About

Constance Moore Simon.

Connie has an M.F.A. from Syracuse University and a B.F.A from Cleveland Institute of Art. She has been exhibiting her paintings and drawings for 50 years in solo and group shows across the country. The Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA purchased one of her paintings for their permanent collection in 2006.

She is the two-time recipient of the prestigious Individual Artists Fellowship Grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, one in 1993 and another 2020. Her paintings and drawings have been featured in national art magazines such as Artists’ Magazine and American Artist.

Connie recently moved to Silver Spring, MD after retiring from 21 years of teaching in the Fine Arts and Foundations Dept. of the Delaware College of Art and Design in Wilmington, DE. Before that, she had a long career of teaching since 1972 at University of DE, Delaware Art Museum, Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cazenovia College, and Syracuse University. In retirement, she is focusing on her painting, her family, and her love of exercise and the outdoors.

STATEMENTS

Artist’s Statement

I have been working in the medium of gouache paint since 2001. Before that, I
worked in charcoal and graphite and eventually colored pencil as I developed an
interest in color that led me to begin painting.

Grid series:

Each of my most recent paintings is based on a grid structure. I find the grid to be an appealing scaffold upon which to play with variations of pattern, color, light, and volume. The grid serves as a unifying starting theme for me as it does in the many tile and textile patterns that attract me, such as Islamic tile patterns and African kente cloth from Ghana.

Although there are no longer representational objects in my paintings as there once were, observation of the visual world is still an important part of my process.The play of light and color on the geometric forms in the world around me is a constant inspiration.

Tape Paintings:

The paintings presented in this section represent a group of trompe-l’oeil images evolved from an earlier still-life style. My attraction to geometric patterns was explored in these paintings and eventually became my main focus. I am especially intrigued by a tension between flat 2D patterns and realistic 3D effects.

Arches series:

I am drawn to architecture as a source of appealing geometric shapes and patterns. I have been adding arch shapes to my grids as a motif. The arch is in itself a beautiful shape that additionally echoes with overtones of history and culture that resonate with me.