“Ornament and Artifact”
New Mixed Media Paintings
by Kate Steiger

The new exhibit,“Ornament and Artifact,” at Fraker/Scott Gallery features richly colored mixed media paintings with intricate layers of metallic embossing, block printing and collage. Inspired by a recent trip to Beijing, Kate Steiger continues her exploration of symbols and ornament as carriers of meaning, revealing the effects of time and history, while reflecting the power, privilege and ruined glory of the past.

“Visually these ornamental elements are stunning. They also present a dichotomy between what is beautiful and opulent, and serious symbols of power. This is the essence of China still.”
- Kate Steiger

Forbidden City 4
36 x 36 - mixed media

Guardians of the Palace
24 x 24 - mixed media

The Great Wall
48 x 72 - mixed media

Tapestry of Good Fortune
36 x 48 - mixed media

The Temple of Heaven
36 x 48 - mixed media

Chinese Lanterns
30 x 40 - mixed media

Behind the Doors
12 x 12 - mixed media

Blue Dragons
24 x 30 - mixed media

Within
12 x 12 - mixed media

Lama Temple and Ginkgo Trees
36 x 36 - mixed media

Lama Temple and Golden Leaves
36 x 48 - mixed media

Lama Temple, Ginkgo Leaves, November
36 x 36 - mixed media

The Forbidden City
36 x 36 - mixed media

The Golden Lock
18 x 18 - mixed media

The Jade Embrace
24 x 24 - mixed media

Imperial Garden Lotus Blossom
30 x 40 - mixed media

Chinese Lantern
12 x 12 - mixed media

Lock and Chain
12 x 12 - mixed media

The Jade Dragon
24 x 24 - mixed media

    
 

Buried Treasure Series

In this series of new mixed media paintings, Steiger explores and transforms the symbols, artifacts and ornaments of ancient cultures. By revealing and then concealing, the artist uses sanding, erasure and reworking to fragment and abstract the motifs. The images are thereby altered into an entirely unique aesthetic vocabulary.

Using the contours of the Amphorae from Crete and Turkey as inspiration, Kate Steiger composes her paintings in layers, assembling archaeological elements from diverse worlds—carved Egyptian panels, Assyrian friezes, Byzantine icons and Asian scrolls, editing and changing the elements to make them her own.

Steiger describes her new work as “part memory and part imagination” and by examining these buried treasures, she brings the past into the present.

Amphorae
24 x 24 - mixed media

Ancient Promises
36 x 48 - mixed media

Buried Treasure
24 x 24 - mixed media

China Trade
12 x 12 - mixed media

Cultivation
12 x 12 - mixed media

The Dragon’s Promise
12 x 12 - mixed media

The Emperor's Garden
36 x 36 - mixed media

Envoy
11 x 14 - mixed media

The Forbidden Garden
36 x 36 - mixed media

Happiness Jar
24 x 24 - mixed media

Harmony
24 x 24 - mixed media

Imari Legend
18 x 36 - mixed media

Marrakesh
12 x 12 - mixed media

Memories of Pompeii
12 x 12 - mixed media

Neptune’s Vessel
36 x 36 - mixed media

Ornament & Artifact
36 x 36 - mixed media

Phaestus
30 x 40 - mixed media

Portal
36 x 48 - mixed media

Precious Cargo
30 x 40 - mixed media - BEST OF SHOW

Recollection
12 x 12 - mixed media

Reliquary
12 x 12 - mixed media

Uncovering the Sun
36 x 36 - mixed media
 

Other Mixed Media

Cupid's Arrow
12 x 12 - mixed media

Music Memories
24 x 24 - mixed media

Equus
12 x 12 - mixed media

Mosaic, Moroccan Series
12 x 12 - mixed media

Amazing Grace
12 x 12 - mixed media

China Trade
30 x 30 - mixed media

Memento Series, Oranges
24 x 24 - mixed media

Lemons, Pompeii Series
12 x 12 - mixed media

  
 

Celebration Series

Celebration #1
12 x 24 - mixed media

Celebration #2
12 x 24 - mixed media

Celebration #3
12 x 24 - mixed media