birds of pray

Just a few pics of one of the pieces in a series I am working on. This one is Past, Present and Future/Mother, Maiden, Crone. There are 3 pieces in the series plus a number of drawings and water colors. One is already manifest but I don't yet have photos It was the first one, and came into being while I was at Omega. It is Past/Future and has the wings of a black bird.

Another is The Four Directions, and not yet started.

All three incorporate feathers and wings from birds of prey, and plastic doll faces I was gifted by my aunt many years ago. They travelled from east coast to west and back again with me. I somehow knew they had a larger purpose, and never tossed them. So utilizing them now is particularly gratifying.

They are creepy, I know, and I love them for it. The creepier my work gets the more I love it. Ultimately I'll have to write a new artist's statement for them. The bane of all artist's. But I love writing as much as I love making.

And today, while at my studio for a few hours working on some water color paintings, the words were flying in my head. Like I've said before: wish I could just plug a wire in.

But also: what a bunch of shit. All of it. Why we make what we make. The reasons. The rationales. Maybe it's because I lack an art school education. But my premise is that any art we make is simply another attempt to dig ourselves out of the dirt of our personal archeology. Depending on how self aware we are, and how honest, we can write an artist's statement that touches the depths of our own exploration. Even if we are removed a million degrees from the emotional touch stone, the intellectual exploration is still connected to it.

Try to convince me otherwise, but I believe in our humanity. I think everything is driven by it. Even if it drives us in the opposite direction.