Open Heart

OPEN HEART is a 5" x 7" assemblage deep inside a styrofoam end cushion for a big, old-fashioned toner cartridge. I've been saving it up for Valentine's Day! but am posting it now, because we have Open Studios in the Transit Art Center this weekend and it promises to be busy.

There are windows cut in each side of this piece, and each one gives a tiny view: a tranquil scene, a pair of dice. Inside the main chamber is a Kirlian photo of a child, the Tarot card representing the Lovers, and a little mirror. And at the front is a big piece of glass that looks like ice, melting away.

The ice jam on Oil Creek broke up and moved out into the Allegheny earlier tonight, so we won't have a flood here this year after all. Deep breath, relax -- how good the melting of the ice feels!

History of the Age of Pisces

HISTORY OF THE AGE OF PISCES is a 15" x 15" collage/assemblage on a painted styrofoam base in a 4" deep custom shadowbox frame. That frame was a great extravagance -- I had a show at De Havilland Fine Art Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston, and I went all out. Since most of my work is what you may call self-framed, this is the only one that has this kind of professional presentation.

Pisces means, of course, fish and there are four fish images, one primitive, one with an East Asian feel, one Gothic-Renaissance, and one late Victorian. The Age of Pisces is supposed to have covered roughly 2,000 years and to have ended right about now. In the last image, the fish is cut in half and is spilling out the human adventurers into the air of the next age. Wheee!

Turn of the Century

TURN OF THE CENTURY is a 9" x 12" assemblage in a shadowbox. I experimented again with painting and decoupaging on the glass to give it a time-stained look. It's an attempt to create a certain kind of Victoriana -- the fabrics, the china doll's head (actually fimo and sculpted by me), reflecting the old meaning of "turn of the century" just as we were collectively approaching a new turn of a new century. Y2K seems so long ago now! Anyway, it's just a little meditation on the nature of the passage of time.

I've always leaned toward the cluttered, comfortable "grandma's house" look, especially in winter, and most of my furniture, lamps, knick-knacks, etc. would feel right at home in 1910. This piece fits into that thrift shop decor almost as well as the flower arrangements under glass that were so popular then.

Dream Tree - SOLD

DREAM TREE, screen door inset with paper collage and assemblage behind it. I'll be saying good-bye to this one, too, after the New Year. This is a real favorite -- it's dense and rich and if you look closely, you can see a little tribute to Paul Klee in there. It's hard to photograph it because of the light reflecting off the shiny paper stock.
I've been told it's an introspective piece, and I think that's true. It took forever to do, and I'm glad it's going to the home of someone I like! I'm also glad that it will help me pay the rent on my studio. It's like a message from the forces-that-be that I have made the right move.

Child Tiresias

CHILD TIRESIAS 10" x 14" acrylic, terracotta sculpture and assemblage in styrofoam. This one is the mirror image of Grandma's porch in the last post -- but a very different treatment. Tiresias was the blind prophet who as a punishment from the gods spent eight years of his life as a woman and as a result, had more insight than anyone. I gave him feet of oil-based clay! As a woman, I can't imagine that he learned enough in only eight years! And all his sense perceptions are scattered around and compartmentalized and not integrated, eyes in one box, ears in another.
This was not a planned piece, but one that just grew out of what I had on hand. A lot of people ask me about the hieroglyphics -- they are invented.

4007 McWhinney Street

4007 McWHINNEY STREET 10" x 14" acrylic and assemblage on styrofoam.
We always went to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving when we were small. This piece represents her red brick front porch, and tries to evoke the fustiness, photos, and face-offs that are part of "family." Note the can of worms at the bottom! Grandma was afraid of a lot of things, from the weather to demon alcohol! and we protected Grandma, mostly by not telling her things. People say they can see a face in the negative space between the two women facing each other. I didn't intend it, but I can see it, too. Some elements of a piece of art create themselves! This piece is not for sale, though my mother (facing Grandma) is quite proud that she has been featured in exhibits.

Chronos 2

CHRONOS 2 is another 9" x 12" shadowbox. It has a medieval castle and a banner and a space-age feeling collage all co-existing within a big "time portal" on the glass. How far away are we from those times? We've seen progress in the development of mechanical things, yes, but how much progress have we made in dealing with other human beings and nations? Was it Gandhi who, when asked his opinion of western civilization, said he thought it would be a good idea? And who said that if we didn't remember history, we would be doomed to repeat it? We could settle space, build castles in the air, but if we carry our current level of greed and violence and fear with us, well, we might as well be living in a hut in the middle ages, waiting for the plague to strike. I did this collage around the time of the first "Desert Storm" operation, when Crusades and the horrors of technology were much on my mind, and not much has changed since then.

Chronos 1

CHRONOS 1
First serious snow of the season is on the ground here today and nobody is outside -- this 9" x 12" assemblage in a shadow-box is based on the page from the almanac called Killing Frosts and Growing Seasons. A good reminder that creative work comes in cycles of time and that hibernation is part of the natural cycle. This piece gives time a face, painted on the glass of the frame over the assemblage. Not a particularly friendly face, but on closer look, the mouth open to devour is a pair of hands holding the soil of the next season. Time for a nap! to gather energy for the next productive period.