Roberta Ahrens’ career as a Fine Artist began 37 years ago when she arrived in San Francisco and immediately leaped into the world of creative decorative painting and finishing. She began her career with commissions for work in high-end, corporate locations such as the Westin St. Francis and Harry Denton’s and major design work South of Market at Club DV8.
In 2005, Roberta began to develop her unique style of Fine Art painting. She works on personally handmade cracked linen canvases, seeking universal themes of beauty, nature, and peace in and through the world. Her life-long love of horticulture brought her to focus on botanical subjects, diving into what she calls the architecture of nature. Roberta paints primarily in acrylics and watercolors and then carves the pieces, etching lines into the plaster. Through these works, she seeks to call attention to the beauty inherent in the natural world.
Recently Roberta has become intrigued by the forms and structures that manifest themselves in bodies of water. Using her same cracked linen materials, her most recent work is an exploration of these forms and expresses a feeling of elemental power. The movement of nature, of creation pushing forward, is empowering in a way, and at a time, when such an expression of natural elemental power is both a personal and a cultural imperative.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I have always had an affinity for the shapes, forms and colors in nature. What I call nature’s architecture. I work with the beauty of nature’s structure, it’s balance, and how one shape or form plays against the other and the power of its color. One of the influences that fuel my desire to create is having the ability to bring this beauty, this vision, to almost any size canvas. There is a certain balance in the feeling of the piece that works. To me, in a world that seems to be devolving into ugliness and divisiveness there is a deep value in calling attention to the inherent beauty of the structure and balance of nature. Whether it comes from the heart of a flower in my garden or the force of a wave rolling in from across the Pacific, the rhythms of nature carry a power I seek to convey to the world through the work I produce in my studio.
It’s a feeling that is immediate. It’s right now, bright, intense and happy. I am an art professional with over 30 years in mural painting and distinctive decorative finishes.
