Frida Kahlo and Billie Holiday - two unique people who lived their lives 'out loud' and through pain and hardship, left a legacy of beauty and passion. They've inspired my collages before and probably will again.
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Frida & Billie - Kahlo & Holiday collage |
And in an embellished mat at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center Gallery
And coming up soon! Come to Central Virginia, over the Blue Ridge Mountains and celebrate with us.
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https://www.svacart.com/ |
Till another time!
Catherynne Valente explores stories-within-stories in her books, with themes of history, identity and the nature of storytelling itself. This quote comes from The Orphan's Tale - In the City of Coin and Spice, but I myself came across it as a quote on it's own, without reference. It's just spoke to me about the love of 'Other'.
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All Things Are Strange collage |
My dear long-time friend Perry Fitzhugh has a unique style all his own. This quote from 'Theo of Golden' seemed to be written just for him, as well as the character in the book.
By the way, 'Theo of Golden' itself is a wonderful book, which was passed along to me and I've since passed it along. It's become tremendously popular and I suggest you read it fresh, with as little 'info' about it from other sources as possible.
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Wardrobe Free of Supervision collage |
This is an old favorite quote collage of mine.
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Everything Is Possible collage |
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Urban Garden Collage with Embellished Frame |
I didn't create these two pieces for the Annual SVAC show, but I will most happily submitting them. I especially like that they show two aspects, the moody Deer Woman and the mysterious tornado woman with flowers.
I found an intriguing mystery novel at the library, Mask of the Deer Woman, and through that book, met the Deer Woman mythos. One of her guises is as a protector of women. I set my version in what I call an 'urban' background. She stands tall for you.
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| Urban Deer Woman Guardian collage |
Not created as a 'companion' piece, although it became that, is Pink Tornado. I came across the idea of pink clouds somewhere, somewhen, and rediscovered it in my files. In my mind the clouds morphed into a tornado, which adds a different energy than clouds. Another large ball has found it's way into a piece, along with oversized flowers.
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| Pink Tornado collage |
For the upcoming gallery show, I created embellished mats. I always enjoy adding a bit of assemblage to my images.
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| Urban Deer Woman Guardian framed with embellished mat |
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| Pink Tornado collage framed with embellished mat |
The Opening gathering was indeed a most lovely time. Friends, family, supporters of the Wayne Theatre and those just looking to see the art, all gathered and celebrated with me. It was such an incredibly supportive feeling evening.
As most people were local, one fun thing was the exclaimed recognition factor of the locations or the 'Where is that??'
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On Main Street - Waynesboro, VA |
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Retro Main Street |
A truly lovely couple shared with me that they had recently gotten married right there in the gallery space. They purchased the Wayne Theatre collage as a remembrance! A delight!!
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Welcome to the Wayne Theatre |
I also had interesting chats about the Crow motif in my 'Inner Region' collages. Apparently, many people are drawn to Crow, so much so, that a couple of Crow works will be going to new homes.
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Urban Woods |
As I said in my last post, Liz Moss and her team did a fabulous job of designing the show; one of the first things people commented on. Everything wonderfully highlighted the pieces.
Here are a pre-show panorama photo.
The Gallery, opening night! Lovely!!
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| Most Happy Indeed! |
When I first posted 'Crow Girl Tarot' [3/29/24 post], Rose Guterbock, artist extraordinaire, commented that I should do a tarot series. Tarot cards carry meaning and the specific symbolism of each image in this series have yet to reveal themselves to me. So for now, they are in the realm of your own free-association.
I came across the yellow feather in my images, so my theme of Crow colors continued. The bold yellow moves me.
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Yellow Crow Tarot |
White Crow Tarot evolved out of a prompt for the May members gallery at Shenandoah Valley Art Center - SVACart.com. I think of them as Crow Sisters.
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White Crow Tarot collage |
For the gallery show, I added an embellished mat; a theme I am enjoying thanks to my good friend Deb Booth, who passed on a supply to me.
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White Crow Collage with Embellished Mat |
Apparently, the Multiverse has decided it's time for more Tarot in my life, as I recently inherited a vast collection of Tarot cards from my dear friend Michael, who died in December. A journey awaits me.
Till another time.
June is the annual Members show at the Shenandoah Valley Arts Center.
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The show runs from June through July and if you're in the area, do stop by and enjoy.
Although these days I work mostly in collage, mixed-media assemblage was my first love. I loved the collecting of the bits and pieces, finding the right 'container's' and discovering the alignments that would emerge. I was inspired to do an assemblage for this show.
Some of the key pieces here were box assemblages I had made in the past. It was great fun to pick and choose who would go in this piece. There was much arranging/rearranging with various selections. Once the core units settled, I was in search of a base. I found the large tray and from that, the theme of a tea party emerged. Shoes, tea cups and saucers are often featured in my collage work, but first appeared in my assemblage work. I had many such miniatures in my assemblage items collection. And dolls in various ways were always part of my 3-D work. The piece is 19" long x 14"wide and 24" at it's highest point.
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| Assembled for Tea - Mixed-Media Assemblage |
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| Assembled for Tea - Detail - TOP |
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| Assembled for Tea - Detail - LEFT |
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| Assembled for Tea - Detail -RIGHT |
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| Assembled for Tea -BACK |
At the Gallery...
Till next time.
'Black and White' emerged from a theme prompt for our monthly Members' gallery shows at Shenandoah Valley Arts Center, SVAC. It's fun to sometimes work with an external prompt. Typically my 'prompts' may come from a single image that attracts me or an emotion or situation which goes in search of images; so an outside prompt sends me down it's own path.
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| Black and White Collage |
Here, the core image of a pensive Bette Davis led the way to this collage. The prominent male figure is another 1940's era star, Leslie Howard. I colorized and altered both figures from the original black and white photos. Retro film and images are always a vivid part of my mind's collective.
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| Dark Night Bette |
Till next time.
Our time away was great, but being home is as they say, it's own kind of wonderful. Many things to attend to to get back in the groove, but happy to be here.
Each year I do my own birthday collage and one of my gifts to myself is that I compile an annual book of my collages and cards. Both are fun to do and it's always interesting to see what is revealed in hindsight.
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| e birthday 2022 collage |
Crows are another element I often use and I consider the Crow a menaingful totem in my life. But at an earlier time, when I was doing work with Wendy Ashley, an astrologer who anchored her work in mythology, she saw the Hare or Rabbit as a totem. In some myths, the Hare is seen as the messenger between realms, moving by moonlight between the human world and the Otherworld. Recently I was moved to add rabbits to some collages. So I am welcoming Hare into the present.
The idea of this collage came to me in a dream - a Crow-Hare icon. As she emerged, I felt she was in the fae or fairy realm and her name, Nix, popped up as I completed the collage. She anchors Hare, who is the stronger and more wild rabbit and Crow. Ironically, I completed her on Easter, which I see as linked to the ancient goddess of Spring, Eostre.
The eggs are Ukranian 'Pysanka' eggs, a tradition going back prior to Christianity. The eggs are meant as memories or good wishes, prayers. 'Pysanka' means to write upon, and the designs are drawn or painted with wax and then dyed. I was really drawn to the one on the upper left with the golden symbol. I looked it up and it represented Freedom, so appropos at this time.
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| Spring - Nix the Crow-Hare Fairy collage |
Sometimes themes appear from circumstance. 'White on White' was inspired by the members gallery theme for May at SVAC - the Shenandoah Valley Arts Center. The background image, the Heritage On Main restaurant, had apparently recently been painted white and I noticed it just as I was thinking about a white-themed collage. It's always nice when the Multiverse collaborates with you. There are some puns on white in this little grouping and some surprise players. The happy couple are Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter on their wedding day in 1946.
Till next time.
For decades, my sister, Jacqui Rose, felt deeply aligned to the ancient Egyptian goddess, Bastet. The essence of Bastet was symbolic in Jacqui's spiritual practices.
Bastet, also called Bast, is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra and is associated with the concept of the Eye of Ra (the all-seeing eye) and the Distant Goddess (a female deity who leaves Ra and returns to bring transformation). Bastet's cult was carried to Italy by the Romans, and traces have been found in Rome, Ostia, Nemi, and Pompeii. Our own family has Italian heritage.
I began this collage about a month after Jacqui's passing. I wanted to capture Jacqui in her strength and power; her fullness. The orange tabby alludes to her own cat, Keppie, and I was pleased to find an orange tabby goddess figure. The gray cat alludes to a cat I once had. I think of them as sisters' cats.
And once again, she is in the stars.
I submitted her in the upcoming 'Artist's Choice' exhibit at SVAC, Shenandoah Valley Art Center.
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