Mother's Fear Triptych

I've been getting some questions about the planned arrangement for the Mother's Fear Triptych so I wanted to comment on how they may be placed. I'm obviously open to suggestions. I was thinking that Liam & Helena will be the same size the central image will actually be of Ada & me (not just Ada as some have asked). I will be clutching her tightly with our faces touching or very close together. I am still working on the composition of the image... i am in the process of sketching out variations of either standing or seated positions. I'll be taking resource images tomorrow. I have a former student coming to help entertain the kids & possibly help with lights. It may be awkward showing her some of my personal sketches but I know I will need the help. I've been trying alone & it isn't working.

Relationship Triptych

I've had lots of really great comments about Disconnect. I'll be using those to rework that one on Weds. I had a good phone conversation with Scotty today & he made some interesting points about the order that I should display the three. He thinks they should start with Intensity, then Contentment, and then Disconnect as that is the way he thinks the cycle runs. I suppose the only issue is that I view the Contentment piece as being a positive.... a middle ground that is the best overall part of the cycle. I didn't intend it to read as boredom. He had some great comments about how the contentment (being passive, too comfortable) in relationships actually can lead to a disconnect. Lots to think about. I definitely still want a triangular wall arrangement.

Mother's Fear Triptych Helena background

Incomplete text background for Helena...

Mother's Fear Triptych- Liam

Liam in its current state...

Mother's Fear Triptych- Liam sketches

The following are the sketches progress images for Liam. The text is visible. The Helena images are forthcoming (she is really complaining that I haven't painted her yet! She has asked like 20 times when I was going to paint her. She told me the last time "Mommy, what if I start to get jealous that you only paint Liam?").

Mother's Fear Triptych sketches

These are hard to make out but you can see the compositional adjustments that Josh suggested at the bottom (that is his sketch on the envelope).

Mother's Fear Triptych

With this set of 3, I wanted to deal with motherhood & the mother-child theme in a slightly different way. I wanted to deal with the abstract concept of "fear" particularly the type of maternal fear that I never knew existed until I had Helena (my first little one). This fear can be so powerful that it immobilizes you if you don't contain it or let it exit in a way such as with this artwork. With these I want the text to stay visible so that it becomes /serves as "the reality" of our culture & the innocence of the kids become ghost like or faded. I'm using torn edge text from newspapers (the actual voice of our culture) & water based oil paints (safety a concern around those who eat paint! :)) Mass media (here newspapers because they provide an even painting surface) is important because it shapes, influences, and often perpetuates the fears that are in some ways natural. I've already talked to Josh Grenier about these & he had some excellent comments about composition & questions for me about what I wanted the work to "feel like". In the following sketches you can see I was having things very centralized for all three.... Josh suggested having the Liam & Helena pieces leaning more towards the center. He also suggested incorporating hands or arms cradling the three pieces.

Contentment

Contentment is the piece I like the most at this point. The colors in the painted fabric work well & don't mask too much of the text (in "real life" looking at the work). This one was the only one I drew using a photograph (one that I took years ago of myself w/ a friend) and it did make the work easier than working from memory and sketches of models.

Disconnect

This is the most up to date version of Disconnect and it is the most incomplete of the entire Triptych in my mind. The color palette is terrible & I feel like the fabric is too flat... maybe I should redo the entire background. The map, or some map, I do want to include for symbolic purposes. This one needs tons of work.

Disconnect sketches.

These images are sketches, thumbnails, & mock-ups for Disconnect.

Intensity

This is the most complete version of Intensity. The figures are drawn in chalk pastel and the are attached to the text background (another ode to Jenny Holzer.... text to me is so strong as a symbolic component) which are stained/ painted with oils. The words help give meaning to the frenzy or all consuming "insanity" of emotion present at the conception of a new relationship or during the "peaks" of a longstanding relationship.

Relationship Triptych thumbnails, sketches,....

Relationship Triptych

This first set of in progress 3 pieces is about the cyclic nature of sexual/ intimate relationships with a longstanding partner (such as in a marriage). The first images are of the thumbnails, sketches, & mock-ups that I did for the pieces. The last 3 images are the images as they are in their current states. When I was constructing the images I thought of them as going in no particular order... they are the highs & lows of intimacy & feelings of connectedness to a partner which is in my mind fluctuating & cyclic. I am displaying them here in the order that they were created... Intensity being first, Disconnect second, and Contentment third.

mask view #2

A second view of the Identity mask....

Identity Mask

This is the piece that actually started my entire interest in the concept of "Women's Roles and Self-Identity" as my theme. It was an assignment given in my Creativity class instructed by Lynn Jermal. She had us create self-portrait masks & told us to use whatever materials we desired to complete the piece. I really got into the assignment and it made me think a great deal as I was creating it.... what am I all about. Who am I anyway & what is my real purpose? Once I started the text background (with words that at that time had significance to me), I just let whatever happen happen & the result was this mask. The symbolic components are clearly visible.... the vale for feminine traits & marriage, the "nuk" or pacifier for motherhood & for my connection to my own girlhood, the spiral for continuation of life & reproduction, foil/ reflective eyes & dark hands... shadows in my past that never really leave.