Chadwick Tolley

BIOGRAPHY

Chad teaches Printmaking and Drawing at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. He exhibits widely across the United States and won various awards for his work including a Purchase Award in the Atlanta Print Biennial, a Purchase Prize in the “Ink and Clay” exhibit in Pomona, CA, the C.G. Metals Purchase Prize from the Boston Print Biennial and a Best in Show award from the Oso Bay North American Printmaking Exhibition. His work is also included in several public collections in the United States, the Guandong Museum of Art in China and the Jordanian National Gallery of Art in Amman, Jordan.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Each piece begins as an idea or a desire to explore one of the many technical aspects of printmaking. I start by collecting images, sketches and textures and use these to begin creating prints, drawings or collages. As I develop the image, I try to avoid planning too far ahead by intuitively responding to each step of the process. I deliberately leave evidence of deletions, corrections or accumulation of marks as a form of documentation and evidence of the process.

I am interested in making art that suggests a narrative. I do not intend to create autobiographical images but through the process of developing meaning, I often use my own personal experience as a point of reference. I hope that by examining my own experience, I can connect or relate to something universal. As I work to resolve images, personal imagery will emerge but it should be ambiguous enough to allow for personal interpretation.