Audrey Tulimiero Welch - Poetic Cartography

Audrey Tulimiero Welch - Poetic Cartography

Audrey Tulimiero Welch - Poetic Cartography, represents a chance to view her incredible work. Mapping or using maps to create artwork is one of my favorite places to start looking at works of art. For me, it is the historical maps that have led to ideas, inspiration and/or titles for completed works. In Audrey Tulimiero Welch’s abstract work, the creation of multi-layered, almost map like, work leaves the viewer looking for meanings. By constantly allowing the viewer to shift through ever interesting and dense layers, helps to create the interconnections to one’s own history.

In her works, we also see and feel the years of the artist living abroad and the reflections of those distant lands in the creation of these poetic cartographies. We are very fortunate to have this exhibition in our gallery.

Painting in all forms is fundamental area of educating artists in the Art Department. Having exceptional exhibitions of painting in our galleries helps to generate meaningful discussions and lifelong learning about these mediums. The University Art Gallery’s programing helps to support our faculty’s teaching. It is usually through faculty recommendations that many exhibitions come to our galleries.

I would like to thank the many colleagues that have been instrumental in presenting this exhibition. Audrey Tulimiero Welch for the chance of exhibiting her wonderful work, Richard Speer for his insightful essay, Noely Ortiz, our Administrative Support Coordinator for her tireless work in organizing and arranging the show details, I would also like to thank, Brad Peatross of the School of the Arts and California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design and Stan State Print Shop for the printing this catalog. I would also like to thank the Instructionally Related Activates Program of California State University, Stanislaus, as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue. The support is greatly appreciated.

Dean De Cocker, Director University Art Gallery

California State University, Stanislaus

Artist Statement

As an abstract painter, I map the emotional weather of inner and outer worlds. Inspired by Poetic Cartography, I create intuitive maps that chart consciousness and connection, reflecting the rhythms of poetry. For me, the possibility that maps call forth is not a literal reference to place but a poetic space of possibility. Mapping is my language to locate myself in relation to time, place, and people, addressing our need to belong. It makes sense of both the visible world and the internal realms of spirit and memory. My layered paintings explore how matter and essence situate within our bodies and influence daily life.

Rooted in my Sicilian immigrant culture and impacted by living fifteen years in a range of countries and cultures across the Pacific Rim, my paintings trace the migration and the movement of people. Color, gesture, and line create topographies that lead the viewer to explore interconnection, transformation, and the layers we carry.

Working within a set of radical layering strategies, my process favors improvisation, chance, and intuitive risk-taking. Using physical maps of the places I have lived, acrylic, plaster, photographic fragments, and masking fluid, I embrace improvisation, chance, and risk-taking, building and excavating layers of color and line until turbulence meets stillness.

Previous page Audrey’s Studio

Falling, Acrylic, phototransfer, ink, plaster, on canvas, 32 x 36 in, 2022

Songlines: Audrey Tulimiero Welch

Essay by Richard Speer

“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains... On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.” —Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Wayfarer, way-finder, cartographer and alchemist, seeker and empath, the balmer and the balmed—artist Audrey Tulimiero Welch weaves disparate media and ideas together in complex and unexpected ways, diagramming our blessings and sorrows along the paths from valley to mountain to ocean and back again. Her mixed-media paintings remind us that mark-making and map-making are one; that rendered lines and human lives alike possess beginnings, endpoints, and rich middle grounds where tragedy, comedy, and catharsis intersect. They synthesize a cosmopolitan abstraction with one foot in the surging immediacy of neo-Expressionism, the other in postmodern pastiche. Deeply layered materially and thematically, they are the progeny of a lifetime of research, introspection, innovation, and a wanderlust that has carried Welch to the earth’s four corners.

Given her peripatetic trajectory, her focus on abstracted allegorical maps would seem inevitable. She knows firsthand that all of us create maps with every step, plotting lines in space even if they leave no visible wakes. Once inscribed, such lines can never be erased. Through her conjuring she transforms the particulars of place into achingly lyrical odes to that place’s spirit, as Renaissance troubadors once trekked from town to town turning sentiment into song; and as Aboriginal Australians with their songlines have for millennia melded music, navigation, and cosmology, singing the very world into being. These maps are not literal but mnemonic; they share with the late Joan Mitchell’s paintings a mission to reconstruct memories, places, people, experiences, and the intangibles that give them meaning.

As a thinker, Welch tends toward dialecticism, casting her aesthetic and philosophical concerns as “a constant wrestling” with polarities. Among these are the dualities between abstraction and representation (she studied with Russian portraitist Marc Klionsky and painted figuratively until 1988); duets between straight lines and gestures, structure and fluidity, opacity and translucence; the interior psychic world and the exterior world of society and politics; and the tension between the planned and “the improvisational, the unknown, chance, and the unexpected.” The finished pieces elegantly reconcile these opposing forces, transmuting dichotomy into integration.

Her paintings evince a strong corporeal presence. An avid walker, she is aware of her body and its relationship to her environs. She knows the rhythm of the stride and the brushstroke. In a 2017 statement for the exhibition Tree, Map, Body at Nancy Toomey Fine Art, she expressed an aim for “the viewer to be abducted into the visceral physicality

of my paintings.” It is a genteel abduction. The austere interstitial lines crisscrossing her compositions function as structural bones, while the nuanced surfaces are like skin, translucent with vein-like pentimenti concealing and revealing, accreting and exfoliating. Typically, the epidermic outer layer is a thin application of plaster, lending sculptural and architectonic overtones. It’s notable that her Sicilian grandfather, Frank Messina, was a mason who used to cart her around in his truck, which was always redolent of plaster. The material, she muses, is in her DNA, dually autobiographical and aesthetic. With a fresco’s absorbancy, it soaks up and intensifies the impacts of ink washes and graphite. There are passages in her works that evoke two other painters who conflated paint with skin, Willem de Kooning and Lucien Freud—passages that turn a painted canvas into a mode of living, breathing being. It bears stating as well that when she tapes off lines, it’s akin to putting a Bandaid on skin to help heal a cut. The paintings wear their wounds and wrinkles unapologetically, their topographies roadmaps of their evolving. This is a painter attuned to the universality not only of joy and hope, but also of suffering, worry, and grief, who through her artwork lays pathways toward healing. In earlier years she planned to become an art therapist, and in a certain sense, she did.

While her academic background includes a B.F.A. from the University of Delaware, M.F.A. from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, and additional studies at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Students League in New York City, her subsequent travels played an important auxiliary role in her stylistic and conceptual development. With her husband, geophysicist Chris Welch, she lived, worked, and raised a family in Sumatra, Indonesia (2002-2006), Nonthaburi, Thailand (2006-2011), and Perth, Australia (2011-2016). She drew inspiration from these distinctive ecospheres and cultures, incorporating rice paper, Bangkok city grids, monks’ robes, and Aboriginal maps into a repository of images that already included the trees and vines of her native New Jersey and the landscapes of the Mid-Atlantic and New England. (She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.) In this and many other ways, her migrations seeped into her paintings. Beholding them, we are reminded that all roads, no matter how far afield, have the capacity to lead ultimately back to ourselves; that venturing and homecoming are corollary impulses.What was Odysseus without the imperative of returning to Ithaca, or John F. Kennedy in 1961, setting forth his goal “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon” without the crucial final phrase, “and returning him safely to the Earth”?

Having seen so much of the world has afforded Welch the opportunity to study the output of historic and contemporary artists who have influenced her—not only abstractionists whose syntaxes dovetail in certain fashions with her own, such as Cy Twombly, Helen Frankenthaler, early Philip Guston, and Julie Mehretu, but also exemplars of Renaissance and Baroque painting including Giotto, Titian, Caravaggio, and Tiepolo, who parlayed chiaroscuro and compositional drama into enduring masterpieces. Referring to her detailed notes and schemata, she sometimes builds visual quotations of paintings by these masters into the gestalt of her own. With this manner of close observation and deep scholarship, along with her eclectic interests, collegial spirit, and an undergirding of profound empathy, Audrey Tulimiero Welch embeds with her works a plenitude of art-historical, literary, and sociopolitical referents. The more one investigates a given piece, the more one uncovers; the more attentively one follows these extraordinary metaphoric maps, the more signposts one finds along the songlines.

—Richard Speer is an American art critic, author, and curator whose reviews and essays have appeared in ARTFORUM, ARTnews, Art Papers, Artpulse, Visual Art Source, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Salon, and Newsweek. He is the author of nearly 100 monographs and essays about leading historical and contemporary artists, including “The Space of Effusion: Sam Francis in Japan,” which accompanied the exhibition he co-curated at LACMA in 2023, “Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing,” and “Tom Cramer: Drawings and Paintings 1974-2019,” the catalogue for the exhibition he curated in 2019 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (University of Oregon). He is currently writing a monograph about artist Peter Halley. For more information, please visit richardspeer.com.

Previous page

Installation View Body Tree Map, Grid of Six, 2023

Approaching the Still Point of Turbulence, exhibition at Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Oregon

Each panel is 13 x 13 in. Framed

Biography

Audrey Tulimiero Welch is a California-based artist whose abstract, layered paintings reflect the personal impact— the grief and transformation—of the invisible forces of migration and ancestry. Drawing upon her Sicilian heritage and years spent living abroad, she uses mapping to explore interconnection, transformation, and the layers we carry. Welch has exhibited at galleries and museums internationally, including the Bade Museum, Berkeley; Coos Bay Art Museum, Oregon; Frauen Museum, Bonn, Germany; Museo Italo Americano, San Francisco; Tacoma Art Museum, Washington; Torrance Art Museum, California; and the Whatcom Museum, Bellingham. Her work can be found in the collections of GOOGLE, San Francisco; Ronald McDonald House, Perth, Western Australia; and Saks Fifth Avenue, New York. She was nominated for a Dedalus Fine Art Fellowship in Painting and received a Merit Award from the 69th Annual Crocker-Kingsley at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento. Originally from Livingston, New Jersey, Welch holds a BFA from the University of Delaware and an MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. She has had residencies at Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia, and at the Pouch Cove Foundation, Newfoundland. Her work has been published in Architectural Digest, Fine Art Magazine, New American Paintings, San Francisco Chronicle, Fremantle Gazette, SFMOMA Art News, and Square Cylinder. She has upcoming solo exhibitions at M Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, California, and the University Art Gallery, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, both in 2026. She is represented by Robischon Gallery, Denver; Judith Rinehart Gallery, Seattle, and Ellio Fine Art, Houston.

Opposite page

Top: Famiglia Drawing, Petralia Sottana, acrylic, oil crayon in book, 12.5 x 19 in, 2025

Bottom: Famiglia Drawing, Portfolio 6, Acryic, Oil Crayon In Book,12.5 x 19 in, 2025

Audrey Tulimiero Welch CV

EDUCATION

MFA, Institute of Boston at Lesley University (Merit Scholarship), Boston

Art Students League, New York City, NY

Private Instruction with Russian Portrait painter, Marck Klionsky, Soho, NYC

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia

BFA, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026 Poetic Cartography, University Art Gallery, CA State University Stanislaus, Turlock, CA

2026 M Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA (upcoming)

2024 Approaching The Still Point Of Turbulence, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR

2022 Songlines, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, San Francisco, essay by art critic Richard Speer

2021 Damascus: Mapping Place,Home,& Exile, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland

2021 I Like Your Work, Podcast, Online exhibition and Interview

2020 Fuel, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR

2019 Project-106 Studios, Recent Work, Seattle, WA

2017 Body Tree Map, Ted Sanford Art Gallery, Charles Wright Academy, Tacoma, WA

2017 Tree Map Body, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2016 Farewell Freo, Artsource, Fremantle, Western Australia

2015 Contemplating the Desert, Church of the Resurrection, Swanbourne, Western Australia

2014 Sloan Miyasato, Curated by Michelle Bello, San Francisco, CA

2011 South is at the Top, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA (cat.)

2010 Nichada Thani, Nonthaburi, Thailand

2005 Sumatra Sojourn, 23 Seulawah, Duri, Sumatra, Indonesia

2002 Home Ground, Toomey/Tourell Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 A Pilgrim Speaks, Toomey/Tourell Gallery, San Francisco, CA (cat.)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025 Future Forward, Ellio Fine Art, Houston, TX

2025 Confluence: Painters Coast to Coast, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada

2025 Abstraction Now, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, CA Juror: Auriel Gaza, Asst.Curator, San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art

2025 Duologies, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CA

2025 Exploring, Madrone Center for the Arts, Pescadero, CA. Curator:

2024 San Francisco Art Fair, Nancy Toomey Fine Art Booth, Fort Mason Center, SF, CA

2024 Risky Business, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA. Curators: Max Presnell & Marie Thiebault

2023 Holiday Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR

2023 Acts of Healing and Repair, Whatcom Art Museum, Bellingham, WA. Curator: Grace Kook-Anderson, Portland Art Museum

2023 Art Market San Francisco, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, Fort Mason Center, SF, CA

2022 Holiday Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR

2022 Smallish Treasures, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, SF, CA

2022 Seattle Art Fair, Russo Lee Gallery Booth, Lumen Center, Seattle, WA

2022 Art Market San Francisco, Nancy Toomey Fine Art Booth, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

2021 Hope & Possibility, Bridgette Mayer Gallery 8th Benefit Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA

2020 Congruence, Juror: Bridgette Mayer, Art dealer, Online Exhibition, Erika Hess https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/2020congruence

2019 Tacoma Art Museum, “The Abstraction Haiku”, Tacoma, WA

2018 The Rail Project, Curator: Bridgette Mayer, Philadelphia, PA

2017 Czaradas, Performance & Exhibition with Cellist Rosemary Ponnekanti and principal dancers from the Tacoma City Ballet, Tacoma, WA

2014 Spring in the City, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, Western Australia

2014 INTERMIX, Moores Contemporary Art Gallery, Western Australia

2012 INTERMIX, Moores Building, Fremantle, Western Australia

2010 MFA In Visual Arts, Graduate Exhibition, Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (cat.)

2010 On the Edge, DOB Hualamphong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand. Curator: Brian Curtin (cat.)

2010 Another Side, Contemporary Artists’ Dreams, La Lanta Fine Art, Bangkok, Thailand (cat.)

2008 Music Through Art, Art Republic, Bangkok, Thailand

2007 Through Our Eyes, National Museum of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand

2007 Natural Process, Unocal Theatre Gallery, International School of Bangkok, Thailand

2005 Indonesian Heritage Society Members Exhibit, Erasmus Haus, Jakarta, Indonesia

2003 Women in Arms, Frauen Museum, Bonn, Germany (cat.)

2002 Eva Im Tarnetz, Gallerie M, Berlin, Germany

1998 Monotype Marathon IV, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, California

1998 Abstract Painting, Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, CA

1997 Women in Abstraction, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, CA

1997 Mary, Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA (cat.)

SELECTED MUSEUM & PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Rogue Valley Manor Collection, Medford, OR; Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, Tacoma, WA; Ronald McDonald House, Perth, GOOGLE, San Francisco, CA , Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco, CA , Hotel Hyatt Muscat, Muscat, Oman, Hotel Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, NY , MGM, Las Vegas, NV, Akili Systems Group, Dallas, TX, Ruby Hill Country Club, Pleasanton, CA, Sloan/Pratt LLP, San Francisco, CA, InsMark Corporation, San Ramon, CA, US Leasing, San Francisco, CA, Latham and Watkins, Los Gatos, CA, Infinera, San Jose, Zachary Allen Company, San Francisco.

SELECTED AWARDS/ COMMISSIONS/ RESIDENCIES

2025 Pouch Cove Foundation, Artist Residency, Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada

2024 Painting Commission, Source Art, Los Angeles, Private Collection

2015 Short-Listed Point Street Hilton, Public Art Project, Fremantle, Western Australia

2011 Artist-in-Residence, Guildford Grammer School, Guildford, Western Australia

2009 Nominated for a Dedaelus Fine Art Fellowship in Painting

2008 MFA Merit Scholarship, Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Boston, MA

2001 Finalist New American Paintings, Book XXXI, The Open Studios Press, MA

1999 Painting Commission, Latham and Watkins, Los Gatos, CA

1993 Merit Award, 69th Annual Crocker-Kingsley, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

Acknowledgements

California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Britt Rios-Ellis, President

Dr. Richard Ogle, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Art

Martin Azevedo, Professor, Chair

Artur Da Silva, Assistant Professor

Dean De Cocker, Professor

Daniel Edwards, Professor

Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, Professor

Dr. Carmen Robbin, Professor

Ellen Roehne, Lecturer

Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Professor

Susan Stephenson, Professor

Jake Weigel, Professor

Mirabel Wigon, Assistant Professor

Noely Ortiz, Administrative Support Coordinator

Alex Quinones, Instructional Tech II

Matt Hayes, Equipment Technician II

University Art Galleries

Dean De Cocker, Director

Noely Ortiz, Administrative Support Coordinator

School of the Arts

Brad Peatross, Graphic Specialist II

Audrey Tulimiero Welech - Poetic Cartography

February 4 – March 13, 2026 | University Art Gallery, California State University, Stanislaus

200 copies printed. Copyright © 2026 California State University, Stanislaus • ISBN 978-1-940753-96-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. This exhibition and catalog have been funded by Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus.