Emotional, Abstract Works and Their Inspiration

By Richard Malinsky, Arts Editor
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White is a prolific West Coast artist working in many diverse media: oil, acrylic, encaustic, pastel, and watercolor. An overall emotive searching quality permeates her work, a kind of quest to reveal the poetic essence of an experience, as well as a love of process that leads to experimentation. 

Mira M White’s website opens with a stunning black-and-white drawing identified as “Just Finished” and the greeting: “Welcome to my gallery of ever changing images.”

Symbolic themes are ever present. Compositional color, form, and balance are a primary thread that runs through all of this work, expressed with a lush, sensual, textured palettes:

There is a strong visual structure and sense of order in her work that should not be mistaken for random brushstrokes. She describes her images as “narratives in her mind that tell the story of the piece, much like a novelist creates characters or a composer clusters notes.” Her process culminates in a kind of visual logic; forms are linked together to yield their own symbolism:

Particularly intriguing as to her creative process is how White draws inspiration from music; she may search for a specific note or tone that resonates with her as she actually is applying the paint. This intuitive process seeks a certain color combination or shape that might elicit a feeling that will then guide the development of that work. Results are often stunning yet subtle evocations of mood:

“I Wonder” seems to address White’s concern about climate change and the viability of our planet. She states: “The tension between chaos and hope forces her to synthesize the conflict within her art.” There is clearly some kind of violent intrusion in this work that otherwise seems to be an orderly atmospheric sky and landscape:

Mira M White has an extensive exhibition record both domestic and international, and has been a noted instructor for over thirty years. Her professional responsibilities include a full teaching schedule of classes at a variety of studios in California. She also organizes and conducts numerous workshops in various media, including painting workshops in other states and France.

Her site includes a link to her blog. While it does not appear to be updated regularly, there are links to some noteworthy posts, such as “Wondrous Wax,” an article that describes her process of painting in melted, hot beeswax.

If you want to see more work by this artist, she offers a link to another website that archives her work from 2006–2008.

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