For the images I produce as an artist, I have conducted research in Niger, West Africa, where I lived for three years. My art involves an exploration of the Nigerien landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures, and the art forms they create. This abstract work portrays ritual and tradition in Nigerien culture.
To create my imagery, I work from a variety of references. Relationships among color, shape, and texture come together to form fluid and grid-like compositions. Color dominates the images and dictates the media I employ to produce them. Drawing, painting, mixed media, and collage are the focus of my artistic repertoire.
Gretchen Beck served for eleven years as Chair of the Art Department, Professor of Art, and Curator at Concordia University, Irvine, CA. She is currently a professional artist who exhibits and discusses her work in both juried group and solo exhibitions, nationally and internationally.
Recent juried exhibitions include the Women in Art Fair at Mall Galleries, London, England (October 2024); the Battersea Autumn Art Fair, London, England (October 2024); and the 62nd National Juried Exhibition at the Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA (October 2024). In addition, Beck has exhibited her artwork at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts Gallery in Sebastopol, CA; Webster Arts Gallery in Webster Groves, MO; the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art in Washington, DC; and Art Scene West in San Diego, CA.
In rural Niger, West African village men travel to coastal countries such as Ghana, Benin, and Togo in search of work by the Gulf of Guinea. During the cold season, they sell items such as brightly colored fabric, cassette tapes, and hand soap to raise extra funds for their families. At this time of year, the skies are gray due to the cold that has settled over the region—reminiscent of the muted backgrounds in these art pieces.
The marketplaces where they work are filled with remnants of paper from discarded packages and swatches of fabric, much like the collage materials used in these mixed-media artworks. The colors and textures found in this imagery reflect the vibrant atmosphere of West Africa and the energy of this line of work. These pieces would be perfectly suited for display in a contemporary art gallery along the Pacific Coast of Southern California.
When I first moved to a rural village as a volunteer in the Sahel Desert in southwestern Niger, I threw myself deeply into a new artistic process. I was deeply inspired to create mixed-media collages from materials like bits of fabric, plastic and tin dishware and woven mats that I found in the fields in the region.
During the afternoons, I would sit in the shade and work on large scale art pieces with these materials. New friends from the village would stop by to see what I was working on. “Ifo no ne go ga te da takarada? Ni go ga te fou goy. Nda nwaray nda noru. Ifo no?” which in the language of Djarma means, “What are you doing with this rubbish? It’s not food or money, so what is it? You are doing fool’s work.” I didn’t like being scolded, and I felt guilty. So, I didn’t work on my artwork for some time.
In 2024 my husband’s company was acquired, and as he looked for a new position, it brought up similar feelings for me as I worked on a new series of collage art pieces. I created this series with my own materials and collage bits that my mother who is also an artist gave me. There is a great deal of discipline in the geometrical imagery, which reflects my current life perspective. Although there is a sense of control in the art pieces, the images were created in a quick and spontaneous fashion due to the limited time I would allow myself to make this art.
In a similar vein, many Nigeriens must save, reuse, and mend broken materials to give assurance to their uncertain lives in the ever-changing Sahel desert.
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