In her quest to learn more about Arizona, Sahertian is working with the Arizona Preservation Foundation. “We agreed that it would be fun to begin my exploration by doing some paintings of the Most Endangered Historic Places” said Sahertian. There will be eight diptychs in this series, called LITTLE TRUTHS, each including an image of the endangered building or landmark and something personal that pertains to it.
Why does a shoemaker become a burglar? A miner become a murder? These questions intrigue Patricia Sahertian as she explores painting images of prisoners from Yuma Territorial Prison in her new series PRISON HILL.
After suffering a broken arm, experiencing Hurricane Sandy, and missing her vacation, Sahertian is working from a bit of a darker side with BROKEN STORIES.
This series, entitled ROLE REVERSAL, explores the ideas of expectations, roles and socially acceptable stereotyping. Inspired by her daughter, it holds a personal meaning for Sahertian. “Expectations from society can put a lot of pressure on anyone, which can be very hurtful,” claims Patricia.
In JUST CLOTHES Sahertian explores the idea of empty outfits once inhabited and relative material with references to clothes.
Inspired by a vintage letter from 1943, Sahertian created a cast of 20 characters from the content. Images are based on the correspondence from a mother to her son, in a series called LETTER TO EARL. Acrylic on photopaper, 3 x 3 inches. There is also a small 8″ x 8″ catalog on issuu and MagCloud of these acrylic on photopaper, 3 x 3 inches works.
Sahertian took an interest in PRISONERS from early 1900s mug shots. To complement the paintings she created a parallax scrolling “web addendum” she calls Escape Artist. A small 8″ x 8″ catalog on issuu and MagCloud of these acrylic on photopaper, 3 x 3 inches works is also available.
This series of tiny paintings is called ANTHROPOS (humankind) representing a nostalgic feeling for the mid 1900s. Acrylic on photopaper, 2.25 x 2.25 inches.
“I began the mini paintings with this series, simply called CLANN (children). My intention is to blow up and repaint these in a larger square, pushing the abstraction, and then zoom into a rectangular version even larger,” Patricia projects. Acrylic on photopaper, 2.25 x 2.25 inches. Also on issuu and MagCloud.
What do you do when your friend sends you a collection of objects that seem to spell out a murder mystery? Patricia Sahertian immediately went to the internet researching who these items might have belonged to and how this mystery might have evolved. Her second instinct was to create a series of small paintings depicting each object. Oil pastels on canvas, various sizes.
Small commissioned portraits usually start with a 3 x 3 rough sketch which is then reworked as a 6 x 6 inches acrylic on canvas.
Some newer images, featured in the bottom row, which are not part of any collection yet, close this painting page.