“Gravitron” (2021) (Mixed media - antique blueprints, silk, kudzu)
Finding direction, staying grounded, and finding sparks of beauty when the world is whizzing by.
I harvested this kudzu with a dear friend the day before my dad died.
:”Bubble Wrap” (2021) - (Mixed media - photocopied memories and heartstrings, acrylic half bubbles, pizza boxes, ben & jerry’s pints, photographs)
Been thinking this year about the things that make me feel and things that I wrap myself up in to keep me from feeling. when I was a kid, I used to lie in the bath with only my face sticking out…I felt cozy, safe, protected. here i’m immersed in bubbles, with only my face sticking out.
Life is short, pop the fucking bubble wrap, Rachel!
“Waxing Heart” (2021) - (Mixed media - 78LPs, acrylic paint, photographs, fire, nails, Rupi Kaur, Pavana Reddy)
this one snuck up on me. a little more on the nose than other things i’ve done and yet, here it is. lost my dad this year, son headed to college in a few days, intense conversations, miraculous summonings….my heart feels very exposed and vulnerable.
“my wounds don’t feel like wounds in your hands, they feel like beginnings, like a chance to make things right again”
“but what is stronger than the human heart, which shatters over and over again and lives”
assuredly, intentionally waxing, not waning.
“The Oak in Fraser” - 2021 (Mixed media: acrylic, stamps, photos (mine), books, paper, shopping bag, verse (mine))
Dappled forest. Me and you. Seeing stars in the early morning.
“feelin’ lovely, livin’ lovely, just love me.
I wanna be with you, ayyy (just love me)
I wanna be with (just love me, love me),
I wanna be with you, ayyy (love me),
I wanna be with I wanna be with you (love me, just love me)”
- “Love.” Kendrick Lamar
“I'm gonna scream it from the mountains
Tell the whole world
That you're the best of the crowd
And I'm proud to be your girl (just my kind)”
- “Just My Kind” The Julie Ruin
“The Winding Stair” - 2021 (mixed media, acrylic, paper, LP covers)
for you. for your love of Yeats and of the written word. for your contemplation of the world and the spirit.
for visions of your arm. your arms.
love you
“we must laugh and we must sing we are blest by everything…..”
“The Tent of the Lady of the Snakes” - 2021 (mixed media: silk, cicada wings, rusted wire, photographs, stamps, disco ball)
This song used to be the story of my life:
“she went to the tent of the lady of the snakes, who gave her a potion and she drank it in.
After that, her heart never ached again”
The magic I imagine within this tent is different now. the magic of vulnerability, softness, welcoming.