Retelling

Before the written word, there were stories told through song, dance, poems and paintings. The myths of our lives are what connect us to the lives lived before. We stand on the shoulders of others. Some of the lessons they learned are bound into our DNA. Some are bound into images that trigger memories. Some are resurfaced through sounds or smells.

We are not the masters of the universe, but tiny pebbles tumbling along the river bed, carried along by the current, spun around in the eddies, then flushed again by the next freshet. We are not independent, but flow with the community. We reinforce each other. We depend on each other. We are each other. Retelling bears witness to the flow of life through the flow of memories and visions. We are here now. We share.

Hope

If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that anything can happen. We have all been bruised, isolated, scared, squeezed (more financial than physical), abused by leaders who put themselves first, and forced to be patient with any service we may require.

This won’t last forever. But normal as we knew it is over. It is never too soon to envision how change can be for the better. That vision of change is called hope. Cast your net wide. See what you can draw into your life.

Mask of Athena

This is a tribute to the Portland, Oregon woman who confronted “federal troops” during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. While some chose rocks and bottles to challenge authorities, she wore her nakedness as a mask of courage to confront the federal troops.

I rendered her in a rainbow palette. From my perspective, we are all people of colors – many colors. We cannot limit people by the color of the skin they are born into. Skin color is not our choice. We can, however, elevate ourselves by through the colors of our character. We have the option to accept many colors into our lives. That is our choice for how we relate and function within our communities.

This sculpture is both a figure and a mask. The nature of a mask is twofold. It can disguise the wearer to conceal her/his identify. Or, it can amplify an archetypal quality. The Mask of Athena is a reminder that we can choose to confront injustice and absurd abuse of power. It doesn’t take a shield or a sword or rocks and bottles. It just takes the courage to expose the naked truth. 

Portland Open Studios Tour 2020 - Virtual Visitors Welcome

See my portfolios for images of my most recent work. The process I describe here is more intuitive than linear, but there are some consistencies. Most pieces begin as sketches and are revised over months or years before I find something unique to transform into 3 dimensions.