Iris Series for GOS 2021
On October 16th and 17th I am thrilled to display my new Iris series at Gowanus Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY from 12 – 6pm each afternoon. The address is Shapeshifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
My Iris Triptych series explores new ways to capture these flowers. Every year when the Iris blooms in Spring, I attempt to evoke their beauty and their spiritual essence. In Japan, Iris is revered for its purifying properties. In many cultures the Iris stands for wisdom, trust, hope and valor. What better flower to bloom as Spring begins?
This year I attempted to display this flower’s energy. Through the calligraphic movement I employed to paint the palladium on the Japanese gampi paper to the exposure using sunlight, my thought was to convey the elegance and dynamism of these flowers.
Yvena Despagne, a curator with Arts Gowanus, has chosen three of my works for “Oc.cu.pied”, an exhibition of art by women. The three works are “Blossoming Oak”, “Can We Breathe?” or “Chimera” and “Into the Earth”. I have used the title “Chimera” as an alternate title for this work as in Greek mythology chimeras were human hybrids with appendages from the natural world. Here this woman is growing blossoming Oak branches as she gives birth to her baby. Dates are October 16 and 17, the same timing as the Arts Gowanus Open Studios. Atelier Canal, 287 Third Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215 is the location.
Framing my work finishes the work for me. The photograph here is the work “Can We Breathe” in its frame, ready to exhibit. I have given this work this name because we live in an interdependent state with trees. Through photosynthesis, trees transform carbon dioxide into oxygen which we breathe. This work is collaged from printing negatives of a woman, a baby and the blossoming oaks with palladium on Japanese gampi paper. I painted with Kremer pearlescent water color to add the dimension of green for leaves and red for our blood.
