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The Muse's Storage Box

The Muse's Storage Box
Copyright Diane Lou.

Alchemical Dreams and Disparate Realities

Rust and bones, broken toys and old text, game boards, gears and nests. Even as a child such odd, unwanted items evoked a pit-of-the-stomach response that bordered on exhilaration.
While I make no attempt to conjure up specific feelings in the viewer, the ambiguous juxtapositioning of familiar materials creates art that evokes half-forgotten, dream-like visions that beg to be interpreted by the viewer. There is a sense of deja vu (the already seen) tempered by a sense of jamais vu ( the never seen, or the illusion that the familiar does not seem familiar), and this contradiction asks the viewer to dig deeply, to look inside her own repository of wisdom, intuition and experience to find her own meaning in the familiar objects she sees.
The once-private discards of people's material lives that I collect for my art seem to carry universal memories with them, memories that can engage and mystify the viewer. Their beauty lies within the rust, the erosion, the wear, and the mere fact that they were once possessions.
I play with abandon and with no forethought. Each piece of detritus seems to suggest to me a relationship with some other piece, and I begin to put them together and wait for the mental "buzz" that lets me know I am proceeding as I should. Even at this point, I continue to remain in the play state and will not allow myself to direct the outcome of the piece, a process that requires complete trust. The outcome often mystifies me as much as it might any viewer.
Remember when, as a child, whatever was in reach became the instrument of your creative exploration? That is my life. A rusty, flattened piece of metal on the street, a gnawed bone by the roadside, a unique twisted branch from a tree, a fallen nest, a broken egg, a snake's skin, a dead butterfly...all will be added to my collection and eventually have their beauty honored in one of my pieces. The resulting art creates a new story with its own imagined history, one that invites the viewers to lay some claim on it by allowing themselves to be enveloped by the sight, the history, and the ambiguity of the realities before them.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Anagama opening

Pictured above are many of the people who participated in the 25th anniversary firing of the East Creek Anagama.  What an amazing group of people!  As Mark Heimann has said, "It's like there's a sign at the end of the driveway that says, "Leave Egos Here".  There is no pretense among these good people, only love and support and camaraderie.
If we'd been doing a "people's favorite" award, Mya Hoskisson's newest horses would have won. Just so you should know, Mya is only 14 years old, but she has been making art forever.  She had shows when her age was still in the single digits.  Her newest horses are a delight!

Spring is everywhere with flowers in bloom, leaves bursting out, and sunshine (thank goodness).  In the garden, the radish, carrot, spinach, Asian greens, peas, and lettuce seeds are already up and thriving.  Counting the days till those first salad greens...
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1 comment:

Hank Murrow said...

Thanks for the entry, Diane. i sure would love to have a larger file size image of the group.

Cheers, Hank Murrow
www.murrow.biz/hank

March 21, 2010 at 9:01 PM

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