About the Artist
Meta Dunkly Arnold is an assemblage and mixed media artist working and teaching in central New Jersey. Meta has exhibited at the West Windsor Arts Center, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Peddie School, and Abstract Expressions gallery in Mount Holly. Kinetic, three-dimensional pieces share the experience of discovery, inviting viewers to participate by revealing hidden layers.
Artist Statement
I work mainly in mixed media: found-object assemblage, collage,
and art journals.
Many of my assemblage pieces are kinetic and interactive, inviting
the audience to share my creative process of discovery by physically opening up new dimensions. Often resembling miniature stage sets, houses and architectural settings, or tableaux, the scenes also demand the imaginative completion of a suggested narrative.
I repurpose everyday objects to convey a sense of surprise at beauty hidden in plain sight. My art is influenced by childhood, motherhood, and my previous career as a teacher of literature. Much of my inspiration comes from the materials themselves, and the exploration of texture, color, and scale that they offer.
My work investigates the line between trash and treasure, child and adult, inside and outside, the hidden and the revealed.