About the Artist
Meta Dunkly Arnold is an assemblage and mixed media artist working and teaching in central New Jersey. Meta has exhibited recently at Studio Montclair, the Monmouth Museum, the Arts Council of Princeton, the West Windsor Arts Center, AOY in Yardley, PA, and River Arts gallery in Damariscotta, Maine. She teaches at Art Sparks Studio and West Windsor Arts.
Teaching and studio practice are both integral parts of Meta's artistic mission. Her three-dimensional, often kinetic 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 by physically opening up new dimensions. Other works present tableaux-- often resembling miniature architectural or stage settings-- which function as story prompts, demanding the viewer's imaginative completion of a suggested narrative. These small worlds offer new perspectives on history and art history.
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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, time, 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.