New Prints Inspired by Monte Alban, Oaxaca

Artifact from Monte Alban

Coming soon, a book about my art and the sacred sites that have inspired my work over the last 15 years. Art and Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place.

 

Outside of Oaxaca lies Monte Albán, an ancient Zapotec site with an impressive complex of pyramids and an expansive view of the countryside. Here I felt a sense of spirit, a sense of place. I was entranced by the multitude of stone monuments inscribed with figures and symbols, a hidden language whose forms interested me more than their meaning. Back in the studio, I found myself mixing and matching the vertical stacks of glyphs, circles, dots and wavy lines, and then pairing them with more feminine symbols such as the vesica piscis and the spiral. Perhaps it was my little cosmic joke to balance the yin to the yang, and thus provide a completeness and wholeness to these ancient images.

Another site that interested me was Mitla, a major religious center that reached its zenith between 750 and 1521. One can only imagine the rituals, rites and sacrifices performed by priests in the temple called House of the Vital Force.  But what sets Mitla apart from other pyramids in Mexico is its intricate mosaic stonework in geometric designs.  Throughout the complex, running spirals, zig-zags and chevrons embellish tombs, panels and entire walls. The contrast of the white design work, red earthen walls and blue sky was food for inspiration, and I created a series of paintings that seemed to capture the feeling of place, as well as a suite of small prints drawn from photos and memory.

Mitla

Solo Exhibition in Patzcuaro

Take a look at my exhibition, "Inspired by Nature"
Centro Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita, Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico
June 7 - August 7
A beautiful space! This is also where I went in February to do my large format monotype prints.

Solo Exhibition in Culiacan, Mexico

 

After my exhibition in Mazatlan at the Museo de Arte, I was invited to show at the Difucor Galleries in Culiacan.  Twenty paintings and prints as part of the "Language of Nature" exhibition.

The space didn't allow to show the 7 additional large scale paintings that I showed in Mazatlan. But neverthe less, it is a handsome exhibition. Thanks to my friend and fellow artist Claudia Gallardo in Culiacan, we had a nice turnout for the show.  The show will be up thru the middle of July.

 

 

Solo Exhibition at Museo de Arte Mazatlan

Would Frida like it? - I wonder as she looks out into the room from my T-shirt.

With some students who visited the exhibition

Solo Exhibition at Museo de Arte, Mazatlan in March

This exhibition highlights the large-scale paintings that I have created over the last seven years and is shown alongside the newer work. There is a definite transition in palette from earth tones to the introduction of blue - from strictly symbolic to the appearance of bird shapes. It reflects the essence of my work in paintings and monotype prints showing where I’ve been and possibly where I am going.

The language of Nature, Gaia or Mother Earth with her curves and spirals is universal and has formed the basis of my visual vocabulary.   The spiral mimics the coiled snake who sheds her skin and becomes a symbol for renewal and regeneration. The circle of the moon, feminine, and the sun, masculine, – yin and yang. The circle – wholeness and completion.  Her seeds and buds, the purest of forms conjure up imagery of growth and new life.  The Vesica Piscis, a shape found in sacred geometry - an oval formed by two intersecting circles – a symbol for birth, the womb or birth canal – from which we all emerged. This is a universal language that appears on cave walls, inscribed on rocks and found on pottery shards around the world. I find in them a path to the mystical, magical unknown – the divine sacred.  I connect with these symbols on a spiritual level as a way to connect to the past and to those who have come before us.

My work is often inspired by travel – pilgrimages to sacred sites or artist residencies that have allowed me the time and place to reshape my art.

Some of the work in this exhibition was inspired by trips to England to visit Neolithic sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury and crop circles in the fields, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in  Australia, and the Alhambra in Spain. My residency at Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain inspired a change of palette from strictly earth tones to the introduction of blue. Also during this time, birds began to appear in my work – a symbol for the spirit in mythology.