How I Came To Be

The Journey begins with the Call to Leave the Safety of Home.
The top third of the piece is a photo of a man crowned with flowers, jewels and masked with chinese paper with words on the stamp across his eyes reading "The Odds". The words "Arbitrary Signs" refers to the idea that the Hero on her journey will be provided for if only she can recognize the opportunity when it presents itself.
In the center is Yellowstone Falls and there riding down the Falls on a rubber inner tube is a young Lisa . She exhibits no fear although almost airborne, because for now this is the Way forward and it means relying on Intuition in circumstances of low visibility.
The Lower panel relects the rewards of the Journey.
A tray filled with beads, embroidered silk ,scissors , a needle with green thread and held with porcelain hands against the reflection of sky on water.
This is a joyful place where Blue Water and the Blue Sky allude to a Spiritual Journey of long duration now at a place of Restoration.

Hoping for the Best

In "The Writing Life" Annie Dillard
admonishes

don't save the good stuff,

use it!

Those precious phrases, or in my case those fabrics,beads and jewelry kept safe in my art boxes for decades, demand to be given Life. Everything in this piece bears the weight of memory. The "frame" is old
yellow silk from a wedding dress, lace collars from Aunt Hazel and all of the beads , pins, buttons, Annie told me to use. The lower picture inside the frame is a postcard of Ball's Park in old Mukilteo circa 1900,repainted and idealized. My kitchen window looked out into those trees for 27 years ,1985 to 2007 . A place of refuge , joy and love . A place of leaving and of being left. The young woman in the upper panel belongs to the time, but lived elsewhere, I just loved her beautiful face and carriage. Note the way she leans toward a sound or a thought. Her name is Grace and we did not meet her until she was over eighty. The carved finial from a clock leaps upward as a wave of water, balancing the gold pocket watch below.

And that long winter as I worked on this , stitching thousands of silvery beads,

I wondered if all of the Good Stuff was gone from my repetoire,

from my Life. But it still pours.

Making Art about People for People

I make constructions about People

Little revelations of How to Be. Some of these are commissions, and some I do because I cannot resist the urge.

The woman with crossed arms laughing is my mother Tessie standing in front of the maple cabinet that looks like one of my altar pieces, or vice versa. The little shrug of her shoulders and teasing smile imply a shared inside joke with the photographer, in this case me.

This picture is from my brother's 2006 July birthday when Tess made a memorable strawberry pie.

The little altar photo is Tess stringing beans in October of 2007. We had just returned from a long trip to the clinic in Walla Walla where the plan to treat her advanced lung cancer was laid out. I printed the picture then made a little altar on a shelf in my studio with symbols relevant to the 59 years I had spent with her.

When working with a client I try to work from a mandala pattern. The very center being the image of the person , as they would want to be seen. That image of ourselves that we recognize in the minds eye. If I could take a photo of the soul, that would be the center.

Next layer around the Soul are the beloved people and things of this world.

It is hard work peeling back the facade, but when done, we are all more alike than not.

Path to my better self

Early in February i took a picture of my sister Mari's sitting room in La Grande, Oregon and printed it on heavyweight presentation paper (13x19)
The winter sun washed out much of the color in the cushions of the couch , so I went back in with water color pencils and created watery silk cushions.
With a razor blade, I cut away the view from the window and replaced it with images from my subconscious. The scene is Golden Gate Park with my Mother, as a very young woman, holding a gift and standing on a golden path.
Above the shelf on the wall , the mirror was replaced with a very small beaded photo of a young me, looking out over the edge of the frame for a place to land.
" the maxims of morality will no longer satisfy the earnest enquirer" are the words around the frame.
What does this mean? Knowing comes from Doing. There is no substitute for Experience. That is how we come to Be.