Lena Wolff is an artist based in San Francisco. I came across her work on the internet and loved the geometric pattern, simplicity and rich tones. Lena is formally trained in fine art, however she describes her work as coming from a ‘realm where art, design and craft intersect’. She attributes her early influences and interest in craft to the beautiful things made by hand by her forebears.

Her work is dynamic in its rhythm and geometric pattern, but there is a quiet stillness also. I like the flatness – the art sits on the surface rather than emanating from hidden depths. The richness for me lies in the tonal colour and composition.

Her work, which is mainly collage, incorporates geometric abstractions, revealing pattern and form. Much of her iconic imagery is derived from early American quilt making from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She describes her work as grounded in ‘tradition and democracy’. The Black Dahlia, for example, is a variation on a pattern – Golden Dahlia – which was popular in the United States in the 1930s. There are clear links from then to now: ‘historical connections across time and between disciplines of artistic practice’.

Find out more about Lena’s work here and her online shop here

Found, 2010

paper collage with powdered graphite watercolor, gouache, hole-punched and hand-cut paper, 12 x 30 inches

Vine with Moons and Red Sun, 2011

paper collage with watercolor, gouache, hole punch and hand-cut paper, 39 x 30 inches

Black Dahlia, 2012

letterpress relief print, edition of 40, 13 x 12.5 inches, made at Kala Art Institute on a Vanercook Letterpress

White Owl Branch, 2007

paper collage with powdered graphite, pinpricks, watercolor, gouache, hole punch and hand-cut paper, 30 x 22 inches