Johanna Riddle — Talisman for a Changing World — ArtCentre of Plano

2026, encaustic collage with found objects, quadriptych, 24x24x1 in. Layers are both my process and my language. Working with hand-painted papers, family archives, wax, and fibers, I build each piece through accumulation, concealment, and revelation. As surfaces emerge and disappear, they become metaphors for how memory, experience, and perception shape our inner lives. Like the landscapes we inhabit, we are formed over time, carrying visible marks alongside hidden histories. My work explores the relationship between changing landscapes and inner evolution. I am drawn to quiet evidence—weathered surfaces, fragments, and the passage of time—as a visual language for resilience and transformation. Rather than depicting a specific place, I seek to evoke an interior landscape where memory, ancestral echoes, and the natural world coexist. Ultimately, I want to reveal what endures beneath these layers. These mixed-media collages evoke the emotional terrain of remembering, letting go, and becoming—serving as a meditation on the unseen threads that bind us.