New Year, New Work, New Space

Many are wondering "Why are you moving?"

Well, I don't really work in my studio much. It took a personal catastrophe for me realize that and for me to start making some changes. There are so many things I can do from working in shared printmaking spaces elsewhere. My work is big, requires a press. The series of large woodcuts continues, partially funded through a generous grant by the Barbara Deming Money for Women Fund. So really all I was doing in my studio was matting and framing, some drawing, some bookmaking, some work on smaller prints (more on that...) and occassionally napping (though not as much as before since I got rid of the futon last year...). But not a significant amount of time was spent doing any of it.

Of the large woodcuts, I have often been asked "Why hands?" Hands are gracious, graceful and always grateful. My mother's hands bake, my grandmother's hands quilted. Hands express love, surrendering, compassion. Hands can also be used to hurt, push away, denounce. I think you can tell a lot about a person by how they use their hands. For me, using hands in a print makes sense: hands repeat motions, they are redundant. There are two of them. After a few years of doing this series, I began to realize where I was in life when I started them: I was about to be married and start a family. This was important to me. A marriage ceremony involves clasping hands and making vows. The greatest moment in the birth of a child is holding him in your hands (and Jackson was barely more than a handful!)



These are all important to me, though not necessarily literally reflected in my work. Instead, it's the sentiment of nurture and love that is reflected.



In tandem with the large woodcuts, I am starting two new series (one which I mentioned in an earlier post). Goddess Night and Travellar. Travellar is rather appropriate for my studio move, as I have this urge for change. No, not in an Obama kind of way! I will be turning 35 this year. That's a significant age! I am looking for movement in my life, forward progression. The feet and legs in Travellar are in motion, Goddess Night is busy gathering and collecting. I am taking stock of my life and asking "where to go from here?"