Carrie Seid

Arizona artist Carrie Seid manipulates the luminosity of fine stretched silk over copper structures to create luscious, high relief wall pieces in rich, jewel-like tones. White silk whispers with hints of color like the subtle variations of the petal of a flower. Constructing her forms to catch, hold, and reflect light, Seid creates a sense of illusionistic space, focusing on light as a metaphor for hope. She carefully formulates her copper sub-structures for maximum spatial results, extruding space by tightly enveloping the form in the highly elastic fabric that belies its strength by the softness of its surface and delicacy of its coloration. The end result of her efforts is a seductive form that exudes an emotive quality by the changing nature of the light and form, depending on the viewer’s vantage point.

I want the work to affect people like music does, explains Seid. Just like music creates its own language, my work has its own intrinsic power through its references to nature, architecture, and structure painting.

– “Luminous Structure” by Julie Sasse, Curator, Tucson Museum of Art

Carrie Seid creates art that is animated by the interaction of the physicality of her materials with immateriality of light. The result is an art that uniquely occupies a zone between painting and sculpture. Formed of wood and metal, Seid’s wall-works are covered with a skin of translucent silk stretched tightly over a structure of thin metal ribs. The work comes to life when light shines through the silk and hits the base construction and reflects color back to the viewer. The physical becomes ephemeral as the work dissolves into diaphanous veils of melting color.

Carrie Seid is a nationally recognized artist with a B.F.A. from The Rhode Island School of Design and a M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Design, where she was a Merit Scholar. Carrie’s work is part of the permanent collection of the Tucson Museum of Art where she also had a solo exhibition. She’s been awarded numerous public art commissions in Arizona.