Terese Garcia "Whirl in Four" Oil and Mixed Media on Wood, Abstract Relief in Ice Blue and Cream, Carmel California Art, Original 20 X 16 Inches, 2018

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Shards of ice-blue sheeting sweep diagonally across a cream ground, like a thaw breaking up on a river. Pale discs … Read more Shards of ice-blue sheeting sweep diagonally across a cream ground, like a thaw breaking up on a river. Pale discs are half-buried at the top and lower left, gray cords cross over everything, and a small patch of green-gray netting turns up near the upper right. Beneath the blue, the cream is mottled with faint peach and sand. Garcia made it in 2018 for the Interaction series, which grew from her concern about plastic waste and her wish to rework what is discarded. The drift of blue gives the dense surface a clear direction, and the eye follows it across.

The soft blue and cream make this an easy fit for a sitting room, a bedroom or a sunlit entry. Pair it with pale gray upholstery, light oak, linen drapery and brushed metal, or place it above a bench with a dark seat for contrast. The landscape format works over a sofa or a console, and the relief picks up gentle shadows from a nearby window.

Oil and mixed media on wood, 20 x 16 x 1.5 in (50.8 x 40.6 x 3.8 cm).

The Interaction series grew from Garcia's wish to make art from human-made debris, especially plastic that can no longer be used, and from her concern about plastic waste in the oceans, on land and in the air. She gathers the material, folds, binds and stitches it, and builds it up in layers, working oil and other mixed materials into it, on panel, on canvas or standing free. Her early training in stone carving shows in the relief.

Terese Garcia is a non-representational, experimental artist born in Hollywood, California, with family roots in Los Angeles County. She holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and studied fine art at Otis Parsons School of Art and Design in Los Angeles. She also studied stone carving early on, and she is a published poet.

Based on the Monterey Peninsula and a member of Open Ground Studios in Seaside, Garcia has exhibited across California and in New York, with solo shows at the Pacific Grove Art Center and in Sacramento, and was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2010. Her work is held in collections nationally. Her process is intuitive and layered, built from improvised color and marks rather than a plan. See less