ON DEDICATION

Poem by Eldon Taylor

DeMaupassant tells the story of a drone bee that,
once trapped within his home, resisted efforts to
be set...

ON DEDICATION

Poem by Eldon Taylor

DeMaupassant tells the story of a drone bee that,
once trapped within his home, resisted efforts to
be set free. The drone fought attempts aimed at
directing him out the window where the meadow
and wildflowers waited. Once out the window, the
bee paused in midair as if to say, "Is this what that
was all about!".

I believe that many of our "difficult" encounters are
designed to set us free, but our resistance self inflicts pain. In learning to let go and allow the
natural flow of life, a transformation in my
experience has occurred. Blake once said that a
fool who persists in his folly long enough will
become wise. It is to folly or resistance that I,
therefore, dedicate this work.

 

THE STORY

Do you remember the first 21 days of the Lockdown?

I participated in an artist challenge in which we created art every day for 21 days (with a couple of added extra days of lockdown). I was house-sitting for my mother and didn't have access to my creative studio, so I attempted to improvise. I discovered cable ties in the kitchen drawer and was impressed by their flexibility and strength. I set out to make sculptural drawings out of wire ties.

Post-Lockdown I was still experimenting with cable ties when I came up with the "Simple T.E.S.T." collection. It demonstrated my sculptural versatility for working outside of the studio. I then chose to journal my thoughts and feelings when I re-entered society after a period of severe self-isolation. My awareness was at its peak as I kept a visual record of my encounters with people and self-observed them.

Eldon Taylor's poetry collection, "Simple Things and Simple Thoughts," drew me in. Taylor, at the same time, added a new depth to the emotion or issue I was dealing with at the moment. He helped me to see things from other angles, liberating me from any preconceived notions or associations I had with the issue.

Visions generally arise as I am reading the poetry while producing the artworks. I would frequently build shapes out of cable ties and match them to the text. Other times, I'd get ideas from photographs in the National Geographic 1980s collection and start piecing them together. Every work of art is the result of a "sense-feeling" process.

I was also drawn to artwork with a communicative nature. I researched Rebus Codes and began experimenting. A Rebus Code is a type of puzzle that uses illustrated graphics and individual letters to represent words or phrases.

A variety of genres, including Contemporary Modernity, Abstraction, Surrealism, and Impressionism, have affected the colour palette.

There is a healing quality to the works of art that is revealed after spending time with the image and poetry.