This section contains some of Sal's earliest paintings. She
presents them here to give an idea of what formed her views
on art and how these views affected her work. We hope you
enjoy these early works and take time to explore Sal's
artistic roots.
Cross Cultural
The
Cross Cultural series is figurative
and deals with the blending of cultures, spirituality,
sensuality, and personas. This series strives to
integrate Sal's physical and emotional travels through
ancient landscapes inhabited by classical and modern
imagery. The work spans time with imagery blending the
past and future together in a harmonious, disturbing,
familiar, yet otherworldly present.
The paintings and drawings represented in this series are
laden with images expressing the ocean of dichotomies in
which we swim, making choices which appear unimportant but
are in the end life shaping events. The real and the unreal
collide; a human turns into a sculpture or is it a stone
coming alive? A Greek mask becomes a vase. The real becomes
the unreal and vice versa.
The process Sal employed in creating these pieces parallels
the imagery used. Paintings are done, then done over. The
surfaces of the paintings are scarred and abraded. Charcoal
is layered and rubbed, leaving ghostly images. This aging
process exposes glimpses of under-paintings and colors,
revealing earlier work which becomes part of the new. She
moves forward and back then forward again, leaving behind
bits and pieces that reemerge at later stages. Sal destroys
and rebuilds the work in an effort to ultimately arrive at
the primary mystery through the clarity of painting.
The importance of staying true to oneself, always keeping
sight of spiritual and emotional needs is what drives Sal.
Discovering, rediscovering, and refining that which is
essential for her own vision of the world. But in the end,
her primal impulse is simply to paint, not to plan. The
universe is abundant in the unconscious mind, the
synchronous mind: the collective mind knows all. To be
there is the thing.
Click here to visit the Cross Cultural
gallery
Gods and Goddesses
Sal's
Gods and Goddesses series is
celebration of life and the human form. She brings out
the beauty of life through vivid color and imagery of
motion and alure.
Click here to visit the Goddesses and Gods
gallery
New Beginnings
"
New Beginnings" contains a collection
of Sal's floral and landscapes works which were very
popular and sold out quickly. These works are unusual
for Sal, because they are non-controversial and not
confrontational. She did them partly as her proof of
being a commercial artist and partly as an exploration
of Nature.
Click here to visit the New Beginnings
gallery
Kids on the Beach
"
Kids on the Beach" is an examination
of an inner landscape during a time of transition.
Separation, discovery, renewal and reunification
describe the journey taken by the artist in search of a
true understanding of herself and her children during
divorce. Vital color and children are captured in
spontaneous motion to create a sense of exhilaration and
freedom in these paintings where emotions are at the
heart. In contrast, backgrounds and texturized surfaces
hint at uncertainty, change, volatility and the
ethereal. Layered images create an opportunity for
abstraction which is explored, with surprisingly
powerful and evocative finds made along the way.
Confidence, sensitivity, strength and passion bond together
in explosive color. Strom's return to her childhood home on
the Oregon Coast, after years of absence, have been
incorporated in this series about childhood and redefining
the outlines of life.
Click here to visit the Kids on the Beach
gallery
A.R.T.
A.R.T. came to life as Sal was
struggling to bring life into the world. After several
failed natural pregnancies, she tried
invitro
fertilization as a last resort for having a baby. The
works in this series represent her difficulties and
frustrations, incorporating some of the very implements
used in her attempts to conceive. Ultimately the IVF
process was unsuccessful, leading Sal to adopt a child
that has brought great joy to her life.
Click here to visit the A.R.T.
gallery
