An Invisible Energy Animates All
By Karen Mamone
After Hours, Pelican Press, 2007

“In her more than 50 years as an artist, there are two words that turn up time and again when people talk about Florence Putterman. The first is ‘energy.’ The second is ‘celebration.’ Putterman seems imbued with endless amounts of the first and an endless capacity for the second. She is determined, hard-working and organized. Putterman has attained a national reputation as an unclassifiable post-modernist who constantly turns over new ground.”

Artist Gives Invitation to Interpret
By Joel Rozen
Herald Tribune, 2009
“An eye-catching blend of sand, crushed shells, acrylic and oils, Putterman’s canvases feature playful, textured images conjured in vibrant, urban colors. The overall look is something like graffiti art or cave painting.

‘What I’m creating here is work for people to enjoy and find their own stories in there,’ said the artist. ‘I am really not trying to achieve anything but have the viewer interpret for himself.’ Putterman believes it is her willingness to let the subconscious control her craft that resonates most with art lovers. The imagery, she says, should come organically.”

Florence Putterman: A Twenty Year Survey, 1970-1990
By Randy Ploog

Palmer Museum of Art

“For the past twenty years, Florence Putterman has been experimenting with symbols in her paintings, prints and sculpture. She began with the heart, distorting and fragmenting it to test its visual versatility. In her M.F.A. thesis, she traced the diverse meanings associated with the heart in various cultures throughout history.

Since then, her fascination with symbols has broadened to include the Western Wall in Israel, ancient petroglyphs scratched on rocks by Native Americans, and images on totem poles of the Pacific northwest.

Putterman experiments with materials and techniques to enhance the visual interest of her work and to acknowledge the origins of her images. For example, she adds sand and crushed seashells to her canvases to enliven their surface while creating a texture reminiscent of the original stone context of her petroglyphic motifs.”

National Endowment for the Arts Grant


Excerpts from the book “Entwined Metaphors” by Florence Putterman
“It was the most exciting moment in my career so far. I was one of two artists from the whole state of Pennsylvania to receive the grant that year. I started to think ahead as to where I would travel. My mind immediately went to Albuquerque, to the Rock Art sites. I went out to the West and petroglyphs got into my system. When I returned home, I did a series called ‘Monumental Monotypes’ related to them. Later I began the paintings that came out of that.”