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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.

Friday, February 25, 2011

New snow...

It's amazing that the internet stayed on during our 5" of snow!  Now the sun is shining after nighttime temps of 22, and we have a predicted low of 15 tonight.  After that back to our 40-50 daytime temps.
Here's a few shots of our winter wonderland:
                          The garden and greenhouse which are right beside the studio.
                                                                Gorgeous blue sky.
                                               Grandson Jake going down the driveway.
                                                                 On the way out...
               Footpath to the studio in the background.  Treehouse is off to the left in the trees.

Off to take art to a professional photographer for some good photos to use for jurying into shows.  More later....

2 comments:

Carol said...

Incredible to see all your snow when it is so hot and steamy here near Sydney. But how beautiful it looks and that driveway is just divine. My copy of Transfers and Transparencies arrives yesterday, which was amazingly fast. I'm reading it and finding lots of processes I want to try. Thank you - more fun on the way.

Diane Lou said...

It's hard to imagine hot and steamy, Carol...something we almost never get. Hope you enjoy the Transfers book!