Sense of Place

By June Gerteisen

In 2003 I moved to Alaska from Northern California where I am originally from. In 2020, I came upon pastel sketches I had made in 2000 when I lived in my artist's loft in the SOMA area of San Francisco. The sketches were of window frames, buildings, and the skyline. I particularly liked the antennas - a relic of the past. I also came upon a series of photo collages I had created even longer ago while I was living in Germany.

Those earlier explorations are the basis of my Sense of Place series as are my life experiences of living in different places, and learning new cultures, customs, and languages. Those experiences combined with my education and work background influence my creative process, self-expression, and sense of place.

My career as a graphic designer is also evident in my use of typography in some of the paintings. The lettering is based on the FF Transit font designed by MetaDesign of Berlin, Germany and plays just as an important role in those pieces as do the colors, textures, and forms in defining the sense of place for those pieces.

My style lies somewhere between the two extremes of abstract expressionism and realism. I sometimes only use a palette knife, because I appreciate the unexpected textures, imperfections, spontaneity, and sense of freedom it allows.