In the Name of Art

Pattern Exchange: Latvian Cosmology

Myth has always fascinated me back to the 4th grade when a teacher had the temerity to veer off subject and cover the Greek gods and goddesses. When Inese's folder of information about all things Latvian came I knew I wanted to summarize their religion and it became a journal page. Ellen kindly included stamps to work with and also underlined the most important parts of the Latvian pagan beliefs. After reading them I truly don't understand how Christianity supplanted this system (apparently, it didn't happen quickly and took some 500 years). This page is some collage, stamping, color pencil and watercolor text.

The Silver that Saved St. George's Dragon

The savings stamps from back in the day seemed to fit here, and the rather circular area is some silver leaf gifted to me by my West Coast friend Catherine. Oh my, that stuff is nearly breathable. I've never worked with it before and the smaller pieces that break off are as light as motes. I'm also not using it properly, but the act of trying (with pieces flying) is ritual for me. Collage, gold paint, acrylic medium, marker.

Went to see Treasures of Heaven at the Cleveland Museum of Art yesterday and was, once more, caught up in art of devotional fervor. My favorite piece was a rectangular triptych with a "micro mosaic" at the center of Jesus. All around the mosaic were a grid of 1"x1" windows separated by brass repousse. Inside the windows were relics all carefully wrapped in silk with a thin slip of vellum labeled with the contents. They didn't have any repros of this piece and I am thoroughly disappointed, it was fabulous, as was the rest of the show. If you're anywhere near Cleveland, go see it.

Some Snapshots, Some Art

Barbara with her final work on Saturday night. Lovely complex images.

Lesley with her gorgeous necklaces.

These were the surprises in the packets that all the artists brought to give to each other, an early Xmas!

And last, the final collage done during the Icon Experience:

 

 

Snapshots and Art

The view from Lynne's front yard the morning after a rainstorm, it was my favorite sky, blue, grey and white with spots of flying sun. 

The vagabond artists posing ever-so-decorously in front of the Chocksett Inn in Sterling MA. Ginna is the only participant who wasn't fully captured. Note the aprons on those who think ahead. Note me at upper left, one of those who doesn't think ahead.

Ginna showing her work. On the left is Lesley and on the right is Anne.

I finished this one at home with the threads. I didn't plan to do that, but the longer these things stare at me the more they tell me about what they need. So threads it was! I'm a bit leery about using religious imagery and usually don't, but the icon theme made that tendency more overt. The animals become totem-like and in this case, somewhat predatory. The threads always seem protective to me, so perhaps they protect the Virgin. The title is a verse:

Oh stitch the reason 

On my heart

When I am blind 

To snake and hawk.

Last Icons, Some More Art

Saints Florus and Laurus, and I haven't researched them to find out who they are or what they did to achieve sainthood. I liked it for the angels and the horses, yes, when I was young I was one of those girls who drew horses contantly.

A Judgement Day, the top (of course) showing the heavenly realm and the bottom showing sinners being pushed into hell. That black thing on the right is a "sin worm" and contains sinners with their sin carefully inscribed on each bulge in the worm. 

And the art, one of the first 2 I did before going to the museum, St. George's shadow is here with a variety of saints who will remain nameless because I don't have a program to tell who is who:

Some Icon, Some Art

As the didactic says, this is Christ the Pantocrator or the judge who points the way. He doesn't look cheerful, but the serious business of weighing souls was impressed on the faithful by his expression.

Another blurry shot.....this one of 3 saints whose robes, and the pattern in them caught my eye. The way the fabric pattern is absolutely flat without any hint that it covers a 3-dimensional form really amazes and delights me. 

Last, another of the collages. All the reverence and narrative in the icons bled into the kind of imagery I used. Lynn provided all the animal images that became strangely totem-like, I had the saint's images in my packet of papers and the flat checked pattern came from a kind waitress who brought me a pile of the beautiful paper used to line the bread basket.

Iconography, Past and Very Past

Unfortunately for viewers, my snapshots are not nearly as clear as they should be, but you can get the drift here. This is an Iconostasis made in 1850 that depicts local saints, the 12 apostles and 12 feast days.

I loved the title to this one: Allegory of the Image Not Made by Hands. The story is that Christ held a cloth to his face and created a portrait of himself not made by hands, so that these are copies of an icon made by him. This story came in handy when icons had to be defended against the iconoclasts.

And lastly, my collage, with a bit of paint and color pencil that was made in response to the icons I saw at the museum and the general sense of creative reverence. I don't pretend that this even borders on the holy. My work took what I saw and combined it with Joe Campbell, surrealism, narrative and intuition. Mostly I flew by the seat of my pants.....with some help from other participants in our movable studio: the beautiful blue patterned papers were created and then gifted to me my Bonnie.

More tomorrow, I'm behind with unpacking, reorganizing and getting ready for the holiday.