Self-Portrait

I signed up to participate in a self-portrait project on the warm glass board. Now I have to decide what I want to do with a self-portrait. I could take an image of myself and reproduce it in a wafer, but that wouldn't really be reflecting how I use figure wafers, more as abstractions of ideas than actual representations. The figures in the Grief piece aren't about the figures, they are about no one quite connecting....

I can do something that is totally abstract. What aspect of myself do I portray? There are so many MEs, as I see myself. The NYC wannabe "sophisticate" who is always dressed in black. (One of my friends who met me when I lived in New York described me then as very hip. I wore hats even). The Venezuelan me, embracing bright color, rapid enthusiastic speech, drama and art... The child in me, clumsy, lazy, fat, ugly and shy. The professional me, creative, confident, bold, did I mention creative?, innovative, fun.

Or I could go in another direction, one that I have been thinking about, and reflect on how I have been rebuilding myself over the past five years. While for some women aging is about wrinkles, droopy eyelids and dry skin, for me it is about carpal tunnel surgery, knee surgery, getting in shape, losing weight, lasik surgery, floppy ankles, bad back, physical therapy, massage therapy. It's taking a city to rebuild me -- sort of like the bionic woman.

It's a struggle deciding where to go with this. Lots of sketches to consider....

Works in Progress

Was working on a new piece in blues, about contemplation. Eventually will get images posted. This piece has both the rhythm of the abstract-like "Beneath the Blanket Fort" and a sweet figure wafer image. I always coldwork the abstractions, taking down the shine and giving the glass an incredibly caressable warm silk feel. I tried leaving the wafer glossy, in part because I thought the contrast would be interesting, but also because I was afraid that if I coldworked the surface of the wafer I would lose detail.

Glossy wafer looked like it didn't belong with matte silky background. So, I sandblasted the wafer lightly and lost almost no detail. Afterwards I hand polished the glass with 800 grit silicon carbide and the piece was sublime. I will never leave a wafer glossy again!

Now I am starting work on a piece in reds, about surrendering to passion. I am considering including three small wafers in the piece, instead of one large one. Like the contemplation piece, this one will be smallish, about 5 by 15". Mostly red, I will probably throw in some pinks and oranges as well. The wafer drawings will have a cream and red background. The piece is already spoken for.

I have some older unfinished work that I need to finish up. Sometimes it is hard to finish up what you were working on when your mind has taken you elsewhere.....

Visual code-switching

I am working on a new piece right now, hoping to finish it up in time for my father's birthday. It's a first marriage of the two voices I have been exploring. I'm not sure it will work, this visual code-switching...

Hmmmnnnn... code-switching makes me think about language. I speak, think, dream in, read and write three languages, all quite fluently (well my written French is gramatically abhorrent). I can move back and forth easily between English and French, English and Spanish, less easily between French and Spanish. I work regularly in both Spanish and English.

So, I have at least two voices. Can't I have 2 voices in my artwork? Do they have to exist in the same body of work?

This storm...

Katrina has resulted in so much devastation. I can't help but think of the residents of Nueva Tacagua where I worked in Venezuela when I think of this disaster. They had lost their homes in landslides and entered a downward spiral of increasing poverty. I don't have much hope for anything better for the lower-income residents of New Orleans. Today I talked with someone who had lived in Section 8 housing. She escaped/evacuated with her three small children and now has to start all over again. For someone in her situation recovering posessions or replacing them is going to be a long slow task. How long till she gets a new apartment? and then beds? and everything else? How much will it cost her to get new clothes for everyone?

This is a dark time. How long till the water recedes? Till the area is free of disease? Free of corpses (both new and old)? Free of raw sewage? Till the homes are rebuilt? How many decades? And where will all of these people go while it is being rebuilt? So many people entering refugee camps in our own country, with no hope of returning to their homes.

My heart is heavy.