Art: Balm for the Soul!
It's been a rough few weeks: celebrating holidays in the midst of Omicron, lining up for weekly tests and navigating supply chain shortages. At one point my husband shared a picture with me of the chicken freezer at our local grocery store: it was empty.
Hardest of all during this time, we lost my mom. She died in her sleep at the age of 90, the way we dream of going. A feminist before her time, she received her PhD as a single mom in the early sixties while wrangling three kids and a full time job. An amateur Egyptologist and a student of Middle Eastern history, she loved to take us to museums. I'll never forget the beautifully inscribed Ziggurat bricks in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The early scripts on these pieces had a profound influence on my work. Thank you so much Mom, you were a pathfinder.
Carved Ziggurat Brick
Lamentations 1 and 2
More Balm for the Soul
When faced with difficult circumstances, I turn to my studio for sustenance. In December, as both my parents declined, I began the Lamentation series, a series of scrolls made from prints, drawings, rice paper and newsprint. Informed by my earlier weaving days, these pieces are cumulative. I can add on to them, ad infinitum, until I come to a stopping point, a place where the piece reflects back the raw/polished, colorful /muted, growing/static juxtapositions that come from loss.
It is a healing, soothing process and I think that you can see the influence of the Assyrian brick in some of the markings! My plan is to complete a series of ten and I look forward to sharing them with you later this year at the Pence Gallery in Davis, CA.