For current posts, scroll down past artist's statement.

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, January 6, 2011

Free art!

Read on for the Free Art part....
I had one more icy photo to share, this one from by the pond where the water spews out from the spring up the hillside.  The branches by the heron sculpture were covered with a thick layer of ice where the water continually splattered on them and froze.


Now to the real point of this post.  My studio walls are covered with art, I'm packing some away for a while, sending some off to galleries, and adding more to the house, but still, I am left with way too much, so I am doing a giveaway to start off the new year!

I love, love, love the process of doing art, but very often don't have a huge attachment to it after the fact. And, as time goes by and my work progresses and changes, I often become even less attached to it.

So, every time you post a comment to a post on this blog during the month of January, your name will be entered into the drawing for a piece of free art.  So, read as often as you can, and post a comment, and I'll enter your name in the drawing to be done at the end of the month.  I'll post a picture of the art in a day or two.

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, Diane, who can resist such an offer. I would love to have one of your pieces, so I am writing you a comment. I read your blog regularly, but rarely say much. so, here's to being better at commenting!
Happy New Year!
Jackie Gardener

Teri said...

I love your blog and your book and your art! Happy New Year Diane!

Diane Lou said...

Thanks, Teri....and you are the first name in the hat for the drawing.

Diane Lou said...

Thank you too, Jackie! It's nice to know you are out there! You're in on the drawing now. Happy new year!

The Backporch Artessa said...

Let's hear a big Wooo- WHOO and Thank you for Diane Lou!
What a awesome thing to be putting out in the world and to begin a new year!

I too have enjoyed your art from a-far! Would love to enjoy it from a-close!

Thanks so much for your generosity!

Diane Lou said...

Thanks, Backporch Artessa! I've decided to let go of the old to create room for new things (which I believe is a huge rule of the Universe).

I'm so happy to be doing this, I think I'll do it more often!

Barb said...

Diane, I have just found your blog...where have I been all this time??...I love what you do with the found objects and I especially love the old shadow box...I wish you lots of luck with it in the Wild Women's Show. I would be honoured to be the recipient of one of your wonderful pieces!

Barb Thomas
barbt44@tpg.com.au

Diane Lou said...

Thanks, Barb! Welcome!! I was just notified that 3 of my pieces were accepted into the Wild Woman show, including the big shadow box.

I'm putting your name into the drawing for the free art. Thanks for commenting too, as it's fun for me to connect with the readers of my blog.

Thanks again....