2011 – Page 11 – Deidre Adams

Divergence of Gesture

Divergence of Gesture, 20 x 20 inches, acrylic on panel, ©2011 Deidre Adams

A few days ago while perusing the shelves at my local library, my eye was caught by a small book called Art and Soul by Thomas McConeghey. I was immediately hooked by the first paragraph of the Foreword, written by Thomas Moore:

“We have not yet rediscovered the place of art in human life. We still marginalize artists, treat works of art as financial commodities and objects of moral scrutiny, and fail to support art in our schools. I say rediscover because once, before our infatuation with technology and science, we understood the role of art in religion, public life, and individual psychology. We knew that compared to endless studies and research programs, art was a more precise and effective way of conjuring the mysteries that define our lives. But in a relatively short time, we have been seduced away from art by the cool devotees of the machine, and this neglect of art not insignificantly has gone on hand in hand with a cultural loss of soul.”

There is much that can be said about the many ideas in this single rich paragraph, but one thing that really struck me was his expression of something I see as an ongoing problem in our society. No matter what else happens or how many times it’s pointed out, there always seems to be an ever-increasing emphasis on acquisition and consumption, to the detriment of our planet. I’m no less susceptible than anyone else. I got a new smartphone last December and am still completely enthralled with the thing. Has it made my life better? Doubtful. Although I don’t get lost going to a new place or forget things on my calendar like I used to, I’m pretty sure that having the ability to constantly check my email while away from home is a net loss for my cognitive facilities.

Art, on the other hand, is a calming influence. Any amount of time, great or small, spent painting or stitching or just organizing things in my studio, is my therapy and lets me recover my balance. I’m grateful to have this in my life.

February 23rd, 2011|Painting|2 Comments

So-Called Vital Activity

So-Called Vital Activity, 24 x 24 inches, acrylic and mixed media on panel, ©2011 Deidre Adams

One of the dilemmas faced by artists is the multitude of available ways in which we might wish to express ourselves. Am I a fiber/textile artist? Am I a painter? Photographer? Printmaker? It’s so vexing to have to choose. But it’s so wonderful to have choices. Right now I have three textile pieces pinned up on my wall that I’ve been working on in rotation for many months. One of them is a very large piece that I entered into Quilt National. I was, frankly, relieved when it wasn’t selected for the show, because I have had that experience – enter multiple pieces, and the jurors will pass over your fabulous masterpiece and select the one you thought was the weakest and just included so you could have a body of work to submit. Since the work in question was rejected, I’ve changed it substantially several times. But it’s just not working for me, and I haven’t figured out what to do yet.

So in the meantime, I’m having a blast just painting. There is a lot of new work to show, and I’ll be posting new paintings on a regular basis for a while. Does this mean I’m not going to do textiles any more? In the short term, quite possibly. But since I seem to crave variety, I’m sure I’ll go back to it when my current love affair for squishy, swirly, drippy paint on a smooth, resistant surface subsides.

So-Called Vital Activity (detail), ©2011 Deidre Adams

February 16th, 2011|Painting|2 Comments

Nancy G. Cook – Seed Play

Echoes of Tulips Summer, 36 x 36 inches, ©Nancy G. Cook

Nancy Cook is a North Carolina artist whose work I first became aware of a couple of years ago when I saw her piece in the SAQA 20th Anniversary Trunk Show. Titled Ankle Twister II (photo here), it was a tiny gem of a quilt that captured my attention in a big way. Nancy has been working with the quilt medium for 16 years, but she has really found a unique voice with her Seed Play series. She invites us to take a closer look at the exquisite details of seeds, pods, and fruits, whose subtler color is often overlooked in favor of the plant’s showier flower, but whose form is just as interesting if not more so. Nancy’s reverence for nature is evident in her lively composition, ethereal colors, and mesmerizing quilting lines.

Echoes of Tulips Summer, detail

The focal point of this quilt is the seed pod of the Tulip Poplar. Nancy says,

“
[It] shatters as the birds feed upon it. It will also hold some of the seeds from one year to the next. So you can find buds, flowers, this year’s seed pods, and last year’s seed pods on the tree all at the same time. The little seed stitches on the spike of the pod are where seeds have already fallen off the pod.”

Nancy left her career in organizational development and psychology to become a full-time artist in 2001. With more time to concentrate on her work, she was able to focus on her love of the outdoors in combination with her art. She says,

“I find the interconnected web of life to be endlessly fascinating, and I like working with one small piece of it to unravel some of the wonders. Recently, I have been working on a series that features tree seeds as symbols of the gifts that come with life’s maturity. I learned that my work was autobiographical when I noticed that I was creating autumnal images at the same time that I was aware that I came to my art in the autumn of my life. Fortunately, it seems to be a Southern autumn that is prolonged.”

Nancy’s heightened awareness of issues concerning nature and trees is a frequent source of inspiration for her work. Kousa: A New Dogwood in Town was inspired by the passing of one species in decline while another takes its place. She says, “Our native dogwood is succumbing to a viral infection across the country. In its place, the Asian Kousa Dogwood is being grown as it is resistant to the infection.”

“Mockingbird’s Larder is a deciduous holly. The Mockingbird carefully guards a food tree like this throughout the winter until either the Cedar Waxwings or the Robins descend in large numbers and strip off the berries and move on.”

Mockingbird’s Larder, detail

There are several things about this piece that I find intriguing. First, I love the way the darker areas of the hand-dyed background fabric echo the character of the tree branches, bringing a strong unity to the work. Second, Nancy has added depth and dimension by using hand embroidery to create the finishing details. And finally, in an unexpected and lovely master stroke, she has engaged the viewer by leaving some of the berry shapes unpainted, indicated only by quilting lines.

Nancy’s career is really taking off this year. She will have no fewer than three solo exhibitions and a featured artist exhibit in botanical garden and art center galleries over the next 12 months. She has also been selected as a featured artist in Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World by Martha Sielman, to be published in 2012.

You can learn more about Nancy and see more of her work on her web site, and keep up with her work and exhibitions on her blog.