NEW DIRECTION

Is there anything more annoying than someone who never updates their blog? I took the summer off from studio time and spent it traveling with my family and becoming inspired with the things I saw in Europe and Alaska. The wildness of Alaskan coast and the extreme civilization of Paris and London provided me with polar impulses which I think are coming through in the new series of paintings that I have begun. The structure of my pieces is still similar but I have been experimenting with letting go more. The results are a child-like stream of line and form. I'm feeling a lovely sense of play in my studio behind my kitchen where I go in between shopping for food, taking care of my daughter, and family obligations. My pledge to work daily, even if it is just for a few minutes, is helping me deepen to my work and the messages unconsciously embodied in it.

Life is a Patchwork of Experience

 Here is a piece that I am about to ship out to someone in Boston.  My inspiration for it came from the many quilts that have been handed down in my family.  Often I remember waking up, my eyes beginning to focus after a long sleep on the stitches that held the disparate pieces of fabric together.  There is such warmth in the remembrance of this from childhood and as I grew, I began to wonder about the people that made these tapestry that covered our beds, were the base of our picnics and comforted us when we were sick on the sofa.   Having never witnessed a man with a needle  and thread in his hand in Mississippi, I knew they were made by women.  This practical art of quilting worked its way into my soul and emerges in my work.  It is a reminder of what women do in every culture...make whole the separate and often discordant parts of life which we are given and/or have chosen.  

Freaked Out, Flooded, and Free

 These are new pieces for a group show at Becca Gallery in June.  I realize after finishing them today that they represent much of the joy I feel after such a beautiful Jazz Fest here in the city as well as some anxiety over the up and coming hurricane season.  I use a technique where I draw into paint and then build my spirit houses with found paper and beeswax.  I entered my studio this morning with WWOZ on the radio and the memory of mellow sights, smells, and sounds from a lovely weekend of world class food, art and music.  People from all over the world converge in New Orleans for one of the best celebrations of life around.   One of the blessings of living in this place is the realization that there is no real safety to be found in the external world of flux.  We can only find security in knowing that we can handle what may come based on the strength we have shown in the past.  This frees us to live in the present to a greater degree.  So here we stand, like my little black bird, in our colorful patchwork houses, perched, alert, and free.  

The Upside of Potholes

 

Spirit Birds

Birds appear in much of my work.  As I ponder the unconscious appearance of them, I realize that they represent something very personal in relation to  the association of spirit found in Jungian thought.  If you have ever held a bird in your hands, then you've had an intimate experience of how very fragile they are.  At a time in human history when our basic daily needs are taken care of, the bird is a symbol of daily survival and struggle.  Their quick movements and instant flight provide them with the evolutionary tools needed for making it another day.  Like our human spirits that are met each day with a multiplicity of threats which must be transcended, the bird rests lightly, highly alert in the moment ready to carry on with it's task at hand if the situation allows.  If not, then it flies away, as quickly and as certain as time moves forward.  

Leading with the Heart

My yoga practice informs my work and during some practices in my home studio I get a clear message. This morning it was about leading with the heart in the postures and how when you do this, your head is always in the right place. It's not an over-exaggerated opening but a subtle outward lift. This translates into life off the mat in many ways. Often times we are in polar places, either closed off to what is happening or overly empathetic to the point where we can't see clearly. There is a middle way, a way of clarity with the heart leading openly and the head in perfect position. This is where the left brain and the right brain meet to solve problems and create solutions whether we are making art or writing a brief or balancing our checkbooks.