This photograph is of a piece of wood that I found on a hike and a sample of the art that it inspired. I haven’t altered the wood piece at all…I found it just as it is.
This ‘found object in nature’ inspired a body of potent, creative work for me. It represented the feminine and it seemed to hold the wound as well. I drew from it, collaged, painted, created monoprints and silkscreens.
I was working at times throughout this process with Sharon Epstein, a wonderful teacher and textile artist at the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-op, 401 Richmond St. Toronto.
It held the mystery of deeply stored energies and emotions that revealed themselves throughout the time I spent adding and subtracting lines, scratching, scraping, erasing and sanding.
Throughout this process I was struggling with surfacing emotions: tears of frustration, fear, grief, loss and pain. This intense, multi-layered process ultimately led to much personal growth, discovery and healing. It was a full creative/emotional journey.
There came a time when it was right for me to walk away from it. There was a feeling of completion.
As I blog about this process a few years later, I believe that I could go back in and pick up that particular thread (or rope in this case) and continue to haul up the depth material that it stirs in me. I just might...
Exciting … yes. Does it take some bravery? Definitely.
Is it helpful to have some solid support if you decide to undergo the process? Most definitely.
This silkscreen is a further exploration of the process beginning
with a piece of driftwood.
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