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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.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Where is the month going?...again

Wow, where do I begin?  Let's just keep it at this:  I have some pending health issues that need dealt with immediately, and well, there's just too much other stuff going on to even talk about in any detail...except to just say "Enough already, Universe!"  Please just accept my apologies for being much less than on top of things in regards to posting on the blog.

And there's "summer", if you want to call it that.  While I know some of you are literally melting into the pavement (or the pavement is melting beneath your feet), we are having what one Seattle radio station called, our "78-minute summer" (number of minutes above 85 degrees).  I'll take this over that, but a little sun and warmth would be good.

We've had grandson Jake here a lot, and he and Nils are playing golf quite a bit, which keeps them both active and outdoors. This past Saturday, they played in a parent/child tournament in Salem.  My two favorite guys....


I haven't had a lot of time in the studio, but do have some starts on a couple pieces I'll show in a few days.

Meanwhile, stay cool and keep creating.

4 comments:

Carol said...

Di, so sorry to hear you're not well. Take care of yourself. I love the photo of your two favourite golfers. xo

Diane Lou said...

Cute, aren't they? Love 'em both! They had such a fun day together.

squidglass said...

Hope things are looking better for you. And they are a handsome pair. :)

Diane Lou said...

Things are looking up. The health issues will take some time, but seem doable so I'm relieved about that.

We had a few days of "summer"...sheer heaven. I'm delighting in all the wonderful fresh berries and fruit that grow here. Yummmm!