Sweet Home California

 

This Friday, October 5, 2012, 6 to 9 p.m., is my artist's reception for my newest works at the Blue Wing Gallery in Woodland, Ca. The piece above is one of the works on display there now, titled "Only Hearts Can Build It" and features the house that one of my best friends is now living in with her recently reconciled husband. I had thought of titling it "The House That Love Rebuilt," but I decided to go with bits and pieces from quotes on home that I like instead. The quote this one comes from is by an unknown author and says, "It takes hands to build a house but only hearts can build a home." Like many of my works, the quote is also written in the piece itself, providing one of many little things for the viewer to discover.

And here's my artist's statement for this show: 

Born and raised in California, the great valley was always my home. As a young adult, I could hardly wait to get out and see the rest of the world and I happily traveled wherever the Army sent my husband, to other states and countries. But one day I found myself, much like Dorothy, longing to be back. In my mind’s eye, I longingly envisioned open spaces and dry brown hills dotted with giant oaks, the rough coast interrupted by beaches, and the imposing Sierra Nevada. After several years we finally returned home to our native landscape, living in the valley, traveling east and west and then north and south, my cameras ever at the ready. 

I spend my creative energies in recording the landscape I see as my home, the places not only precious to me but truly unique and special in the world. After capturing the images in photographs, I collage them onto a surface with other snippets of home,  a fallen leaf or twig, a sketch of a native creature or pet, a piece of map. Sometimes the collage becomes three dimensional, growing into an assemblage, but the undercurrents of home and landscape always remain. Color is applied with pencils, acrylics  or whatever I find useful, until the depth of my emotion is expressed in the palette of my art. One of my greatest joys is that I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I have the true privilege to be able to share it with others.