Artist Statement
January 20, 2017
Being an artist is a journey,
Mine has encompassed seven decades,
Art is a way to grow myself,
And a medium to communicate,
With other humans,
Perhaps our minds will touch.
Art is a practice,
like meditation,
like daily exercise,
like practicing the piano.
Art is an activity that I use to access
the mental state of "flow".
It is a engrossing activity,
Warhol said, "Art is something to do",
A surfing of mind channels,
An exploration,
With luck,
Beautiful objects
Will be a byproduct.
Down to Earth
"Down to Earth", is a series of paintings
inspired by Louisiana nature,
flora and fauna.
The style is magical realism.
The series of paintings is a celebration
of fertile earth, luminous light, refreshing water,
and the wild inhabitants of the forest,
deer, dragonfly, birds.
Here we recognize Mother Nature as the source of our being,
An ecology so precious that our very lives depend on it.
Earth, that entrancing marble,
flying so magically in the vast universe,
is the source of our nourishment,
air and food fuel our bodies
Our very lives depend on it
Nature is the flowing spring of
spiritual nourishment.
The source of physical nourishment
and also food for the soul
our hungry souls.
180 Degree Turn
For about two years now,
landscapes with wild life
have been my painting themes.
Art is a practice,
a surfing path
strolling through time
time out from being rational and appropriate
Creating is a channel of the mind
looking with in
and communicating
visually
introspective and extroverted
Within my art mind channel,
there are several programs
"Down to Earth"
"POP Religion"
"Luminous Woman"
"Mary is My Muse"
For several years, maybe seven,
I primarily painted in the "POP Religion" series,
Now, more calmly, I paint
Louisiana landscapes.
Artist Statement
April, 2014
I paint with oil and acrylics on canvas, board or paper. Also, I work Photoshop with painterly methods and use the digital images as studies for acrylic paintings, for making collage pieces, for making beautiful Epson prints and for internet publication.
Making art has been an enduring and emotionally necessary endeavor for most of my life. I turned seventy years old this year. My style has evolved over the years. I have decades of absorbing art from a banquet of sources to draw on. For five years I have been creating the Surreal Pop series POP Religion. In addition, I paint landscapes and portrait like paintings.
POP Religion is a reverent/irreverent, humorous, personal reflection on the human need to believe in something, anything. Historically humans worshiped Gods and Goddesses. Currently humans worship Celebrities. Perhaps, Celebrities are the reincarnation of traditional Dieties. So, what we get is this; John Belushi as Bacchus, (Belushi Bacchus), Mick Jagger as the devil (Jagger Devil), and Brangelina, Mere Mortals, depicting the star couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with half skull faces, which is a reference to the death concerns of religion.
Deliberate attention to exterior and interior sensations inform my art processes. I have been prone to episodes of altered states of consciousness since childhood. In an attempt to leap the gap between my deep consciousness and the deep consciousness of the viewer, I paint surreal imagery. Irrational pictures to bypass the gate keeper rational mind.
My hope is to connect with viewers on a deep level, beyond words, beyond rationality. I use humor to assess the human condition. That condition of desiring deep meaning for our earth sojourn and reassurance that all will be well in the end, after death.
Through out the ages, religion has had an extreme hold on mortal humans because it fulfills a train load of human desires. We desire to dress up our lives with elevated meaning. We long to know why we are here, what should we be doing, and what will happen after we die. (To paraphrase Gauguin.)
I have looked for answers, but none have completely satisfied for any length of time. POP Religion is my response to being more confused after my searches than I was at the beginning of my search. This is a conundrum that requires humor, and humble acceptance of the condition of not rationally knowing answers. This path has led me to an appreciation of mystery.
Artist Biography
I come from a long line of saints and sinners, teachers and ramblers, preachers and gamblers.
My father was in the Air Force, we moved house often. When I was three years old (1947) we lived in Roswell, NM. I was subliminally affected by the UFO incident. At age six (1950) we lived in Japan, where I was introduced to Asian aesthetics. Experiencing frequent shifts in cultures exercised my mind and gave me expanded options.
Some of my earliest memories are of color and pattern. Through out my life, I have always made art.
I had several wonderful art teachers, but never persisted at any school, because, all I really wanted was a virgin canvas to decompress all the racket in my head. I wanted a tiny place where there were no rules. I learned techniques when my muse led me to create work that needed technique.
In the 70's I spent time on the West Coast. I have fond memories of flower child excesses.
In the 80's I lived in New Orleans, cavorting with bohemian friends. I began exhibiting art in the early 80's.
In the 90's I explored "New Age" philosophies. Meditation and yoga expanded my introspective abilities. I experienced (more frequent) altered states, saw auras, and felt the subtle energies of humans and plants.
In 2002, I finally found a permanent home in the deep country of Louisiana . Here, I can satisfy the needs of my spirit for nature and creating art. My family, husband, children, grandchildren, and "bonus" relatives, like to come here. We canoe the creek and ramble in the woods. Such a gift, spending privileged time with loved ones! I have a beautiful studio with a view of tangled, fertile, Louisiana jungle.
I welcome studio visits from art lovers.
Jagger Devil
Belushi Bacchus
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