"You Can't Eat Art," She said!

Recently, while most folks were gearing up for winter weather, I ducked into one of my favorite thrift stores to see if there were any inspiring cast-offs. I sometimes seek out random objects to inspire some new artwork or to use in a project that is underway. In addition to some good costume jewelry and trinkets, a rare rudimentary black violin with its case was an unexpected find. For the past few months, I’ve been obsessed with adorning old, worn out and retired violins into something beautiful. Their lyrical form and beauty inspires me, and breathing new life into them is a fun journey!  

Here are a few of those pieces:

As I was standing in line ready to purchase my haul, the woman behind me seemed intrigued and confused to hear me ask if they would keep the violin case as I didn’t really need it. When she couldn’t contain herself any longer, I murmured something about making art with it, as the sales lady continued ringing up my jewelry findings. Just as the clerk shared my total, the lady behind me said, “Well you can’t eat artwork!” Any response to her would take more time than a thrift store line would afford. None-the-less, her words bounced around in my head for several hours afterwards.

I know she was trying to contribute to my well-being from her perspective. Those words “You can’t eat artwork,” could certainly deter and likely have discouraged many folks from pursuing their important creative dreams. But my truth is that artwork really is feeding me these days. . . in so many ways. First, it feeds my heart and soul, but more recently it is providing my sole income too. How could I possibly let this well-meaning woman know that I’d been working diligently for years plotting my eventual departure from my conventional job as a forensic nurse. As a forensic nurse, for over 20-years, I’ve received the stories of hundreds if not thousands of survivors. How could I also tell her that caring for my 95-yo precious mother for the past six years has limited my ability to work, and actually helped to thrust me into making artwork? In fact, just a couple months ago I stepped away from my most recent [and possibly last] nursing job.

The truth is that art in general and public art in particular, should not be placed on the same rung as “basic needs.” Years ago, Abraham Maslow proposed a pattern of motivations through which most of us establish our priorities. Needs such as food, clothing and shelter being at the bottom of the pyramid and considered basic needs. While near the top of the hierarchy is self-actualization followed by the experience of Transcendence. Maslow says, in order for us to engage in the next level of growth, it is necessary to feel a sense of achieving some satisfaction with the previous level’s goals. So, I’m feeling very fortunate that life has pushed me in this direction to create art! And in that sense, it is essential that public art feeds the community and its presence be made essential for everyone’s consumption.

Here I am with the “bones” of Vigilance, a giant 13-foot tall candle influenced by Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb.” The central candle and the three surrounding benches bear excerpts from that poem! The installation will be happening mid-April in the historic East Market Street and Murrow Blvd. area of downtown Greensboro.

Here are some preliminary 3-D renderings. . . the real candle sculpture is well underway and has a lot of color!!!

Please stay tuned to read more about my current public art project!

Thanks for reading this!

Theresa

Commissioning A Mosaic

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  I’ve often heard artists express the thought that they’re not fond of doing commissions. Most have expressed this because they want to follow their own inclinations [the muse] and intuitions, and not have to accommodate the thoughts and wishes of others. On some level I understand this feeling and respect their desire. For myself, there is something inherent about mixed media mosaic that seems to invite a conversation or collaboration. The tesserae itself [mosaic-speak for the media used to create the image], such as: stained-glass, tiles, beads, smalti, crockery, etc. are so varied, a conversation within the components themselves is necessary. Uniting these different materials into a single composition requires a conversation unto itself.  Entering a conversation with others is also essential within my personal process. This is especially true when doing large murals. There are so many ways of depicting what to express and how to express it in this medium that really invites collaboration. 

 I want to take a moment to share with you the kind words one of my clients recently provided me regarding our own collaboration. His words express our process so beautifully:  

"A friend-of-a-friend referred me to Theresa as part of my efforts to find a local mosaic artist whom I could commission to create an installation piece to surround the front door of my newly-renovated home. Once I viewed her work on her web site, I knew I’d found her, feeling immediately drawn in to her distinctive artistic style. “Creating Beauty Inspired By Nature” indeed concisely describes her work. She and I began discussing my initial design ideas and, sparked by her own creative responses, we quickly found ourselves on a collaborative path that led us to a piece that wildly and wondrously exceeded all my original expectations. Theresa was able to quickly tune into the essence of my original vision and brought me along with her on a journey that ended up richly enhancing it. I found an easy chemistry with her warmth and engaging presence. I also came to a deep appreciation of her sensitivity and ability to integrate my thoughts and feelings about the installation with her own unique interpretations, masterfully integrating not only the connections I feel with my cultural and national heritage but also the natural environment surrounding my home. I feel my home has been uniquely sanctified by Theresa’s gorgeous creation. I feel profoundly grateful and honored every time I walk through my front door, which is always preceded by a meditative pause to contemplate anew the spirit she has enshrined through her artistic expression. "  ~ Jim

      This was a very fun collaboration for me as well. Truly something greater than our individual thoughts was given space to take form. I love doing this kind of work! Once I start a larger piece I welcome those involved to come to the studio to see it in process and discuss the over-all image with me. That’s important to me also, as I want to bring joy and beauty to those with whom I’m working as they will be in a long relationship with the mosaic upon completion. One other feature of mosaics is that they are made to last for decades if not centuries. Consider the many Byzantine compositions unearthed in areas throughout the Mediterranean.  Also, materials for these mosaics have significantly improved even beyond the endurance of the traditional materials. For instance, until rather recently sanded grouts with acrylic polymers have also lasted for decades, but now there are high-performance epoxy grouts for use in exterior and water applications that previously weren’t available. Given that these things are so enduring, the people who encounter these mosaics will have a significant on-going relationship with this image and art-work for a long time. This is precious and even a priceless aspect of commissioning a mosaic work of art.  I’m available to discuss any potential place you might see a space for mosaic in your world.

Thanks for stopping by my site today. And maybe one day we will meet to collaborate in creativity!  

Theresa

Passion, Obsession and Wonder Woman

      I love when I get obsessed! I know this might be some strange issue in the DSM [Diagnostic & Statistical Method of Mental Health Disorders!] but as an artist it’s like going on a date with your muse. Where it goes, how you get there and what you glean is a wide-open journey that only your time and creativity may influence. This is the juice that our human spirit longs for. It’s like that first big drop if you’re a roller-coaster lover. . . an interesting purpose, a good journey and the muse all at once. I have found the spark that initiates this journey for me is often my land. There is a deep connection to this particular place for me, and it is different than what you may experience at a gorgeous place in nature. For me it has to do with living on a piece of land for 25-years and seeing the day-to-day and season changes that happen here. The ground bees that indicate a committed spring for instance. But what most inspires me is the dreaming this land offers me. . . it is like synchronized breathing with a beloved and the accompanying energy that this communion brings, but in this case, it is the land itself. I feel it’s breathe expanding into me and feeding me. I love it here!  It’s not because of it’s physical beauty-although it is lovely, but because it partners with me and inspires me with creative vision. I recharge myself by sitting next to this swamp near-by. The heady earthy smell of the muddy water, the cat-tails that sway in the breeze and all of nature that floods my senses and feeds my soul!

      I realize that not everyone is afforded a long courtship with a piece of land like this, I am so fortunate! This January has been a fully committed winter which we’ve not had for some years. A couple heavy snows, loss of power, huddling around the wood-stove, feeding neighbors who don’t have a gas stove that will light with a match, and getting to know them as they too huddle around the wood-stove in the living room together with my 91yo mother and myself.  Just enough remnants of a less hectic era here on mother earth to make things fun for 24-hours. This was the perfect set-up for this passion that has been simmering on the back burner for a couple months. This collection of tributes to the divine feminine energy in her many expressions has been wanting physical reality. From the Nile River Goddess to Wonder Woman I have been feeling the need to bring them into creation! These images or effigies are more than visual expressions I believe-as they hold space for the deeper expression of the divine feminine as I created them as altars too. Most of them have a place to light a candle or place a tiny vase of flowers. A place for you to connect to your hopes and dreams and to honor your own expression of that in your home or office space. I love creating altars. I am often inspired by many Asian or Buddhist countries that are surrounded by sacred imagery from many traditions. Shrines, temples and effigies abound in the streets, stores and people’s homes and businesses. It makes me wonder too, if we were immersed in this type of imagery, if our culture would be less beholden to material pursuits? As our technology now allows us to recognize ancient cities and megalithic temple sites all around the world and under-water too, it seems our ancient ancestors were connected to the cosmos in a way that we still don’t quite understand or acknowledge. . .

      Mid-February is fast approaching, and I’m still immersed in finishing a few more small altars. This month I’m working on a donation for the Solace Center at Wake Interact. This is the only free-standing domestic violence and sexual assault center in any county in North Carolina- meaning people can go directly to this center and by-pass the emergency room. I’m also planning on starting a commission piece for a local tienda of a 4’ X 4’ image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Also planned is to work on the face of another mermaid. So, I’m calling February the month of faces. . . I hope to see your smiling face and if I’m not so lucky I send you a wish for love and joy in this month of hearts and Valentines!

Thanks again for reading this!

Theresa  

Healing Art Project

Is it art? Should I share this image with you-especially as my first blog post? The image is so deeply personal, and it doesn’t reflect my artist skill either, but I guess you can decide for yourself!  In my current job, I work with victims of sexual and domestic violence. After working with a particularly disturbing scenario of a young woman who had been gang-raped several years ago, I found it hard to forget her heart-wrenching story. The longer story here is that she was actually “sexed” into a gang at the tender age of twelve. In my line of work this is not unusual, as young men are “jumped” into a gang as brothers and young women are “sexed” into a gang as a younger sister of the gang. This act however does not afford the “younger sister’s” the same rights and privileges of their male counter-parts. But this aspect of the criminal under-world is not the purpose of this post and some things are better left unexplained.

      This young woman was not an atypical “victim” as they say, just the type of youth that is vulnerable to sexual exploitation by sexual predators. As a young girl she was told by her mother that she was the product/conceived by rape. She internalized this information by perceiving she was a “bad seed” and therefore fated to have a certain dark trajectory in her life. Myself and the nurse I was training that day took turns leaving the room together and separately to re-group and to strategize how to create a container of innocence, vulnerability and resilience for this young woman. Hopefully she received what she needed in the ensuing counseling we set up for her in the days that followed. On that day, it was clear to me that this young woman was deprived of her youthful innocence and some of her prideful talk was a call out for the protection and safety she was not afforded in her life. This interaction weighed heavy on my heart and I needed a deeper process to clear these images.

      As a consequence, my search for materials at the thrift store the following day was quite interesting. I purchased an intriguing collection of items that seemed to speak directly to what I was feeling a need to express. There was a carved wooden door with a gate guarding the entryway, a wizard holding a lantern, a golden cup in the shape of a knight, a Raggedy-Ann doll tile, two cows sitting upon a plaid couch, and several other light-hearted images. Bringing these items to my studio, I assembled a scene to tie these items together by uniting them with a yellow-bricked road. The symbol of the “yellow-bricked road” for me, has always signified the mystical realm. One is on the proverbial path to see The Great Wizard, or to hear a truth that only the Great Oz could bestow. Finally, I used some deer bones to frame the corners of the assembled image to represent the inter-generational violence that often occurs in families. I have often reflected that the inter-vertibral cartilage of a deer’s spine is shaped as a heart. I have used both the bones and the cartilage of deer in my work at times. The gentle deer is also an important image in many spiritual traditions, and has appeared to me at important times in my life as well.  

      Besides hanging this image in the sexual assault exam room in which I worked, I have continued to share this story and a picture of this personal healing art-piece when I speak bi-annually to a sex offender program in the Harnett County men’s prison. The SOAR [Sex Offender Accountability and Responsibility] program is a unique, 26-week voluntary prison program for sex-offenders here in North Carolina. As a Forensic or SANE [Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner], it has been very important to me to work with the offenders of sexual violence. The artwork that resulted from this experience continues to provide a potent image and story of healing trauma, both my own and others.  The concept of innocence lost is an important premise to up-hold for all people in all cultures. It also brings to mind the innocence that is lost by any child that is subjected to a violent environment. How many more children does this affect in areas of war and hunger? Acts of sexual violence are finally finding a deeper resolution and awareness in our culture, as evidenced by social movements such as the #MeToo campaign. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to use art as an insightful doorway, both for survivors and offenders of violence, and this example perfectly integrates my life-longing to heal suffering and sooth the human spirit through artistic expression.

Thanks so much for reading this!

Theresa