By Siera Schubach, Staff Writer

Published in print Sept. 24, 2014

“I was accidentally forced into this,” says Alison Lindley, with a laugh. “It took me a long time to figure out what I was interested in.” 

A painting major at UNCG, Alison says describing her style is difficult. “It’s easier done then said,” she smiles. “I don’t plan out my work, I just work until I figure it out.”

Her current style is a combination of many interests.

“I am very interested in the human form… and things that weave, intertwine and tangle together,” Lindley explains.

Her latest piece is a combination of just those things. Woven from different paintings, her art combines images of the human form intertwined with landscapes and greenery.

“You can see an arm here, and a foot, and a bit of the torso right there,” she says, pointing to the nude colors amongst the green and blue.

Alison discovered her talent for weaving when she had to make her own canvas about a year ago. It was through the process of learning to weave together fabric that Alison found her gift.

“Artists have to be constantly evolving,” she says. “You have to be a practitioner, constantly learning.” And that doesn’t always mean that things run smoothly. “I give up a lot,” she says, smiling. “But I always come back. Sometimes you just have to walk away.”

Her current painting hangs on her piece of wall on the second floor of the Gatewood Studio Arts Building.

“I like working in the hallway and seeing everyone else’s work,” she says. “We learn a lot from each other.”

Alison encourages UNCG student to visit her and other artists in Gatewood. “We are so divided [at UNCG] and I think it is important we all talk to each other and wander into each other’s buildings.”

A great start, Alison suggests, would be for students to visit the current exhibit at the Gatewood Art Gallery where she is an intern.

This is Alison’s last year at UNCG, and after taking a year off from school, she plans to continue her education. “No one becomes a painting major for the money. It’s not a job, it just becomes you; what you do and who you are.”

For more information about the Gatewood Art Gallery and its current exhibit “Lift Every Voice and Sing: The Quilts of Gwendolyn Ann Magee” visit http://www.uncg.edu/art/exhibitions/gatewood.html.