Archival ink on Baryta paper. 20 x 20 inches.
In the spring of 2023, I had an aesthetic immersion that took me beyond myself, beyond what I thought I knew: a life-changing experience. Working with three models in Mexico, I found myself making visual commentary about intangible ideas that I had always known and yet never fully acknowledged. I was awash in the feminine. I felt there were messages about the feminine soul that needed to be heard and translated into visual images at this particularly fraught moment for humankind. I continued to find inspiration during the 2024 election election season in which there was an extraordinary centering of women’s bodies in our American presidential election. In an electorate deeply divided by gender, biological essentialist arguments about what the feminine and the masculine mean called for reflection. This work is my reflection. There are deeper meanings beneath the surface beauty of the perennial female form in my art. Society needs the breath of the feminine spirit to bring life and joy, the capacity to feel, to create art, to connect deeply, and to trust. In the Jungian sense, the feminine spirit – Lo Sagrado Femenino -- belongs to both men and women. We cannot be whole without acknowledging these virtues and making room for them in ourselves and in our society. Through my work, I want to give viewers the courage to restore their relationship to the female soul. It is a new venture for me. In the words of T.S. Eliot, I’m in the fight to recover what has been lost and found, and lost again and again.
Archival ink on Hahnemühle William Turner. 20 x 20 inches.
In the spring of 2023, I had an aesthetic immersion that took me beyond myself, beyond what I thought I knew: a life-changing experience. Working with three models in Mexico, I found myself making visual commentary about intangible ideas that I had always known and yet never fully acknowledged. I was awash in the feminine. I felt there were messages about the feminine soul that needed to be heard and translated into visual images at this particularly fraught moment for humankind. I continued to find inspiration during the 2024 election election season in which there was an extraordinary centering of women’s bodies in our American presidential election. In an electorate deeply divided by gender, biological essentialist arguments about what the feminine and the masculine mean called for reflection. This work is my reflection. There are deeper meanings beneath the surface beauty of the perennial female form in my art. Society needs the breath of the feminine spirit to bring life and joy, the capacity to feel, to create art, to connect deeply, and to trust. In the Jungian sense, the feminine spirit – Lo Sagrado Femenino -- belongs to both men and women. We cannot be whole without acknowledging these virtues and making room for them in ourselves and in our society. Through my work, I want to give viewers the courage to restore their relationship to the female soul. It is a new venture for me. In the words of T.S. Eliot, I’m in the fight to recover what has been lost and found, and lost again and again.
Archival ink on Baryta paper. 20 x 20 inches.
In the spring of 2023, I had an aesthetic immersion that took me beyond myself, beyond what I thought I knew: a life-changing experience. Working with three models in Mexico, I found myself making visual commentary about intangible ideas that I had always known and yet never fully acknowledged. I was awash in the feminine. I felt there were messages about the feminine soul that needed to be heard and translated into visual images at this particularly fraught moment for humankind. I continued to find inspiration during the 2024 election election season in which there was an extraordinary centering of women’s bodies in our American presidential election. In an electorate deeply divided by gender, biological essentialist arguments about what the feminine and the masculine mean called for reflection. This work is my reflection. There are deeper meanings beneath the surface beauty of the perennial female form in my art. Society needs the breath of the feminine spirit to bring life and joy, the capacity to feel, to create art, to connect deeply, and to trust. In the Jungian sense, the feminine spirit – Lo Sagrado Femenino -- belongs to both men and women. We cannot be whole without acknowledging these virtues and making room for them in ourselves and in our society. Through my work, I want to give viewers the courage to restore their relationship to the female soul. It is a new venture for me. In the words of T.S. Eliot, I’m in the fight to recover what has been lost and found, and lost again and again.
Mixed media. 58” wide by 64”.
A poem by Susanne Nielsen ( Triptych of Brides)
Softly I say: We are promised into marriage from infancy. Our path is long set - in silk and gold. It is the way of our mothers. Love will grow they say. My jewels give me beauty. It is our wedding day. They glisten against my skin. They shine today. We put them away. For a day that may come. When I may use their strength. To find a path beyond the beads. To leave behind the veil. Beauty to freedom. Our mothers gave us this.
Oil panel. 18 x 24 inches.