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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.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

And the winner is....

Judy Shreve!  Judy, please email me your address at dianelou at earthlink dot net  .  You win the goodie bag of "stuff" .  I see from your blog that you are a potter (I used to do that, and my husband Nils Lou is a potter) but that you are starting to branch out...so I hope these things will be fun for you!

Names for the next drawing start with those posting from today on through the rest of the month.    See you tomorrow!
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4 comments:

Carol said...

Congratulations to Judy! A great and generous giveaway.

March 1, 2011 at 3:48 PM
Diane Lou said...

Yes, indeed, Carol....and there you are entered in the March giveaway (I haven't decided what...but I think maybe one of my "smalls" (small art works).

March 1, 2011 at 4:09 PM
Judy Shreve said...

Diane -- I didn't realize you once worked with clay. I know of your husband's work and read his blog too.
I am thrilled to be this month's winner! YAY and I just know this goodie bag will inspire me! :)) Thank you for your generosity.

(please don't enter me into the March give-away -lol)

March 2, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Diane Lou said...

Yup....Lots of years. I still have access to all of that, but just don't find myself motivated in that direction. In a week we'll be firing up the East Creek Anagama again with lots of fellow potters.

And, you are most welcome....

March 2, 2011 at 9:18 AM

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