Showing posts with label Mixed media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mixed media. Show all posts
Friday, April 28, 2023
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Vintage 47
This is the story of a young woman who loved to dance with abandonment. In spite of a knee injury, she never lost the joy of moving to beautiful music. She kept a journal and within it contained her dreams, forgotten loves and some tears. As many , many years passed, the world only saw her aging face and growing lack of grace. She joined the society of forgotten souls. The invisable women of “a certain age”. But within, always within, still lived this passionate spirit.
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The Process
Within an antique film viewer, I layered several transparencies. Included are my xrays, an old poem, and photographs of my original sculptures. Unplugged, one sees merely a worn wooden box from which some weeds are growing. When lit, the dancing figures ignite.
Sins of the Father
I needed to create this mixed media piece after watching the heart wrenching documentary,
"Deliver Us From Evil". It follows the destructive path of Father Oliver O'Grady as he
continuously molested children while many of his clerical superiors did nothing to stop him. The
most chilling part for me was when this priest spoke detachedly about his crimes without
any sign of remorse nor recognition of the lives he destroyed. Which was worse : the obvious
most chilling part for me was when this priest spoke detachedly about his crimes without
any sign of remorse nor recognition of the lives he destroyed. Which was worse : the obvious
sickness of Mr. O'Grady or the deliberate cover-up by the Catholic Church ?
The above work was a very emotional one and became more abstract as I progressed. Materials used: found objects, recycled tea bags, tissues, acrylics, ink, pencil, photos and typeface. There are pictures of the victims embedded/ buried under the decay. Here and there are glimpses of white for the loss of innocence battling with slashes of red for the violence. Some words are emerging to break the long reigning silence. You may find a Christ-like image deeply hidden in the chaos.
Or, then again, you may not...
Soul Cages
Back in 1995, I visited the Cork City Gaol in Ireland. The ghosts of long gone political prisoners still lingered amid the scribblings on the walls. I captured the words of one haunting poem with my camera. Years later, I found a place for it...
(Materials: tea bags, photography, acrylic paint, and paper)
Bloody Sunday 1972
This work is a memorial to those massacred in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. I remember finding photos of all the victims, (most no more than 17 yrs. old). I tried to focus on each face; carefully arranging the lines and shadows that somehow would combine to represent a unique individual. Each life cut short by politics; by religious ideology; by misplaced imperialism, etc. I thought of my son at 17 yrs. old and thought what a bloody waste...
Materials: tea bags, charcoal, ink, acrylics and type face.





