Artist StatementI remember the first time I died. I was 12 and understood I needed to break from the applied and determined behavior expected of me and fly, however foolish, into the unknown of myself. I began reading Issac Asimov and Edgar Rice Burroughs, writers who, through their fantastical stories, opened a new world of thinking. I began to question and wonder. I stopped looking through the eyes of my parents and opened my own. As a child I lived in my head, telling stories to my imaginary mirror twin, Ila. Today I splash my stories across canvas and paper. I have a glorious impulse to fly / to stretch / to greet the mysterious mirage, greater than the sum of all my human efforts. Art is my oasis. It flows from known and unknown sources recognized in my deepest subconsciousness. Pluming those strata is the marketplace of my dreams and imagination. I believe we all came here with a unique song to sing; we just need the courage to open our throats. ProcessIt begins with random splashes of paint, dragged, rolled and dripped across the canvas. Working on impulse, a foundation of colorful what ifs begins to cover the surface and I look for shapes which I carefully define with edges. I am searching for juxtapositions of the unexpected within the tension and harmony of the shapes. My tools include cheap and fine brushes, scrapers, sponges, pastels, inks and architectural tracing paper. The paper serves a dual purpose. First, I use it to lift off wet paint from the canvas, creating unique textures and lines. After several color applications, the papers become stories of their own and I reuse these pieces to collage back into the paintings. Over time, my canvases become like cats, quiet, mysterious changelings with many lives. Eve Ozer’s work is in private collections throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. And part of the permanent collection of the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL. She has received numerous awards including Best Of Show and First Place. EDUCATIONAtlantic Center for the Arts, Smyrna Beach, FLAhaa School of the Arts, Telluride, COCullowhee Mountain Arts, Sylva, NCTaos, NMThe Bascom Center for the Visual Arts, Highlands, NC