Hello again – what a wonderful month warm enough to swim and play in the dirt – growing a garden, yet cool enough- to sleep like a bear – !.
There’s a lot I’ve been working on most a continuation of ideas, and here you will find highlights best suited to share at this point- I have not included the photographic nature series that is visually scrumptious and coincides with the drawings of Natures Classroom but I have included photographs that are ruff drawing references, in case you are interested.
Click Natures Classroom for the written reflection.
Concepts of nature experienced in line.
28” x 40”, marker on artist Bristol made locally at Finch Paper, Glens Falls NY.
The ponies were 100-year-old bushes that I recused from years of being forgotten about. The bushes after weeding and tree removal bust to new heights and exploded with color and fragrance.
20” x 30”, oil pastel on artist Bristol, made locally at Finch Paper, Glens Falls NY.
If you’ve been following this blog or the art there is a series of works on human Healing, and elasticity gleaned from health trials that have taken me across many plains.
Sculpture No.632, Fortitude (2013- 18)
30” x 63” tall, welded repurposed metals in found finish and oiled.
This is one piece to a series that was inspired over three years of helping a family member – survive – three severe medical conditions.
(Please note I am NOT telling you what to see- everyone brings there own history and thoughts to the work. In my opinion there is no right or wrong in viewing art.)
The welded, specifically chosen repurposed objects that I used, to me depict healthcare and resilient human form traveling from birth to death.
The Brinks Lock that fastens the heart to the structure – secures the heart under lock and key; life’s most prized possession. The heart heavy creates the context to the disease, once called hardening of the heart, depicted as many steel pieces referencing the hearts many facets or chambers of nuances being the humans container for dark, light, memory, change, culture, and soul, and for this case a miracle of technology which hangs on a hay hook kinetically moving into dimensions of the Great Chain Of Being, philosophical-historical loops and hooks that are to be considered through life. The photographic choices of the farm fields brings us back to the most basic nature of man, and the heart that sways in the boundaries of an ice block tong that’s grip is strong, with handles and edged with points that perceive personal realities and boundaries – supported by a vagina that mothers importance and existence on the stance of legs that mark travel and time.
The odd health issues caused us to travel many miles in the dark shadows of tornados. Being jerked and swirled in a world wind of not knowing – fear loomed as a cold breeze clawing on senses. I clung to love; hanging on for all I was worth. Weathered- we garnered great physical successes. The success came as stillness and silence in the crest of an early morning sunrise as if the universe smiled. Success showed up as a dewdrop, clear and glimmering, on the pedal of a new fluorescent green sprout. Offering, new day- new chances, reflections – an outcome of hope. Now after time, I am able to look around and appreciate the support of wonderful, kind, people and the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio.
Extreme Experiences of the body are not new to me, this time: I learned how amazingly resilient and intuitive the human body/ spirit actually is.
The events inspired my investigation into the different aspects of being human. I looked through science, alchemy, religion, and into the healing of flesh, bone, mind, body, to include communication, interior, and exterior.
This sculpture is a reflection of a human traveling through life and death multiple times. The centerpiece – (heart) heavy and hard, holding the person-ality, cells, memory as if jeans that walked many miles in vastly changing weather. The heart can be separated from the body ie: HCM and the process of shaving the heart. The body or structure is an abstract description or map of the thoughts, investigations, and experiences the process of sickness into wellness.
Congratulations to a wonderful and tuff lady who is enjoying great health now.
Back to the sculpture No.632, Fortitude considering all the shit we went through– I thought how could I photograph that feeling/ thought into the pictures of the finished sculpture and relate “The SHit of a struggle we encountered to overcome and exist” into the frame of a photograph as a subcontext. Here is what I came up with- The SHIt Spreader and the ShIT Hauler discarding on a farm field. _ This project was really fun as I chased the shit trucks and hurriedly set up to fight the weather, light, and timing —it became another metaphor in action reflecting to self the events of what happened in the process of sickness to health and being an artist. There many more photographs to the series.
Creative Process Realization: As I posted the above I realized that I have been working in nature vein, revisiting certain things like the Iris flower, color, and dewdrops, over more than a decade. Rereading made me notice that I spend gobs of time looking- and here at dew drops, reflections and the atmosphere created within and around water.
AhHa- Where an inspiration is formed, leaving me to think I should do something with all of that. This is why I love writing a blog it helps me clarify and revisit the work, stopping to digest and of course You All interpret and feedback adding to the layers of the onion. !_ So thank you for being part!
I’m glad we had this time together and now were near an end so I include some reads that I enjoyed this mth:
-Art- William Kentridge, Six Drawing Lessons. If anyone wants to talk about this book, I would love to bounce around some thoughts.
-Perspective- Deer Hunting With Jesus, Joe Bageant. Raw, Lamont Hawkins.
-Cosmic- You are the Universe, Deepak Chopra/ Menas Kafatos.
I leave you with Steve Martin quote-
“as a scientist or artist, Thinking at the highest level is intuitive”.
Wishing you all the Best Always~ m.M.Vara