Our exhibiting artist at the gallery this month is such an inspiration to me as a creative person and woman. I first met her a year ago in a meeting, and am so beyond grateful to have her work in our space this month at the gallery. A colleague and I were able to visit her studio and hear about her work as we proposed an exhibition opportunity in our gallery. She accepted! Her opening was packed with visitors. She got a friend to sing a few stunning a cappella songs, and an art historian friend spoke about the work to open the night.
In our gallery talk event, her father thoughtfully commented on how he sees her work and who she is as an artist. At times, her husband would chime in and disagree. It was amazing to see their support for her work, how they were truly engaged in contemplating about who she is as an artist and how they understand her creative process.
She has a confident reign about her and a radiant joy. Her work is personal, yet transcendent, much like we are made in God’s image, her personal expression expands in truth the more you learn about and the more time you spend with each piece of art.
She uses distressed wood, and then gilds the imperfections or “wounds”. “Gilded Wounds” was the title of a previous show. This concept in and of itself could take one far down a journey of contemplation about the healing process and what it means to transform.
She finds figures, stories, shapes and special moments between the imperfections. The nails and scratches sometimes even feel delicate and elegantly crafted when juxtaposed next to the gilding metallic paint strokes. They no longer feel like mistakes. The work nods to religious iconography, which gives it a spiritual presence without being about spirituality or even iconography.
These works embody what it means to be a person, a person of faith, a person who lives in this world, a person created by God, an expressive person, a changing person. I have a tendency to over personify, but this is how the work hits me most.
She uses paint, pencil, color, monotones, each within the style of restoring wasted wood. There is quite a bit of diversity throughout the work, but it still feels like a coherent body of work, singing a common ballad about the nature of creation, humanity and truth.
There is no starting and ending point to her faith and art practice. As her dad nicely put it, “she is always worshiping and in prayer, always connected to God in every part of her life”.
Transformation can be a buzzword for becoming a “do-gooder”. It is popular in religious circles. This work shows change, hardship, wounds. Yet, these chips and cracks become like trophies, tattoos or marks of a personhood. It shows the finish line of overcoming, it shows cherished individuality, a grace-given gilding, glorifying what is left to the point that it is just as valuable to have a piece with or without a chip here and there or everywhere.
The gold paint is malleable to any kind of surface. Then, it dries, and symbolizes strength and value. It shines, no matter the surface underneath.
It is not a gold veneer, covering brokenness, it is not sugar coating, but it is a sealing of the tarried with paint that catches the light of the rough surface underneath. It makes it alluring, and ever changing depending on the environment it is in and what kind of lighting surrounds it.
I don’t want this to be about hardship contributing to beauty, but I do think there is beauty in the effortlessness or redemptive nature of these pieces confidently standing as a redeemed and admirable work of art, no matter how torn up it was before the process. They turn out differently, but the process is the same. Take what is old, tattered and wearing away, and uncover its glory by revealing its potential as a redeemed piece of art.