Artist statement
My practice starts out at the intersection of intention and chance, where deliberate gestures meet the unpredictable behavior of water-based media. The prepared surface becomes a stage for dialogue—between pigment and paper; control and surrender. By embracing watercolor's tendency to bloom and bleed, ink's fluid wandering, and gouache's opaque interruptions, I observe how materials assert their own logic alongside my conscious decisions.
This approach reveals a deeper philosophy about creation itself: that the most vital work emerges not from imposing control, but from collaboration with the uncontrollable. When a droplet spreads unexpectedly or two wet passages merge, these "accidents" aren't failures to be corrected—they're discoveries that expand the work's vocabulary. The organic liveliness captured isn't merely a subject to be depicted, but a quality embedded in the very process. Working with clay taught me this many times over.
The mixed media collage work extends this exploration into the realm of texture and layering, where found elements introduce their own histories and materiality. A fragment of handmade paper, a torn edge, a translucent wash over opaque form—each layer creates new spatial relationships and visual tensions. Lines remain visible even when modified. Layers show through subsequent ones. The work breathes with the accumulated evidence of its own making, and invariable spurs ideas for the next starting place.
About
Terri Placentia is an artist and educator whose work has included the mediums of drawing, painting, printmaking and ceramic sculpture. She earned a Fine Arts degree at the University of Washington and has had numerous exhibitions throughout Washington and Oregon. She served as Corporate Art Curator for the Safeco Northwest Fine Art Collection, and as curatorial assistant at the Lynn McAllister Gallery in Seattle. She has also been a lifelong art instructor with positions at the University of Washington Extension Program, Colorwheel Studio, Planet Art Fine Art Studio and at the Tacoma School of the Arts.
Terri’s artwork is rooted in nature, exploring connections between what is willfully placed on the prepared surface, and what transpires with proximity, interruption or accident. Her drawings and paintings capture the organic liveliness of line, shape and atmosphere using watercolor, ink, gouache, printmaking and mixed media collage. She is currently exhibiting at the Core Gallery in Seattle WA.
stacked stones series
My current work examines the totemic nature of stacked stones, and the human-like qualities that arise from their proximity. This series seeks to examine the tranqulity, intention and ritual of balancing one stone upon another, and in the patience required to find success. The ghostly outlines trace the remains of movement and placement; the careful decision making processes required to create stasis, and the intentional steadying and stillness that must be met in order to stand strong. The stacks assume human-like qualities as the work progresses and mark time with fleeting emotions and collective memories.
portraits
These mixed media portraits begin with monoprint backgrounds—each one unpredictable and unrepeatable. Over these spontaneous surfaces, deliberate line-based marks define the figure. This combination of chance and intention reflects how identity itself forms: shaped by both circumstance and choice.
The work explores the interplay between background occlusion and surface manipulation. Some areas are buried beneath layers while others remain exposed, creating a push and pull between what is revealed and what is concealed. Linear overlays—drawn, painted, or scratched into the surface—both cover and uncover, tracing the contours of character and presence.
In the smaller oil paintings on wood, I am working toward the grain shows through thin layers of paint, becoming part of the image. These intimate pieces focus on specific expressions and gestures in a moment of contemplation.