"I came to SLMM through "Artist of the Spirit" by Mary Carroll Nelson and her holistic perspective. She wrote "Layering is not a style. It is a way of thinking about art. I respond spontaneously to works of art that feed my soul and mind."

 

I began to look for works published by SLMM and collected them all. When I joined I knew I had found my "tribe"."

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— Georgia Mason member since 2001​

"SLMM offers me a tight art community that feels like a family that grows, shares and becomes stronger with each week that passes. This unique organization created by Mary Carroll Nelson, along with artist friends, is a special group layered with amazing artists, friends, support and love. I would love to get to know all of you. You are always welcome to share your ideas, experience, and brainstorming on the SLMM Website Forum, SLMM FaceBook, Zoom or email me personally (stevensbjc@gmail.com). Let’s keep the lines of communication open and STAY CONNECTED!"

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— Barbara Jo Converse Stevens member since 2018

"Layering is an interdisciplinary form of creative expression. It builds bridges rather than erects walls. It sees relationships rather than differences. It gathers strength and wisdom from a spirit of sharing and respect for personal vision."

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— Marilyn Hughey Phillis, Sally Emslie,

and Bonny Lhotka newsletter archives

"To me, SLMM means a group of artists concerned with creativity, relatedness to each other and the universe, artists who build on what has gone on before and what is to come, and who believe in the integrity of growth and the human endeavor."

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— Ingrid Leeds newsletter archives

"Layering is an art form produced through inner voices, visions and intuition. Layerists form a network of various art forms and share energies and a spiritual vision."

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— Valaida D'Alessio newsletter archives

"My basic intention is to express my feelings of being apart of Gaia. This work has a spiritual motivation to express my concern, respect and love for Mother Earth and her creatures and to do this in a way that is beautiful to me. The feelings I have personally at times become a political statement as well, particularly with regard to the environment and my concerns for world peace.

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A layerist technique, for me, shows art as a process, not a product, and demonstrates change as being a basic rule of the universe. A layerist approach allows me to flow with my artistic impulses and to let my mind-body take me where she will."

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— Judy Asbury​ newsletter archives

"I have been using the layerist technique for approximately fifteen years. I did not have a name for it then; however, I'm glad you have one now. I use it because it has been a natural way for me to express ideas about the different people who have allowed me to share my life with them. The Amish I grew up with, the African tribe I lived with, the Mexican Indians in remote and primitive mountain villages and a real closeness with many Native Americans — all these people have contributed some of their own knowledge of their art to me...I love the different textures and transparencies, the smooth next to the rough, the dark next to the light, a sort of yin/yang idea. Although I can draw realistically, I have chosen ot work this way because it seems natural for me to do so. As all my experiences in life are layered, so is my art. I believe you cannot separate the artist from the person and their past experiences."

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— Leslie Crespin newsletter archives

"I was fascinated when I read an article written by Mary Carroll Nelson in Southwest Art magazine back in April 1984.

 

Mary said, as a painter, she began searching for artists who combine levels of experience in a single work of art. This synthesis of Eastern and Western thought, of science and philosophy, she called ‘layering’. Thrilled, I realized that this coincided with my philosophy of painting!

 

When I paint, all sorts of thoughts and experiences come into play as I work. SLMM felt like home to me, and I continue to admire the works of our artists as they express this perspective. It is not just the layering of materials, but the layering of ideas that make our work unique.

 

I love the Tuesday Zoom sharing times, as well as the Open Studios when we create together. Also, the Pacific Coast meets to share every month."

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— Jean Warren member since 1984

“SLMM is a whole lot more than what is on the surface.  It’s not just about art exchange, artwork, critiques and resumes.  It’s more of a connection where the members are on the same level of interest, connected by thoughts much like being on the same radio wavelength.

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SLMM means more to me than you can put in a premise.  It’s deeper, more unique and soul searching.  The connections I have made with other SLMM members means the world to me. I love all of these people!”​​

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— Kathleen Kuchar member since 1990

"Layering is a dialogue between spirit and sense and fused in the crucible of experience."

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— Sheli Newman newsletter archives

"Off my balcony at the Cliff House in Maine, I viewed boulders of striated colors and metals imbued within a myriad of undulating textures and tones. The staunch facade of each piece, now guardian of trillions of years of composition, shouts its magnificent visual force and speaks of the spiritual and cosmic.

In such a way I feel about SLMM, not only in our artistic makeup, but about what we do in the media we each realize."

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— Mary Ellen Dwyer newsletter archives

"The Layerists and their work are a MICROCOSM of life itself, independent and unique, yet at the same time interrelated in a common creative experience. Just as in the universe, a common thread of awe and mystery is present in their work, giving richness of vision, multiplicity of meaning, to say nothing of diversity of media."

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— Marilyn Stocker-Smith​ newsletter archives

"I have always layered my work in some fashion, but usually I drew meaning from it after the fact. I often reveled in the notion that something profound lay concealed between the layers of paint and paper that only I was witness to. In recent years I have become more aware of an energy force which is present just beneath the surface of my conscience, that often guides me miraculously through passages of my work. I feel a heightened awareness that is also restful and completely devoid of stress or hype...SLMM has given my work a validation which was not always there. It has also provided a challenge to take my ideas a step further than ever before, knowing that I am not losing my way, just redirecting it on another plane of understanding."

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— Betty Keisel newsletter archives

"While I was writing my senior honors paper (at Bryn Mawr) on the relation between the holy and the secular, I struggled with the limitations of words as a way of shaping my understanding of existence...I realized that visual images could provide a very direct means of exploring the kinds of metaphysical questions that interest me...Through my work I express my intuitions about the relationships of self to world, spirit to matter, change to order, eternity to time. Each new work contains a metaphor for the multiple shapes of reality. My whole way of working reflects this search for the reality beyond appearances. The creative process itself contains many layers of meaning which are incorporated in the work...In a visual image the idea is incarnate in matter, so the choice of technical process profoundly affects the final statement. Layering as a conceptual basis for composition should be reflected in its material counterpart, the physical media and techniques used to give it concrete form. Maintaining this direct relation between the shape of the idea and the means of expression produces a corresponding integrity in the visual image..."

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— Ruth Meredith newsletter archives