catherinemeyersartist

La Larona - The Weeping Woman

2012-02-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

This is my latest painting, La Larona -The Weeping Woman. The story itself is a powerful daunting one that makes you pause and think about what is really important in life, our relationships.

For me, my relationship with myself, with others and with the God of my understanding is paramount in my life. That said it is easy to get distracted and myopic in my perspective at different times in daily life losing touch with the right and wrong of people places and things. It is having an attitude of living in the future or dwelling on the past and not appreciating or being content in and with the present moment. I have learned the hard way that projection into the future or having regrets from the past is a sure formula for unhappiness and losing your soul. Searching for something outside myself to give me happiness is futile. It makes me think of what Carl Jung refers to as being "Spiritus contra spiritum" . "Attempting to fill a spiritual void with a material reality", is Jung's definition of addiction.

Lately I have been doing research about war in terms of the differences in the attitude and perceptions that men and women have toward it, and how it is likened to addiction, according to what the past NY Times war correspondent, journalist and Pulizer Prize winner, Chris Hedges states in his book,War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

The world is full of war and sometimes we often wage it with our conscience, those personal conflicts taking place within our own spirits.
I have in the past found myself on the front lines of some one else's personal battle becoming a victim or the one who has victimized in one way or another. I have taken a few emotional hostages in the past, but that's another story.

This last egg tempera painting, of La Larona-The Weeping Woman is the conclusion of this series I have been painting, based on Clarissa Pinkola's book ,Women Who Run With The Wolves. It was not my intention for this to be the last one and I will probably come back to the series again. However I have reached a juncture in my work where I am questioning what that hell am I doing as an artist. I suspect many creative people wonder this and perhaps are like me in search of deeper meaning and purpose to their work and art practice. I think this is growth. I find myself being pulled and gravitating toward more serious work that explores feminism and global issues. It's much easier said than done and I am feeling a bit adrift right now but I have faith that I will find my way along the stepping stones in my creative path.

Rembrandt Loved Dogs

2012-02-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

" Practice what you know and it will become clear what now you do not know."

- Rembrandt van Rijn

Not unlike Artemisia Gentleschi, Rembrandt was inspired by Caravaggio in his use of intense light and realism.What always impressed me most about Rembrandt's work, is the spiritual atmosphere and quality that emanates from his depiction of people, particularly in the Old Testament stories, that is very apparent in his early work such as, Tobit and Anna , in his later work, Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph and The Return of The Prodigal Son. There is a strong sense of compassion that allows the viewer to experience this, I think because Rembrandt was able to transcend what he deeply felt spiritually into his work.

In the movie, "Rembrandt" that was produced in 1939, we recently watched in class the plot did not convey this spiritual quality in his work, although Rembrandt was portrayed as a spiritual man, especially after a experiencing a number of humbling life difficulties he had to face. The film showed Rembrandt's return to his childhood home after financial hardship due too his own money mismanagement and other challenges that seemed to break his spirit. I think this pointed out an important factor that seemed to be pervasive throughout his life in spite of his successes and wealth in his earlier years; he didn't forget his humble beginnings as the son of a miller.

Perhaps something that gave Rembrandt an advantage as an artist is a condition called stereo blindness. This was concluded after careful examination of 36 of Rembrandt's self-portraits.
Margaret S. Livingstone who is a professor of neurobiology from Harvard Medical School published a letter in 2004 which stated that Rembrandt's eyes didn't align properly. This condition is the inability to perceive in three dimensions and enables one to flatten what is seen in order to render two dimensional work. Scientists have found this condition is more common among artists comparatively to those with normal stereo-acute vision.

Many modern artists have been inspired and copied Rembrandt's work and Pablo Picasso notably drew from Rembrandt's dry point drawing entitled , Christ Presented to the People. Picasso's work was a depiction of a theatre performance.

Rembrandt's pupils were required to copy drawings and paintings and had his students copy his own paintings as well before they were permitted to actually render from life.

Pablo Picasso, Le théatre de Picasso

Rembrandt was a very prolific artist producing a possible 300-600 paintings, 300 etchings and 1,400 drawings.

Many artists make self-portraiture a part of their art practice, however Rembrandt seemed preoccupied in doing so. I suspect that perhaps this was because Rembrandt was convicted by his own personal spiritual beliefs deeply embedded into his soul from an early age given to him by his Calvinist parents, who imparted a strong sense of right and wrong to him and perhaps his portraiture was his search for an honest discerning truth about his character as a man.

Although Rembrandt's character may have been somewhat problematic for him earlier in his successful career, being involved in 25 legal battles, probably linked to his financial difficulties, wealth did not bring him happiness, considering the loss of his children and his wives which caused him great sorrow and suffering, as they could never be replaced.

The Night Watch was believe to have contributed to the beginning of his financial downfall and popularity because the painting was not well received, however this proved not to be true and was unfounded, as he continued to receive support and recognition for his work.

   " Choose only one master...Nature"

                    "Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God."

                      " Sincerity is the eventual deception of all great men."

                            "Without atmosphere a painting is nothing. "

                                                         - Rembrandt van Rijn

A small point of interest, Rembrandt loved dogs and they were often included in many of his paintings.

The Red Shoes

2012-01-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd finished this painting, The Red Shoes as well as the Ugly Ducking a few weeks ago, until I met with my advisers this past week and a visiting artist, Carol Wainio. My meeting with them brought to the surface issues, I'd rather not elaborate on that I have been struggling with. Frankly, I was hoping perhaps it would go unnoticed and I could go merrily along my way in denial. I can be very good at that!

After having my ego bruised as my false pride quickly kicked in, I now have to proceed to kick my tuchus and get a move on with the tasks at hand.

"Pride is the mask of one's own faults".

Jewish Proverb

These are the revised versions. They aren't that different but I'm pretty happy with them.

Artemisia Gentileschi

2012-01-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

I think like many women who first find out about Artemisia Gentileschi find it to be a very exciting discovery to learn of such a gifted, talented and ground breaking woman, who is like a beacon of light in a dark world of male dominated artists in the Renaissance. It is empowering to know of such women who are still very relevant to contemporary artists today. Wouldn't be wonderful if one could go back in time briefly to meet artists such as Artemisia. The courage and strength necessary for her to survive and thrive as an artist is hard to imagine.

In both my Art History classes we were to watch the Merlet film entitled, "Artemisia" and then discuss it in class. Merlet refers to herself as a feminist. Unfortunately this movie did nothing to celebrate who Artemisia was, her art, her accomplishments as an artist, and did nothing to forward the cause of feminism in my estimation. On the contrary the movie falsified and distorted her life and history, focused on fallacious truths, loosely based on her life and upheld those who victimized and abused her. Her rapist and painter and teacher Agostino Tassi, never confessed to his crime, nor was Artemisia in love with him and never recounted her rape accusation toward him, as portrayed in the film. This kind of untruth and distortion re-victimizes and perpetuates a stereo type and discrimination against women artists as well does great injustice toward both genders within the context of art history and outside of the art world.

When Artemisia was first released it was purported as being a true story and later this claim was recounted. Regardless, the good news was finding out the truth and learning the real story found in other films produced without the fan fare of the big budget Hollywood blockbuster movie produced to appease the masses for nothing more than commercial purposes.

Nonetheless, all these centuries later, Artemisia's voice is far from being silenced, nor her life lived in vain, knowing that contemporary artists are rallying to educate and learn about Artemisia and many of the woman artists like her. It is a heartening story and history indeed, that needs to be told..

The site and movie produced by Ellen Weissbrod, A Woman Like That, champions Artemisia and the issues surrounding her and the relevancy to contemporary woman artists..

When I contemplate on Artemisia's life and work and other female artists I can't help but reflect on Judy Chicago's incredible installation, "The Dinner Party" found in a permanent home at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. It makes me very grateful and indebted to such ground breaking feminist artists like her, who pave the way and share their knowledge with others, so we can understand the under-recognized past history of women artists, their significance and profound role.

Perhaps one day in the near future there will be another women, who will produce another film, telling the accurate story about Artemisia Gentleschi, the most important artist after Caravaggio. Unfortunately the Merlet missed the opportunity to do so.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

2012-01-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Today while doing research for my Advanced Art History class about Michelangelo I found this very and fascinating PBS program about him based on the research done by well known Art Historian and Restoration expert Antonio Forcellino. It was riveting and informative changing my outlook regarding Michelangelo's involvement with the Catholic Church. I had always assumed he had been a devout adherent to the tenants of the Catholic Church.There has been so much written about " The Divine Artist ", but difficult to decipher fact from fiction. This I believe to be the most compelling information I have found that makes one admire the man even more.

Comparing Irving Stone's, classic Hollywood epic, The Agony and The Ecstasy to Michelangelo Buonarroti's actual life is rather like comparing apples and oranges. One is about the production of a movie based on some historical fact however generally it was very much a fiction, depicting some historic romantic realism, starring American and English Hollywood actors. Although Irving Stone went to great lengths to produce a film that he perhaps hoped would be as factual as possible. Unfortunately this was superseded by the glamor and glitz of Hollywood. The film touched on various truths about the life of Michelangelo such as some of the details of his early life and work but failed to examine he's spiritual beliefs that were formed by his family's unsophisticated Catholicism. In later years his work was Christ centered increasingly focused on having a relationship with God rather than the institutional church.
In my opinion Michelangelo's spirituality is the most significant and relevant characteristic that reveals whom he was and this is poignantly reflected in his art. The Agony and The Ecstasy fails to bring this to the surface, settling for the Hollywood version that portrays the artist as a rather self-absorbed, tormented, iconographic figure that appeared almost super human. I do believe Michelangelo was complex individual, that struggled within the restriction and dogma of the Roman Catholic church and an authoritarian papacy. The fact that he and his family attended the Franciscan church at Santa Croce, I believe was a great influence spiritually, if he followed the tenants accordingly to Saint Francis who always preached faith through Christ was the way of salvation, not anyone or anything else. Michelangelo's apparent and intimate relationship with poet Vittoria Colonna as well Michelangelo's involvement with the Spirituali, which existed between 1510-1560s, the publication and circulation of the book, " Benficio di Cristo", "The Benefit of Christ's Death" all contributed to his being caught between the powers and capriciousness of the Medici family and the Papacy.

There was little to no mention in Stone's film regarding the depth of Michelangelo's spirituality, why he was so conflicted and how spiritual symbolism was reflected or why it was so important in his work. As in the sculpture of Moses, there a various anomalies such as the law giver who is looking away from the celebrant, who appears to be is searching for the light through direct contact with God, not the priesthood.

In Michelangelo's own tomb was to be portraying himself as Nicodemus which was representing those Catholics who were covertly sympathetic with the reformed theology that emphasized grace, which God sent through faith and sought the renewal of the Catholic church.

I do not believe that Michelangelo was "The Divine Artist", nor do I believe he would consider himself to be. I think he was a gifted and well trained artist who simply wanted to live his life as a simple follower of Christ in a tumultuous time in history that made it very difficult if not next to impossible because of the power between Church and State. I think much of his confliction and how Michelangelo saw himself can be summed up in the story of Nicodemus..

Women, Art & Society

2012-01-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

" We will need our wit and courage to make sure that women's voices are heard, their work seen and written about. That is our task for the future" - Linda Nochlin, 2006

While reading this I said to myself, yes I agree with this statement and then ask why? Upon reflection I realize the answer to this question has been an ongoing one for me and perhaps for many woman like myself, who grew up during the second wave of feminism and are now witnessing the third wave among the younger generation and this has been my experience as a mature fine art student at Mount Allison University.

I had my first Art History class today for my last term entitled, Women, Art and Society. We watched a very informative film by Teresa MacInnes, The Other Side of the Picture, National Film Board, 1998. It was an eye opener to say the least. It's wonderful and exciting to have a historical overview of woman as artists. I was pleased to know that in my Advanced Art History Seminar class is with, Professor and artist, Hermeneglide Chaisson , and we will be viewing a number of films about artists, some woman artists, such a Artemisa Gentileschi, including female film directors.

After watching The Other Side of the Picture today, we discussed the film and it was a great introduction into the course, left me feeling inspired, uplifted and challenged, as a woman passionate about women's issues. I felt like I could have watched all day and it made me hungry to learn more about woman artists. I am looking very forward to this course and believe it will be very rewarding.

This is the second Art History class I have been enrolled in regarding women artists. The first being at NSCAD, which was the first of it's kind, in the 70s. Thirty years later, the Mount Allison course, Women, Art and History, I'm certain will prove to be much more expansive, inclusive and informative regarding woman artists. I was schooled in Art History with the two supposed " canons ", Gardiner's History Through The Ages and Janson's The History of Art, both, the Guerilla Girls refer to it in their Bedside Companion to the History of Art. It's such a breath of fresh air, to say the least, to know that most art historians are now women.

I have never called myself a feminist as I am not a fan of labels that can be very restrictive and confining in definition, as it seems to have different meanings for everyone.

Anne D' Alleva's book, Look! Again, Art History and Critical Theory, refers to a
"collection of feminisms " and "feminist art histories" which reaffirms and clarifies for me my own ideas regarding the word feminist and it's meaning.

Feminism and woman's issues are extremely important to me. I remember hearing an interview on CBC with Gloria Steinam and was struck by what she said, "There can be no democracy without feminism". I believe this to be a statement having profound meaning to our world. I am not certain exactly in what way, but I believe it has to do with society's creating a living history. This is reflected in what is valued, be it, love, peace, power, control, life, death and war . History tells us where we have been and where we are going.

An independent study entitled, Feminism, Art and Modernism, I am enrolled in for my last term before graduation, will give me the opportunity to further explore in depth, the study of this topic, however Woman, Art and Society is a great beginning.

Learning about such significant text like, Mary Wollsonecraft's, " A Vindication of the Rights of Women ", dating back to 1792, along with Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex and Betty Friedan's, " The Feminine Mystique " are all an essential part of the foundation of feminist history.

It is absolutely essential to know and understand the beginnings of feminist art history for me as a woman artist.

Linda Nochlin's article written in 1971, " Why Have There Been No Great Woman Artists ?" Nochlin's statement, " genius is a historically and culturally determined concept, and that art is not a free, autonomous activity of a super-endowed individual, but a process mediated and determined by a specific and definable social institutions", addresses the need to redefine our paradigms of our history and I would say relates directly to how and what we learn.

The making of art and craft, similarities and differences have long been a controversial discussion among artists, art students and art institutions. The inherent long held societal belief that men are the art makers and woman are the makers of craft , often subsumed into being " low art ". I presume this dates back to the industrial revolution and other significant events throughout history that have contributed to this belief. Fortunately this has changed over the years and slowly continues to evolve.

Change in art history and the way it is taught is crucial to feminism, to men and to women. Art historians, Norma Broude and Mary Garrard's groundbreaking volumes of essays, I have never read, but certainly intend to, because of their vast and ascending contribution to feminist art history. The idea of the particular and the individual is a powerful consideration in the way in which art is created, under what circumstances, encompassing race, culture, gender, agism, and related issues. " In Patricia Matthews Subjects of Art History ",1998, broadened the objectives of art history critical to feminist art history perspectives.

Freida High W. Tesfagiorgis very poignantly speaks about the " semi-visible " status of the African-American women artists.

After finishing this post I was very excited to find this site regarding a new film called Women Art Revolution by Lynn Hershman Leeson

2011-12-27T06:04:00.000-08:00

This is a remarkable find and an even more remarkable artist, Vivian Maier, street photographer.

Thanks to Al Rae for posting this link on Facebook. It seems to me my photographer Professor, Thaddeus Holownia mentioned this discovery of these negatives in our photography class over the past while.

There is nothing quite like street photography or simply the person like Vivian Maier, who is ready to capture the spontaneous moment. In my opinion black and white photography strips down the image in a powerful way bringing the focus on on the subject matter in a way that colour does not. I know I may be a bit of a purist but nothing compares to black and white photography for me these days.

New Painting - The Ugly Duckling

2011-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

On the 2nd of December until the 14th , I had my first solo show, "Woman Who Runs With The Wolves" at Start Gallery in Sackville New Brunswick. Start Gallery is the student run part of the larger Struts Gallery, and artist run centre. It was a very special night for me.

I have never been one much interested in aspiring to display my work in commercial run galleries. Partly due to the fact I was intimidated and not really confident. I have since demystified some of these issues and become more aware of the importance and necessity of artist run centres, where artists have an egalitarian and cooperative, supportive relationship, and the chances of power struggles and personality conflicts are lessened, if next to non-existent.

It is hard to put into words what this show meant to me. The fact that I returned to school at the age of 56 and am about to graduate this coming Spring made it all very poignant. I had a dear friend I've known since early adolescence attend, along with some other good friends that have been very supportive and encouraging to me these past three years and for this I am so very grateful, because it has made all the difference.

I have started my next group of paintings, the ongoing series, depicting my own images from Clarissa Pinkola's book," Women Who Run With The Wolves." This one is "The Ugly Duckling". It is a very relevant story I think, especially this time of year when we all want and need to feel a sense of belonging.

"See to it now that you spend less time on what they didn't give you and more time on finding the people you belong to. You may not belong to your original family at all."
--"Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Christmas

2011-12-19T06:18:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying my holiday off away from the school deadlines and traveling back and forth to Sackville everyday out on the road hitch hiking. This Christmas is an unexpectedly different one for me, but every Christmas brings particular blessings, little and big miracles and surprises, and for many of us it is a difficult time. It is always bitter sweet because I always think about those of us that experience the season with a variety of challenges. Especially those who are in need in one way or another.

Many folks rush around, getting their underwear in a knot, stressing about purchasing gifts, aimlessly wondering the malls, going in debt for one day. Christmas is much more than one day. I always leave up some of my decorations throughout the year to remind me of the Spirit of Christmas which I want to remain, every day within my heart. Life is about our relationships with those we love, and with our fellow man. Christmas brings this all into focus.

We all have a choice as to how we celebrate the season and life. I pray to the Creator that I become a better person this Christmas and for the coming year. Because I am a person in recovery the Serenity Prayer is a very important powerful prayer and part of my daily walk in life until I am released from the earthly cord.

Poverty

2011-12-08T05:35:00.001-08:00

http://theanniversaryproject.com/

School's Out On The Road

2011-12-07T08:45:00.001-08:00

The last day of classes at Mount Allison were officially over on December 5th 2011. I still have a few loose ends to tie up and that's it for me. I am so looking forward to next term, my last before graduation.
Wow, the reality of my pending graduation and last term is beginning to seriously sink in. It's a wonderful, somewhat daunting reality and I'm certain when the end finally comes the experience will be very surreal to me.

There are several surreal moments in time that stand out for me, while attending the Fine Art program at Mount Allison. These moments in time covered the gambit from fantastic to freaky, frustrating, funny to plain silly. Suffice to say, certainly far from the bottom of the list, was stress. I admit I had a melt down or two out on my "highway of dreams".

There have been challenges that would perhaps boggle some folks minds. Frankly it boggles my mind, when I contemplate hitchhiking back and forth, from home to school and back home again, an hour and fifteen minutes away, for seven months. I did that. Some of these "rides" were like out of a page from a Stephen King novel. The very peculiar , 50 something woman, who picked me up at 9 o'clock in the morning. Considering I grew up in the sixties, nothing quite prepared me for seeing her holding a joint in a long extended roach clip, asking if it would bother me if she lite this up. I thought, she must be smoking that rolled smoke in order to keep her fingers from getting brown with tobacco. I told her I was allergic, maybe she could put the window down, it was her car, so go ahead. At this point, I still hadn't clued in it was a doobie, until she stated she wouldn't light it up at the bridge where the road crew was working, because she was afraid someone would call the cops on her.

As we motored along, she eventually lite up and the familiar aroma reminiscent of my fringe-hippie days gone by, wafted up my nostrils. I had a meeting that morning with my Professor. Then I thought, oh God, I am going to reek of dope and he is going to think I've been indulging. Fortunately she didn't smoke the whole thing and soon put it out, and I wasn't able to get to my appointment on time. On the way, she began to explain the details about how she was actually a twin, but her twin didn't survive and was some how, now growing out of her neck and her ribs. She then described how her ex-husband had abused her and caused her to loose the use of her eye. It was three weeks she said, until she could get to a doctor, she would pop her eye in and out of it's socket and would wash her eyeball and pop in back in. Needless to say I was glad to get out of that car.

There are a lessons learned here and many weren't at University, they were, on the road.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh..."

Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Use Art To Turn The World Inside Out

2011-12-04T09:03:00.001-08:00

Thank you to Cliff Eyland for sharing this!

Beloved Works Of Art...

2011-12-04T07:33:00.001-08:00

We were asked to describe one of our most beloved works of art of all time without naming the artist, title, or the medium. Here is mine.

Details slowly became very evident the closer I examined the branches. There were people, faces, babies, men, women, old, young, in various stages, events, and scenes throughout life. Death, birth, love, weddings, funerals all were depicted within the huge and massive tree. It was incredible and I never forgot this experience of seeing this work of art.

I would be very interested in hearing what others have experienced when seeing their most beloved works of art.

Museum As Medium

2011-11-29T17:47:00.001-08:00

I think the average artist and contemporary art student has a love hate relationship with museums and perhaps often sees museums as the corporate aspect of art and artists, epitomizing the business of the art world.

In spite of the fact that our fourth year Fine Art class were able to see such a variety of remarkable and inspiring art work by numerous renowned artists, which I can not underestimate, it was however the experience of the small independent galleries in Chelsea that many seemed to be have struck by.

There is much to be said for the small museum. Through out my youth and adult life I recall visiting odd, unusual, little, museums, some in Ontario, others throughout parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. They were always full of strange and wondrous items and treasures. Three headed calves, clothes that belonged to the biggest man in the Maritimes, the smallest woman, antique tools, farm machinery, replicas of buildings and some preserved original structures. They were fascinating, interactive memorials that transported you to another time and place.

There is a place for the large mammoth museum I know. The smaller museums offer something very different though I believe, allowing for, the museum as medium, because of the intimate experience enabled by the particular, the peculiar, the precious and the rare. You don't get lost in the small museum, and more often than not you have the opportunity to converse at length with the curator, which enriches the experience.

I noticed in the Metropolitan Museum there were rooms, like small museums within the museum. I went to the antique musical instrument room. It was an amazing, intimate experience, and I didn't feel overwhelmed with the expanse of space and the amount of items within the exhibit. It was a valuable characteristic that optimized the museum as medium.

Last week I watched Night At The Museum with Ben Stiller, featuring The Museum of Natural History in New York City, an incredible place. Here's a funny clip about not touching the exhibits.
I remember going to the Royal Albert Museum in London England, seeing Goya's masterpiece, Guernica and waiting so badly to touch it. The attendant very assertively reminded me to not touch the painting. I must have had that look on my face, that he undoubtedly had seen many times before. It's the most natural thing for a person to want to do I think, or perhaps that's peculiar to artists. I also saw the wonderful dancer Josephine Baker's costumes with all those feathers. I admit I touched it!

Performance, Narrative and Art

2011-11-21T16:43:00.001-08:00

Recently, our Art Seminar Professor Jerry Ropson asked our class to work on a project involving an interview with our fellow art students. He divided us into predetermined groups of three and four. We were also asked to provide a couple of you tube videos related to our art practice.

The initial questions I asked, where based on the Proust Questionnaire, acting as a jumping off point enabling us to get to know more about ourselves and each other. They also lead to more questions and further discussion. We produced our own video that consisted of actual video taped interviews. I will post this at a later date once they have been edited. We will be presenting this project in class tomorrow.

Ideas On Performance and How It Relates To Narrative:

CM Performance I am not so interested in. I am not a performance artist, though I have been involved in the in studying the elements of developmental drama and comedia del arte/street theatre in the past. I am very interested in archetypes that also run through many theatrical classical types, and how this translates into my painting through imagery of mythology, story telling and narrative.

I think we all have elements to some degree that resemble archetypes and are often played out in persona or personal masks or roles we play in life. I find this intriguing and psychologically I try to learn about the human condition, through archetype and myth in the form of story telling, legend, regardless if they are fictional or not.

RT The line between who you are and your art, for example K and I have a lot of self portraiture in our art. Do you feel your art has any form of self portraiture? Or does it identify with who you are?

CM Well, I can't help but feel that this is going to happen because it is an expression of yourself (art). I love portraiture and this had been my passion in the past and still is, but now my work is more about a kind of inner self portraiture.

RT Yes that makes sense. So does your art take on more like a narrative of the inner self then?

CM Yes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S75oLIYbW

CM Proust Questions
1. Your favourite character in fiction?
2. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
3. Your favourite painter?
4. Your favourite occupation?
5. What's your greatest regret?
6. What's your greatest achievement?
1. My favourite character in fiction when I was young, was always Snow White. I think I wanted to be her. I identified I think because I thought of here as being kind and sweet like her. I wanted to emulate her. She had all those ugly funny looking friends (dwarfs) she lived with but she loved them regardless and they all loved her too. They never resented her for being beautiful. I guess she is still my favourite fictional character, because of the same reasons.

2. If I could change one thing about myself I would like to be less of a procrastinator. This problem of procrastination directly affects my life. I can't wait around to get motivated or inspired and though I don't do this now, I still procrastinate at times, when it comes to being productive creatively as a daily habit. So that's why I write regularly in journals, it helps me to be disciplined and keeps the creative wheels greased and juices flowing. I'm not sure how exactly this works but I know it does. It has something to do with my unconscious and the right side of my brain I think.

3. My favourite painter is Andrew Wyethe, who uses egg tempera. After being able to see his work in NYC I was absolutely blown away with the masterful mark making. My favourite occupation has been being a Youth Care Worker working with troubled kids especially when I could use my skills as an creative person and working with horses as well. Animals, art and kids is one of the very best combinations ever.

5. My greatest regret would be not finishing my Fine Art degree from NSCAD. However I don't hold on to this regret, the main thing is, I am going to finish my BFA this coming Spring at Mount Allison and I am so happy and satisfied with this wonderful experience later in my later life as a Crone!

6. My greatest achievement? I have had a few but returning to University too finish my degree at the age of 56 would be the greatest achievement to date.

RT That's funny because I did a big project on snow white in 2nd year in drawing...it was more about the romanticizing of Disney characters though and the unrealistic depiction of women etc.

I procrastinate too! I would definitely change that, or my fickleness. I'm really bad at making decisions, because I always want to do everything!

RT How do you feel about acting on stage vs street theatre?

Do you feel like we have different personas or selves. Do you represent yourself always in one way, or in many different ways; for example do you act the same in every situation, or do you act differently sometimes..why do you think people act or in different ways in different situations?

CM Instead of studying Comedia del arte I should have applied to Second City. I love Second City Improv! That would have been my dream come true!

CM Street theatre is right there on the street with close contact with the audience, I love that. Anything is possible, anything can happen. I loved the immediacy improv element living in the present moment and working off of your fellow performers. I see it like the stage is more like the big commercial gallery. Street theatre is like the artist run centre.

CM I just try to be myself but sometimes there are circumstances when you need to act accordingly. But I don't often find myself in these situations. Some folks don't know who they are, know themselves very well or aren't comfortable in their own skin and so try to conform or are like camelions becoming what they think will please others in whatever situation they find themselves in. That stinks.

http://youtu.be/eT2R3E7vDUc

KH Proust Questions

1. I'm not sure I really have a favourite character in fiction. I don't read a whole lot and i think that with movies and tv shows i tend to be more interested in the actor than the character itself. but someone who comes to mind is Sally Bowles in cabaret, as portrayed by the fabulous Liza Minnelli. I guess the thing I'm interested in, is that she tries so hard to be this outgoing sexy type character, but you can tell that she really is putting it all on and inside she's kind of a mess.

2. If I could change one thing about myself, the obvious answers for me here would be, to go with the appearance based things, like I wish I were taller, thinner and my boobs weren't so big. But that wouldn't really help anything in the long run, so maybe something like not procrastinating would be good for me too. i definitely do it enough. or just that I wish i could just be more motivated in general.

3. Who is my favourite painter? I don't think I have a favourite painter, necessarily. I appreciate painting but it rarely grabs me the same way some other forms of art do. I've also always had a hard time naming one particular artist as my favourite. I'll say that last week in New York City, I saw a Louise Bourgeois sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum, that I unexpectedly loved, which gave me a new appreciation for her.

4. An occupation I've had? I haven't really had any I particularly liked. My least favourite would have to be a tie between waitressing at my grandparents' restaurant with a horrible head waitress who did nothing but take smoke breaks and tips, and summer camps for 3262247473 kids who didn't want to be there.

5. What's my greatest regret? All the things I haven't done.

6.What's my greatest achievement? Something I haven't done yet.

CM I agree R the female Disney personas are abysmal. Though I'm not sure when I was little I thought about how beautiful she was but I thought it was strangely curious why she was living with dwarfs, and I found it lovely they got along so well and how they had such affection for one another

CM K do you identify with that character Sally Bowles? Or do you identify with Liza Minelli? Is motivation peculiar to artists K or is there a reason you feel motivation is an issue for you personally?

KH It might just be that I’m trying to find a way to justify using Liza Minnelli as
my answer. I don't think I really identify with her, necessarily, because she
comes from this entirely different background that i can't even begin to
understand. I guess I'm just drawn to this persona that she seems to have
created for herself. Her whole image and the way she acted from just seemed
very deliberate, and now that she's older she kind of just lets the crazy show
through. she's been through a lot, she's a tough lady.

I think most, if not all, artists have motivation problems to some extent. Then
I look around me and see everyone working and making these amazing things and I
feel like for me it is a bit more of a problem. Not just motivation to do art,
but motivation to do anything at all. Sometimes sleeping just seems more
attractive to me than engaging with the real world.

RT Proust Questions

1. I have a lot of favourite characters in fiction, mostly in Disney movies and musicals. I love the Little Mermaid and Belle. Also Alfaba from Wicked, Mimi from RENT, Nina and Vanessa from In the Heights, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Meg from Phantom, Meg from Hercules, Pocahontas, Danielle from Ever After. That's just to name a few. I spend a lot of my time pretending to be characters I am not, like whenever I sing, I'm probably not paying attention to other people, I'm just acting in my own world.

2. I also wish I could sing/act/dance well enough to be on Broadway, or some big musical.

3. I don't look at much painting, but I saw Eric Zener's paintings in NY and I loved them, mostly because of the subject matter but also because they are very photo-realistic and photo is my thing. The paintings are of people underwater;a lot of them are falling or jumping into the water. They seem suspended in space. To me it's like the freedom I feel when I am in water, I have a powerful connection with water that I find hard to explain. I especially love the way the human body looks and feels in water. It is cool and beautiful.

4. My favourite and least favourite occupation was tree planting. It sucked but it was also an amazing experience.

5. I don't really believe in regretting things. I think you learn from everything you do and that makes you a better person.

6. I don't know abut achievement but up to this point some of the best decisions I have made where. to stay home and study fine arts here to quit tree planting and come home for my dad's birthday this summer and to go see the musical "In The Heights" in Scranton, New York last weekend.

CM It's wonderful to look at artist or art that can change our minds, change our art, and change our opinions!

CM You can act, dance and sing already R.. You're a triple threat!

RT A favourite occupation? A job the would be great? Something to do with theatre and art and maybe kids.

CM Interesting what you say about water and how you identify with that. I also am the same. When I studied Mime I learned this is the element I identify with. We really all do have an element we are most like I believe.

Regrets aren't healthy no point in worrying about the past.
Rena what do you consider to be some of the most important lessons you have learned through your mistakes as an art student over the past four years?

Jerry Ropson and Narrative Art

2011-11-19T09:05:00.001-08:00

Our Contemporary Art History class had a special guest, Jerry Ropson, visual artist, story teller and Assistant Professor at Mount Allison University, this past Wednesday. He gave an engaging presentation of his work and discussed his ideas surrounding narrative, in relation to his own art practice. All through the presentation he referred to his attachment to his woodshed at home and how he was given the chore of bringing in wood to the wood box from an early age. He had a love hate/relationship with this woodshed. His attachment to wood splitting became a central theme of a large part of his art work. The woodshed was a very significant part of his psyche growing up and I think has been become symbolic of his deep connection with where he is from, his family and life in rural Newfoundland.

The fact that Jerry grew up in isolated Newfoundland close knit community, lends itself to story telling, making your own entertainment, which is embedded in a strong history of oral tradition. Unfortunately much of our own oral tradition has be lost within our North American culture, with the exception of some isolated communities and First Nations people. However I think it can be said, there is a revival of sorts happening, in the contemporary development of narrative arts.

Recently I sat down and spoke with Jerry about story telling. He shared with me the experience he had doing a residence with a woman known as the Dean of story telling, Gioia Timpanelli. She is definitely the consummate story teller. I think Jerry has been influenced Gioia Timpanelli, in the sense that this has been one of the life experiences that helped him to gain a sound understanding of his art practice enabling him to bring together his personal and professional art practice. Like Kiki Smith he has learned to trust his intuition and come to understand and appreciate his family and cultural heritage that are all part and parcel of his art practice and work.

While in New York City, I saw Tony Smith's sculpture, at The Whitney Museum, in New York City. My Professor Dr. Anne Koval informed me he was Kiki Smith's father. I have to say I am a great fan of Kiki Smith and find her art to be very much about narrative. She comes from a Catholic Irish family and I find it fascinating that she considers Catholicism to be about story telling. So much of the Catholic imagery, belief in the Virgin Mary, festivals and etc., directly and indirectly comes out of the Celtic history with worship of the Goddess, relating to archetype, and mythical stories through oral tradition.

Communication, language and oral tradition I have always been very drawn to. In particular story telling has been a constant in my life, which has been for me like numerous guideposts that help to form and confirm my belief that in order to grow, we must be willing to fail and make mistakes. This is what it means to be human. Narrative art to me is a spiritual kind of journey and is about the human experience, and human beings as story telling creatures.

Annie Leibovitz's Pilgrimage

2011-11-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

On November 8th in New York City, I attended Annie Leibovitz’s presentation at Barne’s and Noble Bookstore about the recent publication of her book entitled, “Pilgrimage”. This book of photography is personal exploration and a sort of vision quest, while traveling throughout America and the United Kingdom in search of things she considered meaningful to her without any preconceived agenda.

After seeing the various photos within the book and hearing Leibovitz speak, I felt the
experience she had, reminded me of a book I once read entitled , “The Spirituality of
Imperfection. These documented photos were more than simply social documentation, which she
has been well schooled in from her mentors, Robert Frank and Henri Cartier Bresson.
She told the audience at her presentation, “ it is out there” for all to experience. I think she is
referring to the meaning in life that can be found in the pursuit of what is meaningful to each
individual. Interestingly, she said the night before on David Lettermen, she took this journey
to “save her soul”. She also said what motivated her was that "she needed to save herself".

Her photos invite the viewer to experience a personal glimpse into the spirituality of imperfect
humanity of those famous people, who once seemed larger than life and unknown. One feels a
closeness and intimacy with the rooms, the landscape and the objects she photographed and I
suspect it is not because of the camera or the sophisticated equipment used, but because of the
subject matter itself, and because she bothered to take this personal journey and share it with
others.

The strong element of synchronicity is apparent in this book, in that how one thing lead to another, following her heart’s desire in fulfilling the dream her late partner, Susan Sontag and of always wanting to travel to find people, places and things of meaning.
Her own personal crisis and desire to be close to her children was the anticedent to this journey.
Her photos demystifies the famous, and the infamous, giving an intimate, human portrayal, that is both beautiful and a presentation of the imperfect fragility of life, that draws the viewer into an experience and appreciation of the stuff of life. I am drawn to the fact she sees much of her personal and private work as being connected. Annie Leibovitz impresses me as having a great appreciation for all art forms and expression.

Leibovitz began her artistic pursuits first as a painter prior to her practice as a
photographer. Her particular passion for dance I found very moving, finding out that her mother
was once a modern dancer, thus her photos of Martha Graham’s dance warehouse and her references to Isadora Duncan.

There is a sense of story telling and narrative in this work that I think reflects Annie Lebovitz’s nature, that reveals what and who she admires and loves. She photographed a variety of landscapes, rooms and items found first in Massachusetts at Emily Dickinson’s house. Here through the use of a small digital camera she stated how surprized she was that the digital photograph was very accurate representation of the way it actually appeared, without any assisted use of lighting. Her use of the digital media is a reflection of how she considers the digital photography as a simply another creative tool, and describing the digital camera process as being the modern dark room. I must say, I was a little disappointed in hearing her say this on David Letterman however she did also remark during her presentation at Barnes & Noble that was not of the opinion that anyone could be a photographer because of the digital camera photography which she considers to be more of a generational difference.

After her time in Massachusetts she traveled to Niagara Falls with her children, where she began
making lists of places she wanted to visit, including the English countryside homes of Virginia
Wolfe, Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud in London. Here she would use more complex
cameras and equipment and her subject matter expanded to include objects and landscape.
While in Walden Pond where the site of Thoreau’s cabin was, she was drawn to other Concord writers like Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Throughout the book there is not a single person photographed, however it is full of portraiture and the intimate traces left behind by the people she portrays.

Her inclusion of Beaux Arts sculptor Daniel Chester French’s studio, who made the statue of
Lincoln Memorial perhaps not only reflects her interest in what it means to be American, but
how Lincoln the man was never really portrayed personally in an intimate way. She spoke about
the photos she took of his white gloves found in his pocket the day of his assassination and of his
top hat which had two spots where his fingers wore the rim, as he was constantly putting his hat
on and off. Leibovitz expresses how Lincoln loved to chop wood and was very precise and
related the continuous removal and placement of his hat with his precise and almost compulsive
wood chopping activity.

Georgie O’Keeffe was the person Annie was most moved by, and remarked how struck by how simply she had lived her life at Ghost Ranch,lived , which perhaps convicted Annie Leibovitz, as she lives a very famous, some complicated and lavish lifestyle.

More than anything the messages I went away from Annie Leibovitz was, do what you
are passionate about.
The traces left behind by those we love are a way to hold on to them, in our memory and a way to nuture and honour our own humanity.

“I would encourage everyone to make their own list,” she says. “My book is a meditation on how to live. It’s an old-fashioned idea, but you should always try to do what you love to do.”
Annie Leibovitz

LINKS

http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/11/pilgrimage-annie-leibovitz-catalogs.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/annie-leibovitzs-pilgrimage.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/08/142139753/leibovitz-takes-pilgrimage-for-artistic-renewal
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/99599/pilgrimage-by-annie-leibovitz

Water Instruments, Gordon Monahan, Steve Mann

2011-11-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

I think most people I can safely say love to hear beautiful sounds and there have been studies that give evidence that sound evokes many emotions and responses in the human psyche. My recent exploration of performance which certainly isn't expansive, none the less I have a renewed interest in it, however I am not exactly certain why, other than for the enjoyment of creative exploration and process.

A friend a few years back gave me a cassette recorder that was old but in excellent condition. I visited an artist friend in her studio and conducted three interviews with her and on the last occasion I used the recorder to tape our interview, followed by photographs of her in an out of her her studio and now I intend to do studio photos of her as my subject matter.

Upon my return home I immediately proceeded to play back the interview. I was annoyed because of the quality of the sound had been affected by the recording of the machine itself. The longer I thought about the recording of the actual machine itself, I became some what curious about it. I asked myself why? I think it has to do with the purity of the event itself machine noises and all. There for me lies the rub, the questions I thought were effective and illicited the responses I had hoped to acquire. I thought to myself how can I push this further, and what is it that makes me want to? After further consideration I came to the conclusion it's about sound for me, and about process, without placing value judgement on creative expression regardless of the machines technical glitches. I have the freedom to choose to leave the noise in and use this as part and parcel of the piece or scrap it and do another. There is something curious about old recording devices even the sounds picked up of the recorder by the recorder itself. The recorder almost becomes an instrument of sorts. Sound is language and music, each tells a story.

I found an interesting video online about the hydraulophone or water flute, which was a very cool instrument invented by Steve Mann, a Professor of electrical and computer engineering in Toronto Ontario. This reminded me of a sound installation Gordon Monahan did in 1990 involving water entitled, Aquaelian Whirlpool to make music. Both individual concepts involving sound are very curious to me. They extend and push the boundaries of preconceived notions of what music is, involving combined elements of water and air.

"The Aquaeolian Whirlpool demonstrates that the music of aeolian harps can be transposed from the medium of air to the medium of water; that the music produced in both cases is a kindred phenomenon; that the flowing of water and air is fundamental to our production of music; and that in many cases, water and air are interchangeable substances in the generation and transmission of sound."

Pamela Coleman Smith and Alfred Stieglitz

2011-11-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Last week I was asked to do a Tarot card reading as part of a performance for the end of an Art Symposium. Unfortunately I was unable attend. It led me to learn more about the woman responsible for this very well known Tarot deck. I have been reading Tarot cards for approximately three years now. I was amazed to find out that Pamela Colman Smith was a very talented artist with a very fascinating life. Here is the write up on one of the cards I have in the deck I purchased four years ago.

" She was born February 16, 1878, in Middlesex, England to American parents. Her childhood years were spent between London, New York, and Kingston, Jamaica.

During her teens, she traveled throughout England with the theatre company of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. Thereafter, she began formal art training at the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, graduating in 1897.

Although American by birth, she returned to England, where she became theatrical designer for miniature theatre, and an Illustrator, mainly of books, pamphlets and posters.

Around 1903, she joined the Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1009, under the guidance of Arthur Edward Waite, she undertook, for a token payment, a series of seventy-eight allegorical paintings described by Waite as a rectified tarot pack. The designs, published in the same year by William Rider and Son, exemplify the mysticism, ritual, imagination, fantasy, and deep emotion of the artist.

Despite occasional art shows and favorable reviews by critics, the continued slow sales of her works and rejections by commercial publishers left her deeply disappointed.

She never married. She had no known heirs except for an elderly female companion who shared her flat. She died on September 18, 1951, penniless and obscure. There was no one funeral procession to honour her life. There was no memorial service to touch upon the impact her work would one day have upon her admirers. She died disappointed that her paintings and writings failed to achieve success, yet she never stopped believing in herself.

Pamela Coleman Smith would have all but be forgotten except for the seventy-eight tarot paintings known as the Rider-Waite Tarot pack. She would no doubt be astonished and gladdened to know that today the deck touches the hearts and emotions of millions of people.''

I found it to be intriguing to learn that Pamela Coleman Smith was friends with William Yeats and had done art work for him. As well she was the first woman artist to have her painting shown by American Photographer and Modern Art Promoter, Alfred Stieglitz, in his gallery, Little Galleries, which up until this point only photographs where ever exhibited.
Her successful show marked a turning point between the old era of Stieglitz as revolutionary promoter of photography and new era of Stieglitz as revolutionary promoter of modern art.

New Egg Tempera Painting - Manawee

2011-11-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

This is the latest egg tempera painting I completed last night which will be included in the series I have been working on based on the imagery from the book by Clarissa Pinklola Estes, Women That Run With The Wolves. It is called Manawee, Hymn For The Wild Man.

Installation, Performance and Video

2011-10-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

"Photography is not an art. Neither is painting, nor sculpture, literature or music. They are only different media for the individual to express his aesthetic feelings… You do not have to be a painter or a sculptor to be an artist. You may be a shoemaker. You may be creative as such. And, if so, you are a greater artist than the majority of the painters whose work is shown in the art galleries of today." - Alfred Stieglitz

I have had somewhat of a bias attitude toward installation, performance and video art. There are a few antecedents to this bias. Being exposed to conceptual art in my early twenties, all through the 70s at NSCAD was a major influence, due to the fact that much of it I thought, was crap, and narcissistic indulgence. That's just my opinion and I am not saying it is correct or that any one need agree with it. I am far from an expert and am certainly not an art critic, nor do I aspire to be.

Much of the genre today is very tame compared to the 70s where anything and everything seemed to be the accepted discourse.
In my opinion, when I consider noteworthy performance, installation and video artists, who's work I find compelling, the artists often share comparatively similar elements . They stand test of time, enable me to look at the world from a different perspective that challenges my thinking, and there is a continuity to them that contextualizes, transcends and possibly redefines the past, present and future. I am reminded of artists such as Ai Wei Wei, Kevin Yates, Adam Goddard, Andy Goldsworthy, Krzystof Wodiczko, Joyce Wieland, to name a few.

What I most appreciate about contemporary Installation, Performance and Video art, like that of Bill Viola, and Louise Bourgeois, is how it is utilized as a poignant and powerful tool, enabling socio- political commentary and change. Preconceived notions of what art is, are pushed beyond confining boundaries, through the mindfulness of the present moment and process.

I am most interested in the spirituality of art work, and this is why Bill Viola appeals to me. Artists that invite and engage the personal into the public forum, can convict the conscience and nurture the soul. I am drawn to artists who lives become a large part of their art and art becomes an even larger part of life.

Blue Beard

2011-10-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

The story of Blue Beard, that Clarissa Pinkola Estes tells in her book, Women The Run With The Wolves, is for me one of the most ominous, and warns of destructive, unhealthy relationships, and entering the forbidden rooms of our psyche. It is a powerful story of warning and trusting our intuition.

I am reminded of the many John Bradshaw books I read many years ago, when I was at the beginnings of my own self-discovery. These books discuss impaired family relationships and how they affect us. It's as if there existed a dysfunctional relationship antenna, where with closed eyes, walking into a room of two hundred people, finds the most dysfunctional person, to have a relationship ship with, among the group. It also makes me think of the book, Women Who Love Too Much, and all the other written material surrounding this topic.

There is much more I could say about this relating to my own experience without getting into psychobabble however I'd rather just post my new painting, entitled, Blue Beard. That said, I will add, thank goodness for 12 Step Recovery.

This fifth painting in my series, I feel is quite successful for me. I consciously worked at my coloured ink under painting, more so than the previous pieces. My layered application of the egg tempera was a concerted effort to involve myself with the painting process. I think this is a rather vague attempt to describe my process this time but what I am trying to say is I am learning more as I go.

William Kurelek

2011-10-21T17:10:00.001-07:00

During my forth year critique first thing at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning past, I was anxiously anticipating my half hour and the response to my recent art work, I was presenting to the Fine Art Faculty and my fellow co-students.

One of the faculty, the Head of the Department mentioned William Kurelek, in relation to my work, and asked me if I had ever seen the Van Halen album cover, which features William Kurelek's powerful painting, The Maze. I said no, I wasn't familiar with it.

I hadn't thought or heard about this artist for many years, that I have so loved and appreciated dating back to the late 70s. I can't remember when I'd first knew of William Kurelek, but I was always so struck and moved by his work.

I had written a paper on him for my Canadian Art History course, when I attended the University of Prince Edward Island, in 1975-76. I deeply admired his spiritual conviction to the Christian faith, and his subject matter completely captivated me. I was compelled by his own personal story and struggle with mental illness and hardship. He had overcome so much and not just survived, but thrived. Tragically he left this world far too soon, dying from cancer at the young age of fifty in 1977.

In 1980 when I'd gone to Toronto to study, had no idea how I myself would be affected by the ravages of mental illness, when I married my husband, also a William, who also suffered greatly from paranoid schizophrenia, and diabetes, and in a very short period of time, he would also loose his battle, and died four months after we had been married.

Today, I revisited the life of William Kurelek and perused the book I bought in the 80s entitled, Kurelek - A Biography by Patricia Morley. I spent this afternoon searching online and found a few comprehensive sites about the artist. Two sites in particular, feature a couple of films about him and I have posted the links. I was excited to learn that this month, there has been a newly released film called, The Maze , which has been many years in the making. The NFB also has a documentary that was done several years ago by William Pettigrew in 1967.

I guess I must have missed this remarkable painting because I wasn't a Van Halen fan!

A Monument and Memorial

2011-10-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

In my Advanced Art Seminar class we were asked to consider the idea of the monument and if we were to make a monument for whom and what kind of form would it take.

My brother Ralph, died at the age of 59 years from having Multiple Sclerosis in 2002. He was my big brother as we were 10 years apart in our ages. Doing a monument to honour him would be for me expressed through painting, which I intend to complete between 2011 -2012.

Considering the subject matter, there are three photographs I have of him, one alone and two others of us both together. The first photo is of him at 15 years of age in 1958, just before he got sick, holding a battery operated model airplane he'd put together. He is holding it very proudly and standing out front of our house, in Toronto, on Boultbee Avenue. He was wearing a striped t-shirt, blue jeans with Converse running shoes. He has a full head of black curls. He looked very happy.

The other photographs are of Ralph and I in Niagara Falls on a family trip. I am sitting on his lap with my orange crush pop, which was always my favourite. I couldn't have been any older than 2 years old, and he would be 12 years of age.

I completed an egg tempera a portrait painting last year, of my mother and father when they were very young and courting, as a kind of memorial monument to them and I have wanted to do another painting, honoring my brother Ralph. I had also painted a portrait of my late husband Bill. This kind of exercise is very healing and being an artist often enables you to provide yourself the opportunity to work through our personal pain and the struggles along the road of life.

My Ideal Critique

2011-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

We were asked in our Advanced Art Seminar class to write our thoughts on what would be our ideal critique.

I spontaneously wrote this in class which is what we usually do, and so I didn't have a lot of time to think and so it was written a little tongue in cheek.

Considering Winter is fast approaching, my critique would take place in sunny California, where the film, The Big Lebowski was made, because I recently watched it again and it makes me laugh. I also loved the character of the "Dude ", and I am a huge Jeff Bridges fan. The warm California sun, the ocean and the "Dude" would make for a very relaxed environment.

The art exhibit would be outside under a canvas canopy, with each art piece placed upon a number of easels. Some people would be lounging on comfortable chairs with the ocean waves lapping gently to shore, as we listen to the Buena Vista Social Club, with Ry Cooder playing soft and low, in the back ground. Others would be mingling about, looking at the art work, while sipping girly drinks and good imported Canadian beer. Then the band would refrain from playing, followed by the curators introduction to me and my work.

After everyone had a good gawk I'd open the floor for comments and questions.Once those doins were all over we'd clear out the art work, get the band fired up and have ourselves a beach party and watch the movie, The Big Lebowski. Every one would be wearing "The Dude Abides" T-shirts

I know it's all just a fantasy. Honestly though after having an actual 4th year critique today in school with all of the Fine Art Faculty and students, I couldn't have asked for a better critique. It was truly inspiring, instructive and informative. There were no girly drinks or Canadian beers but lots of coffee, donuts, and great conversation.