4.5' x 8.5' x 14"
"O Tell Me"
Victoria Arts Council
Community Satellite Showcase
20 January – 18 April 2023
GVPL Bruce Hutchison Branch Library
Saanich Commonwealth Place
4636 Elk Lake Drive, Vancouver Island, BC
Victoria Arts Council
Community Satellite Showcase
20 January – 18 April 2023
GVPL Bruce Hutchison Branch Library
Saanich Commonwealth Place
4636 Elk Lake Drive, Vancouver Island, BC
"O Tell Me " is an installation of a metaphorical journey using images, words and objects
shaped through a process of accretion, accumulation, and convergence.
It is meant to be seen as if it were a display of archaeological 'finds'.
"O Tell Me " celebrates the depth and persistence of human cultures, the efforts of making and remaking a continuous path through time, in the face of disturbance and ruptures.
These 'artifacts', images and text, were 'found' in a body of work spanning forty-five years.
The 'artifacts' speak of the task of piecing together an unrecorded past.
They are the landmarks on this metaphorical journey.
Each work is linked to the other; each piece holds clues.
They are the landmarks on this metaphorical journey.
Each work is linked to the other; each piece holds clues.
"Flight" , accordion fold booklet, 4" x 75" x 1/2"
"The Sirene", newspapers, string, bamboo, glue, acrylic varnish, 24" x 16" x 4"
We rely on history, the written word, to tell us our stories when an oral recounting of our past is absent.
When the written records of history are absent we rely on artifacts archaeology to create a visceral sense of the past.
|
foreword
Placement/Displacement These days, the first day of living in an adoptive family is sometimes celebrated like a birthday. afterword Homer’s Odyssey is the story of the eponymous hero's return from war. His homecoming was twenty years in the making. |
foreword
Nobody' Fault Odysseus spoke “Cyclops, you ask me for my famous name . . . Nobody is my name.“ later . . . “Nobody is killing me by force or treachery.” cried The Cyclops. afterword In Homer’s Odyssey we find the oldest tricks in the book. |
'foreword
Disclosure Twenty years after it was made legal, I filed for ‘disclosure’ only to discover that my file had been misplaced. My name, kept secret for so long, was now forever lost. afterword In Homer's Odyssey, the Sirenes’ Song promised to disclose godlike knowledge and power to those greedy, reckless or brave enough to listen. |
"Jewel for a motherless/sea-less mermaid (trans.)" was built by process of accretion, layer upon layer of plaster and acrylic enamel.
It follows the European 16th -18thC tradition of sea-themed jewellery made from large 'deformed' baroque pearls.
" . . .Perhaps we so love pearls because, as the only jewels made from living matter, they directly connect us to struggle made beautiful." Mark Braude
It follows the European 16th -18thC tradition of sea-themed jewellery made from large 'deformed' baroque pearls.
" . . .Perhaps we so love pearls because, as the only jewels made from living matter, they directly connect us to struggle made beautiful." Mark Braude
"Bijou pour une Sirene sans Mer" (Brooch) plaster, shellac, costume jewellery findings, acrylic 3 1/2" h
"Angel Blues", Dry point on Arches, 12" x 12"
(In my loose translation) . . .and the Sirenes also sang this way...you do them an injustice if you believe they wanted to seduce and lead you astray. They knew they were clawed and barren, and so they loudly wailed. The Sirenes couldn't help it that their cries sounded so beautiful.
Franz Kafka, Parables and Paradoxes
Franz Kafka, Parables and Paradoxes
"After Agamemnon"
self portrait plaster cast, paper, tarletan, white glue, shellac, 13" x 6
Of all the the individual works, the earliest are molded from from my face cast.
"All art is autobiographical. The pearl is the oyster's autobiography."
Federico Fellini
The book Homer's Odyssey is said to have been written C. 875 BCE.
" ", Mirror, Mirror" photo & drawings on polymer litho, chine collé, Rives BFK 7.5 x 11"
Yellowing with time, the paper remembers.
|
|
|
"Hollow" & "Shinning" copper etched
References
https://docdrop.org/download_annotation_doc/The-Odyssey-of-Homer---Lattimore-Richmond-lv1hj.pdf
"The "Mask of Agamemnon"
is one of the most famous gold artifacts from the Greek Bronze Age found at Mycenae in 1876 by the distinguished archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.
|
Those glimmering spheres you see dangling from ears and necks all began as vile things - uninvited houseguests soothed by their gracious and patient hosts.
" . . Perhaps we so love pearls because, as the only jewels made from living matter, they directly connect us to struggle made beautiful." Mark Braude
|
|
O Tell Me
I can be reached for any questions, comments at
ph.250 383-3689
Price list available at Library desk
I can be reached for any questions, comments at
ph.250 383-3689
Price list available at Library desk
- Angel Blues, from Kafka's Sirenes Drypoint 125 $
- Angel's Asylum, skyline Montreal Etching 325
- La Méduse, (Medusa / Jellyfish) Stencil Monoprint 125
- Mermaid's Tale Etching, Hand Coloured 125
- Pandora Etching, Miniatures 65
- Pandora's Ring Etching, Miniatures 65
- Note To Self Etching, Sugar Lift, Chine Collé 75
- Blind Homer Etching, Chine Collé 75
- Odysseus Singer Of His Own Song Etching, Chine Collé 75
- The Monument Photo Etching 25
- Voyage Between Skylla & Charibdis Etching, Chine Collé 75
- Voyage For Polyphemos The Cyclops Etching, Chine Collé 75
- Voyage To Beautiful Naausika Etching, Chine Collé 75
- Grasp Triptych, Hold On Tightly Clay, Glaze nfs
- Moi j'ai eu mon voyage Oxide Bowl claybody Toby Howell, 375
- Sea Things High Fired Clay, Slip 150
- The Council Clay figures nfs
- Bijou pour une Sirene sans Mer - Brooch Plaster, Shellac, Findings 125
- Bijou pour une Sirene sans Mer Necklace Plaster, Shellac, Findings 125
- Grasp, Clasp, Clash Copper, Ferric Cut 65
- Ball of Words Language/Tongue Copper Foil nfs
- After Agamemnon Paper Glue Shellac, Tarlatan nfs
- The Sirene Paper, Glue, Acrylic Medium, String nfs
- Self Doll in her box Paper, Glue, String Bamboo nfs
- Panache, Wing Twig, Tissue, Glue, Shellac nfs
- Face, Night Paper, Glue, Paint, Tarlatan nfs
- Face, Golden With Time Paper, Glue, Tarlatan nfs
- Here, and about Odysseus Rives BFK, Ingres, graphite. pastel 175
- Disclosure Accordion Fold, Copier 25
- Nobody's Fault Accordion Fold, Copier 25
- Placement Displacement Accordion Fold, Copier 25
- Flight Accordion Fold, Copier 25
Seeking a scaffolding for dramatizing personal archaeology and experience, I claimed the seminal book Homer's “Odyssey”.
As an adoptee of the blank slate policy:
Deducing a past is what's left when both oral and written stories, proofs, trails, are excised, by law destroying the traces of connection, obliteration of a time before this.
Deducing a past, allows placing oneself in time, locating first this, then that, then this, understanding consequence, consecutive ness, sequence. en route to knowing "you (really) are here", somewhere, now.
The depth and resonance of my cultural ancestors gives me a perspective on what is lost when cultures are destroyed.
As an adoptee of the blank slate policy:
Deducing a past is what's left when both oral and written stories, proofs, trails, are excised, by law destroying the traces of connection, obliteration of a time before this.
Deducing a past, allows placing oneself in time, locating first this, then that, then this, understanding consequence, consecutive ness, sequence. en route to knowing "you (really) are here", somewhere, now.
The depth and resonance of my cultural ancestors gives me a perspective on what is lost when cultures are destroyed.
