It’s more than masks

You might be wondering if I dropped onto earth in 2018. Actually, I dropped in quite a while before that, back in the 1900’s (‘65 to be exact). And clay is not my first go round with creative art. MishMosh is pretty descriptive of my approach to life. It’s deliberate in a lazy sort of way. I am among the many souls who would prefer to be organized but just can’t maintain it because I’m a change junkie. Early in life, I learned to draw (pretty well) and received some formal education. I suppose that includes a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. In high school, I was fortunate to go on a six-week trip to Europe studying art and architecture. It was there (many thanks to the late Rhoda Radow) that I began to understand the depth of contemporary modern art, including the abstract expressionists. Thoughts shifted from “any third grader could do that!” to “oh, now I get it!” And in college, I had a professor who stated, “if you can’t make it good, make it big.” That began my journey into abstract, wall-sized canvases. And I didn’t just want to make them big; I wanted to make them fast, so acrylic paint became my friend.

Illness hit my body and creativity took a nose-dive. To lose creativity is to lose your soul. After sufficient recovery, I searched again. This time it was a simple class in collage at the local art school. I’d been meandering about with it, primarily on wine bottles (that’s a story for another time) but, did not know the range of techniques that could elevate my work. With collage, my soul was revived and the potential for art was everywhere. Hopefully my adult children can now laugh at it, but we once stopped on the side of the road to pick up the hood a car that was left on the shoulder. All I could see was an unusual canvas. Collage was a place where disparate parts could come together to create a new whole. My need for organization and constant variety was met on each new surface. And my body could only handle a little at a time. That’s when my Boxes project began. One little box at a time. Breathe, sleep, one more box, and so on. While the project never ended, it was on hiatus for many years. This year, 2023, it called again and the creation continues.