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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.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Now snow...

Saturday Nils, Jake and I awoke to snow...and what could be better when you are a 10-year-old boy like Jake?  He spent the entire day building snow forts and snow men, and stockpiled snowballs, all while being soaking wet and freezing cold.  When I told him I was too cold to play outside any longer, he asked, "Can't you just pretend to be 10 for a while?"




Unfortunately, my more mature body doesn't tolerate the cold well, and few minutes of wet and cold chill me through and through, but I did engage in several snowball fights during the day, winning a few and losing many.

All three of my submitted works were accepted into the Wild Woman show...Reveries which was pictured a few days ago, Domino which is at the top of the blog page, and Repository.  We'll deliver them on Friday and the show opening is the 29th. Nils also had 3 pieces accepted.

I hope you are staying warm wherever you are...

6 comments:

Teri said...

You have the perfect property to be transformed into a Winter Wonderland!! Keep warm!

Diane Lou said...

We do indeed. Even a sprinkling of snow transforms it. Hope all is well where you are (and may I say what a gutsy person I think you are!)
Hugs!

Rebeca Trevino said...

hello, found your blog via the Assemblage YAHOO Artist website. I love your work. I had a chance to see some of it 'live' for a show you did in san franciso last year (?) i think for SCRAP (?) Very fun.

anyway glad i found your blog, and glad to become a follower.
take care - keep creating!

Cheryl Cheney said...

Diane,
I thought I lost you...but my cyberspace meandering brought me to these beautiful pictures. Snow makes everything look so new. Remembering you, Debi and me laughing on our trip back to Portland after the SoulCollage training in California can make me smile every time. Hope you are well.
Hugs,
Cheryl

Diane Lou said...

Hi Rebeca,
I can't believe you remembered my name/art from that show in SF! So glad to have you as a follower, and
I've put your name in for the drawing for the free art!

Diane Lou said...

Cheryl, I am so glad you found me! How many years ago was that? And oh, the laughs...I don't know when I have laughed so hard! I'll check your blog...and of course, put you in the drawing for free art! Stay warm!