In describing her work, Straussberg says: “As an artist, my materials and how I use them, are the essence of my art. I am always looking for new ways to apply the paint. Painting and drawing work in unison to form a complete and truthful painting. The act of painting is a personal journey to find out how I can more fully express my response to my surroundings. Subconsciously, I draw from nature and the world around me to record in a personal language what I see and feel through paint. Color is my primary form of expression, but I also rely on line, form, surface texture, pattern and collage.
Along with my paintings, I produce a series of works on paper which inspire and inform my paintings. There is a unique dialogue between the two forms, which is integral to the development of my entire body of work. I employ a variety of techniques in applying the paint such as dripping, rubbing, and scratching. The tools I use to paint can be as simple and immediate as my fingers and paper rags, which bring me in direct contact with my medium. I am ultimately concerned with my relationship to the painted surface.
Most recently, I’ve been exploring a new form of paperwork called Joomchi. Joomchi is an ancient Korean paper-manipulating technique where the artist works layers of Hanji paper together while wet to form one sheet of paper. In my Joomchi pieces, I layer my own lithographic prints of photographs from nature and embed them in the Hanji paper. I roll the paper with my hands, feet & arms to both bind the paper fibers together and open up the paper to create transparency. Additional fragments of paper lithographs are incorporated into the layers using a collage technique. I approach Joomchi from a painterly background. My focus is on the potential of the paper to reveal the printed image underneath and provide visual interest through texture, lace and line.”
