pop. I strive for a visual feast – sometimes lavish, sometimes spare, but always beautiful. I'm inspired by the enigma and visual evocations I find in W.S. Merwin's poetry and Joni Mitchell's lyrics, and in music from plainchant to Poulenc. I love color juxtapositions that surprise and the trace of the process in every piece.
Although my personal artwork began with photography, my increasing love of the abstract drew me away from making photographs until the merging of cameras and computers. Digital photography – even when not manipulated after the initial image – offers an explosion of possibilities for the kind of spontaneous art-making I love. Experiments with pinhole and various digital cameras taught me to focus on form, color, and movement, rather than reproducing a view realistically.
When movement is introduced to the equation of light and space, the results are always unexpected and often enigmatic. Capturing motion through light and space is the current focus of my work; through it I hope to convey something of the ineffable beauty around me.
LeeAnne Mallonee began her art career in photography in 1990. She studied drawing, painting, and printmaking at the University of Maine and elsewhere before specializing in calligraphy and graphic design. She now operates Ink Stone Studio, a freelance design and letter arts studio in Bangor, Maine. Her commercial work includes logos and letterheads, commissioned wedding invitations, guest books, and other wedding work, event posters and programs, CD covers, and one-of-a-kind wall pieces. Her personal artwork utilizes many different media, including photography, caran d’ache, and encaustic painting.