Blog: Dotted Dashed Lines in Christine Alfery's Artwork aka Are We Connected

A Facebook follower asked “Can you comment as to the recurring "dotted/dashed line" that appears in numerous works? Is it a representation of anything? Is it a recurring spontaneous action?”

The short answer is yes and yes. A majority of my work is a recurring spontaneous action – and my marks also have meaning. The first time I made those marks I was trying to cover up a mistake in a work. I liked them so I put them in other works.

I believe we all have unique histories, so they must have come from somewhere. I think these marks may have been influenced by my time as a docent at the Chasen Museum in Madison. They had a major exhibition of artifacts from the Ivory Coast where checkerboards are everywhere - clothes, furniture, walls, masks everything. So perhaps that is where the started.

Since then my dotted/dashed lines have taken on their own meaning in my work. They happened, I liked them, so I repeated them and now they appear in most of my work. For me they represent movement – like the wind in the sky, the wind in tall grasses, figures walking. There is always a curve – they are never truly straight – to leave the impression of movement.