PROFILE: From Then to Now...
Born in London, growing up in an artistic Anglo-American family and educated in the United States, Ginny Aston has been involved for many years in various forms of creativity. Early in her childhood, she was exposed to the American movement of Abstract Expressionism, as her mother was a student of the legendary teacher and influential proponent of that movement, Hans Hofmann, and was also a close friend of Karl Knaths, a prominent Cubist and Modernist artist of that vibrant post-war period in New York. Having had a mother who became a very talented and successful artist in numerous media, having had a father who was a keen photographer during the early years of that discipline, and having been surrounded by art and artists throughout her youth, she developed a deep appreciation of all the arts. This early exposure to abstract art in particular has had a great impact on her own artistic expression and view of the world.
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 Still Waters
In Belgium, where she lived for many years, she studied the art of contemporary abstract weaving on upright looms, creating unique wall hangings using traditional techniques and numerous natural materials such as thickly spun wool, unspun fleece and even goat and yak hair. This interest in texture and form on a malleable support led to her studying silk painting, again in an experimental way. However, this time the magnetism of colour and the unexpected results arising from the reaction of pigment on silk when using various modern techniques completely captivated her. Soon she developed a passion for colour and for the element of surprise in her work, which are evident in her photography today. Searching for and finding small compositions in her swathes of painted silk perhaps heralded her unique way of looking at the world through her camera! |