"Swallowed by a Song (Jonah)" (2018) (mixed media)
For my mom, who had a print of Jonah (whose story she loves) for as long as I can remember. The print was lost when her house burned down four years ago. It didn't look like this, so it's definitely my own reimagining. I like that he's snuggled in the confines of beauty (song, soft flowers) and seems at peace and accepting of his circumstances and where it will lead. Props, of course, to Paul Simon for this lyric and its imagery that's stuck with me for so long.
“Sisyphus" (2018) (mixed media: LP covers, newspaper, melted crayon, acrylic paint)
Holy shit 2017 and 2018 have been bearing down hard on all of us. We push on. We breathe. There is gold in the sky. There is hope. This was my very first piece—where I learned how much I wanted to say and how much the tactile work filled my soul.
"Pandora's Box" (2018) (mixed media: tulle, LP covers, melted crayons, newspaper, magazines, acrylic paint)
What have we unleashed? Remember, at the bottom of Pandora's box, there was hope.....
"Prometheus" (2018) (mixed media: magazines, LP cover, acrylic paint)
Prometheus brought fire to humans in a fennel stalk because he pitied their lack of warmth and light.
I imagine Prometheus in 2018 as a woman...we need to follow her fire, her warmth, her light.
"The Labyrinth" (2018) (mixed media: twine, photographs, floral wire, melted crayon, beads words by neko case, roland orzabal, sia, adrienne rich, joni mitchell, and GROVER)
oh boy. we hide from and battle the monster in the labyrinth all of our lives, no? it's madness. it's ruthless. we dart and we dash and we hide and try and outsmart. what if the monster in the labyrinth is us?
"Sirens' Murmurations" (2018) (mixed media: tree bark, LP covers, cardstock, sharpie & pencil, acrylic paint, words by bell hooks, audre lorde, ursula leguin, adrienne rich, margaret atwood, isadora duncan, patti smith, anne lamott, catherine of siena, coco chanel, patty griffin, dinah craik, zinnia jones, the sibylline oracles, eleanor roosevelt, anna quindlen, mary shelley, dorothy l. sayers, amelia atwater-rhodes, george eliot, anais nin, and rupi kaur)
Inspired by the new translation of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson, who retranslated the work from the original Greek. Interestingly, what she discovered was this--no mention of flowing hair or lips or sexy temptresses. "The seduction they offer is cognitive: they claim to know everything about the war in Troy, and everything on earth. They tell the names of pain." "Now stop your ship and listen to our voices. All those who pass this way hear honeyed song poured from our mouths. The music brings them joy, and they go on their way with greater knowledge."
"The Wheel of Fortune (Tarot #10)" (2018) (mixed media: dried flowers, photographs, ephemera, acrylic paint)
"The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,
You can't let go and you can't hold on,
You can't go back and you can't stand still"
Amen, Jerry. Amen. we are turning. spring, winter, fall, summer. we grasp. we push away. the wheel keeps turning.
"The Waiting Room" (2018) (mixed media: photographs, eucalyptus stems, newspaper)
it's grey. i'm immobile. am i bored? depressed? so much life and color around me but it feels unreachable.
"Here I Am (The Only Living Boy in New York)" (2018) (mixed media: album covers, photographs crepe paper, ephemera, glue figure).
i am the happiest when i hear the soaring voices of Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel in The Only Living Boy in New York...."ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh--heeeerrre I ammmmmmmmm". this is the song and the part of the song i hear in my head every single time i see the approaching skyline of and then my feet hit the streets of new york...it's a major synesthetic experience for me. can you find me in this picture?
"Tea and Oranges - Newport, Rhode Island (color)" (2018) (mixed media: LP covers, photographs, specialty paper, gold foil, acrylic paint)
Melquiades' point where present, past and future collapse into...nothingness? nirvana?
"Tea and Oranges - Newport, Rhode Island (monochrome version)" (2018) (mixed media: LP covers, photographs, specialty paper, silver foil, acrylic paint)
Melquiades' point where present, past and future collapse into...nothingness? nirvana?
"Here Comes the Sun" (2018) Mixed Media (photographs, gold leaf, metal fabric)
I made this for one of my most favorite people on the planet--someone who brings fire and passion and commitment and kindness and justice and compassion to everything she does. The decoupage is mostly comprised of two things I ran into randomly and could not get over their beauty--a patina-ed fountain and a cart filled with sun-dappled orange (my favorite) roses. And i say, it's alright....