New Work

Here are a couple of finished pieces

Children of Light Children of Darkness

Never Forget

While I am not a big fan of explaining, since this is my blog I can talk about the imagery of Never Forget (as it is something that shows up repeatedly in my work). 

This piece is based on a map of Warsaw in the post WWII reconstruction, and especially important to me for its connection to my past.  In 1972 I went to Poland as part of my Junior year abroad.  We went to Auschwitz:  and it was there, standing next to a room piled high with  discarded suitcases, that I learned about Shoah.  It was a lovely autumn day, bright sun, and the low brick buildings of Auschwitz look like a school until you got inside and saw the rooms:  one of suitcases, one of glasses, one of human hair.

I grew up in a totally white bread farming town in rural Ohio, and my right wing mother would probably be considered a Holocaust denier in current terms so I have an excuse for not knowing until then.  It was a transformative experience, as was the next day's trip to Old Town Warsaw.  The most remarkable achievement--despite all the unspeakable destruction, they managed to restore their city to the way it was--every building, every architectural ornament, every street.  As inspiring as the previous day was depressing. 

The Letters Project

One of my major projects is to deal with the mass of paper and mementos.  I have an archivist/hoarder tendency to save everything.  (We won’t discuss the state of my electronic files—that’s Phase 567 of this project!).  I want to deal with the paper, organize it and make it into books that I can enjoy.  I also want to bring some of this past into the present by restoring broken connections, where I can!

 

 

 

At some point in the past, I grouped all the letters and cards together—an unorganized mass of letters, cards, postcards, and things.  The process of putting them in piles has now taken a couple of weeks, and making sure that they are correctly grouped will take a couple of days more.  I had previously organized by date, but this time it was totally clear that they needed to be organized by correspondent. 

These are all not just pre-internet (where I am learning that e-mail is now considered passé!) but pre personal computer.  (The bulk are in the 1972-1981 decade.)  Mostly handwritten, and some extremely lengthy.  A few were typed, but all bear the very clear marks of the maker.  There is so much information on the envelope:  the date, where the sender was living, where I was living. (I do date my own history by address since I have had 12 —a good number for providing markers).  And of course the very distinctive personal voice of the handwriting.  Many letters I recognized immediately from the writing.

Many of the letters are long philosophical thought pieces.  A time gone by.  Precious relics of those who are gone, touching reminders of those who have slipped away.  Rereading creates a memory of the whole time, what it felt like.

Going through the sorting process, already struck with how rich these friendships were, how much was written.  How I have ignored this rich (and mostly happy) part of my past as I have been obsessed with all the drama of the past preceding years (in Sunbury) and the future (trying to figure out what I was going to be when I grew up—a project I am still sort of working on).  What a bad friend I was—I have been so obsessed with myself, my pain, my troubles that I had no attention to pay to others.  And also how many cut offs there are—how that old childhood prohibition against having friends has surfaced again and again and again.  Friendships not nurtured but abandoned:  I have been a user not a cultivator.  That all sounds harsh, but I think I have to face that to be able to have the future be different than the past.

Amazing what a wad of stuff it is.  Of course, I kept everything which is great.  But it is a great wad, an unorganized mass of material.  The physical manifestation of the emotional one:  put aside, purposefully ignored and hidden but still crying out to me of work undone, issues unaddressed, not dealt with.  All the work on decluttering says that things hidden still weight you down—bring it all into the light so you can deal with it, make decisions, move on.

I do have a plan.  I’m going to archive each group of letters, keeping the originals in a safe place, scanning any photographs (not many), and making pages of especially those that are gone.  It is also clear that the next phase involves bringing at least some of these people into the present, if I can.  So many people who were so important that I need to try.  I know that many will not be able to forgive my silence, but I am going to try!  A good stage of this project to undertake in February!

On the Design Wall

The long put off Kitchen Reno project has begun, and my immediate reaction has been horror about the disruption!  Which is super minimal at the moment, but does involve starting the wiring which means lots of dust in my basement art studio. EEK!  However, this made me take down the many pieces in process on my design walls.  There is still a lot up (pieces I am trying to get ready to post for a class with Jane Davies).

I am reminded that I frequently talk about how disturbing I find "visual noise" and yet I have created a studio full of visual noise!  Perhaps I need to experiment with putting up a more curated selection to help me focus and not be overwhelmed by all the possibilities.....

Here are pictures after taking most of the stuff down--and you will notice that there is still a lot of stuff up:

I am lucky to have four large design walls, so being minimal in this regard will take some effort.  These are all pieces in which I challenged myself to use that shield shape in as many ways as possible.  They are mostly sketches/experiments, not finished work.

I did also see this, which is recent work based on another class exercise.  Really like this one:

10" x 11", graphite, paint and water color crayon on paper.

Tokyo : Prior Work

Although I say that I never finish anything, I do finish some things.  I want to use this blog to inventory my past work, to have a catalogue and also to use it for further work/inspiration.

This piece is acrylic painting and collage on stretched and primed canvas.  It was done in two phases, an underlayer based on a map—done on Ridge so pre-2001—and the second layer the free paint and collage, which I believe was done on Forest so in the  2001-2004.  30” x 30”.  I do enjoy it—it is hanging in a prominent place in my family room.

 

Tokyo

Tokyo:  Detail

 

 



 

 

 



Processing the Past:  A Blog about making art and mining (cataloguing!) the past to create the future:  a simplified and happy life for my next chapter. 

 

It's taken me a long time to get to this point, but I am finally ready to begin.  New year, soon to be birthday, new chapter of my life (recent retirement).  To really be able to move forward and to take advantage of this freedom and health, I need to deal with the past.  Take inspiration from my own work and use it to make new work;  deal with all the clutter (physical and emotional) from the past, and recycle/reuse things from that past to create new things.  Let's go!

 

 Here are three pieces completed after a wonderful workshop with Jane Davies in early December.  (In a snowstorm, in Vermont, with dear dear artist friends.)  The challenge was to make a 100% busy piece, and then quiet it down.  These pieces are titled Processing the Past and are the inspiration for this blog!