Cinamon Dorr Airhart
Biography
Cinamon Dorr Airhart grew up in Alabama with parents and grandparents who all worked with their hands—from farming to masonry and construction, painting and woodworking to metal machining. Airhart graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Art from Auburn University in 2006 and spent a decade working in the gallery industry before crossing over to her own studio full-time. Her upbringing, academic training, and professional experience have cultivated a discerning eye for design and craftsmanship. Airhart’s mixed media work is represented in numerous private collections and has been described as ethereal or sublime, blurring lines between photography, drawing and painting.
Grid series
My subject matter is varied—from ephemeral nature to landscape or architectural scenes, I am fascinated with views that whisper the mystical or spiritual, or simply suggest an imagined narrative or history.
My original photographs are printed on film using archival pigment inks. The inks are transferred by hand onto the panel before layers of acrylic, pastels, oil, wax, and other media are applied. The grid is the result of multiple transfers to a single substrate. It provides a surface disruption, sometimes furthered by crazing in the medium and incongruous areas created during pigment transfer. I experiment with the push and pull of the gridlines. Some lines are accentuated, while others are blended back into the image; some are painted over altogether, while others are left as is.
The photograph is just the starting point for me—through the transfer and creative process, I aim to construct scenes that exist not so much in reality, but rather in dreams, memory or imagination.
Dreamways series
Inspired by my larger Grid works, Dreamways are small, collectable gateways to the imagination. My original photographs are printed on film using archival pigment inks. Each image is uniquely transferred by hand onto a 6 x 8 inch museum-quality panel and finished with a UV-protective coating, acrylic sealer and wax varnish. The dreamlike quality of each image is enhanced by ink runs, air bubbles, subtle crackles, and a soft, light-reflective surface. Enjoy your collection as a wall installation or as stand-alone art on a mantel or desk… pleasant dreams!