Fleur de Lis SOLD

Aztec SOLD

Ayasofya III  SOLD

Shaman  SOLD

Trinity SOLD

Ancient Symbols SOLD

Red Bird

Maria

Following is a new bunch of small pieces that are built around relief images in polymer clay. The icon pieces were made from molds I fashioned from brass icons; some contemporary and some 200 years old (Russian in origin). I surrounded them with various other elements, from damaged frames from Katrina debris piles to bits of ribbon and beads, They vary in size, but most are around 4" x 6", with a couple that are larger.

Wax Icon  SOLD

Waldorf Astoria Flower

Virgin and Child, Blue and Gold  SOLD

Icon in Standing Frame  SOLD

RELIQUARY: IMAGES OF THE SACRED

Reliquaries are repositories for relics or other sacred objects. In this series, I have interpreted the reliquary in both a traditional and an avant-garde fashion. Many pieces in the series revolve around Christian themes. For some of these pieces, I have started with carved wood Santos from Latin America. In others, I have used plaster statues which I either dug out of debris piles or purchased in New Orleans antique shops. I have also created some pieces which allude to what I call the “everyday sacred.” One of these pieces pays homage to our feline companions, and others point to our reverence for the natural environment.

I chose to debut the show on the eve of Epiphany and the beginning of the 2008 Mardi Gras season for its symbolic significance. Celebrated in cultures around the world, the date has special significance here on the Gulf Coast. Especially in light of the devastation of our coast by Hurricane Katrina, it seems important to celebrate the advent of a joyous season. This new series is also a natural extension of The Katrina Collection, my series of assemblages which uses storm debris as a metaphor for rebirth.

Mary's Altar

St Francis and Friends

Breadbowl Saint 3

Breadbowl Saint 1

Nicosia Saint 4 SOLD

I have begun creating some new pieces I am calling Amulet Series. The most basic definition of an amulet is something that attracts good and repels bad, and I have long been fascinated with the magic elements of different beliefs around the world. I have also long been a victim of bead lust; I can't get enough of the beautiful textures, shapes and colors of beads from around the world. By combining amulets on leather thongs and other wearable art pieces with wall art, I am able to indulge my enthrallment with all of these elements. In this series, each work has at least one neck piece which may be removed to be worn, then returned to again be wall art.

"Yavapai" is another survivor, and is named after the area in Arizona where I was fortunate enough to live for several years. It is a mixed media construction with canvas, acrylic, leather, amber, and turquoise. It features two removable neckpieces with beads of turquoise and amber.

Cochise started with the beautiful pendant which makes the "head" of the figure. I paired it with another gorgeous stone, on the second neck piece, and a carved Chinese pendant on the third one. Beads are of bauxite, acrylic, glass, wood, and bone. I added pieces of dyed cheesecloth, handmade paper, a fossil fragment, Chinese clay and a hand of polymer clay to complete the piece. 22" x 16"

Goddess was inspired by the metal pendant which hangs down with the beads, I repeated the shape in the torn paper that covers the plywood support. I used several handmade papers, and stamped them with gold text. Chinese coins support the leather, and a face of polymer clay was added. Beads on the amulet neck piece are of glass, brass, resin and metal. 13" x 10"

Novena was created from a printers traywithin which are nestled crosses, rosaries and other religious items including novenas printed up on paper, rolled up and painted. The wood Santo is mounted on a window guard.  SOLD

Gothic Saint was created from a piece of plywood, a window guard, and a carved wood Santo.

Our Lady of the Gulf.  SOLD

Breadbowl Saint 11. 33" x 33"

St Francis of the Woods. My husband and I collaborated on this piece. Cairo is a very talented woodworker, and he carved the niche in the log , as well as the cross that graces the top. I designed the piece, painted the Santo, and carved the relief crosses in the bottom portion of the piece. 21" diameter and 28" tall. SOLD

Buddha in Temple was made from an acrylic Buddha and three dimensional frame, painted plywood, forks, Chinese coins and beads of bone and recycled glass from Ghana. SOLD

Sacred Heart was created from a wood Santo, a Mexican wood and metal cross, and a piece of painted plywood. 27" x 33" SOLD

Angel of Mercy was great fun to put together. I began with a series of tiles fashioned from polymer clay. I took the images from molds I had made from 200 year old Russian brass icons, and painted them with acrylics. They were glued to a support of mat board and plywood. I made the face and hands out of the clay also, and the body is an old tin ceiling tile that was liberated from pre-Katrina New Orleans. 12" x 14 1/2"

Old Timers' Cafe came together so easily, it almost made itself. The support piece is the back of a foundry mold which I hauled back from Virgina. The old photos were picked up in an antique shop in Richmond, and the clock came from a junk store in this area, as did the wooden alphabet block. The rusty bottle cap and screen door hook are bits of Katrina debris from my backyard.

Biloxi harvest SOLD

Reliquary II. SOLD

Buddha in a Temple SOLD

Saint in a Niche SOLD

Reliquary 1 SOLD

Icon and Altar SOLD

Guadelupe Green. SOLD

Four Crosses. SOLD

Ave Maria. SOLD

St Francis and Angel SOLD

Mystic Doll features two necklaces which may be removed from the piece. The doll figure of the central necklace was purchased in a Fair Trade store; it was made in Africa. I added the beads for the hair. The other necklace has beads of glass and lapis chips, as well as glass charms. The support is made from paper I have painted, as well as handmade papers, mounted on a plywood support, and glass "beach stones". 21" x 12"

"Ghost Shirt" is a mixed media construction which incorporates wood, leather, nails, seed pods, African carved and painted face, horsehair, tin cones, bovine teeth, and beads of bone, glass and shell, as well as African trade beads. It is inspired by the Ghost dance movement which swept the indigenous peoples of the Northern Plains in the late 1800s. The piece combines "wall art" with "wearable art" in that it features a removable neckpiece.

Zodiac features three removable neck pieces. It was created from two pieces of plywood supports which were covered with a variety of hand made papers and coated with medium. The face of the figure was formed from polymer clay and painted with acrylics, and mounted on top of a brass crab which my friend Brenda recovered from her property after Katrina. The Body was once a tin ceiling tile that graced a house in pre-Katrina New Orleans. The arms are fragments of one of my bracelets which my husband found in the back almost a year after Katrina, and the leaves were taken from a smashed basket. The neck pieces include beads of stone, glass, and acrylic, as well as African brass kirdi beads and African trade beads, and a Chinese coin. 28" x 28" SOLD

Ghost Dance is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, one of the few pieces of art with which I evacuated. It is the first one of a series I did about the Ghost Dance phenomenon. Growing up in South Dakota, I was heavily influenced by the culture of the Plains Indians. My fascination with Native culture is apparent in much of my work, and especially in this series.

I began this piece with an unusually shaped scrap of iron I picked up in a salvage yard. I layered the metal with a thin silver piece of sheet metal, an oversized reproduction of an Indian Head penny, a cylindrical metal choker and another odd shaped piece of metal, a hoop of copper tubing and sheet metal copper cut in the shape of sun rays, two metal Turkish crosses, a bent fork, and copper flashing strips and nails. The beads are of stone, glass and ploymer clay, and the support for the piece is painted plywood.

The Ghost Dance was a phenomenon which swept the Western Native American communities in the late 1800s. It began when a Paiute prophet named Wovoka prophesied a nonviolent end to white American expansion while preaching messages of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation. During a vision, Wovoka stated that he was given the Ghost Dance and commanded to bring it back to his people. He preached that if this five day dance was performed in the proper intervals, the performers would secure their happiness and hasten the reunion of the living and deceased. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs–often creating change in both the society that integrated it and the ritual itself.

The Lakota interpretation of Wovoka's message was drawn from the idea of a “renewed Earth” in which all evil was to be washed away, including the European presence on their homelands. By 1890, this seemed to be the only way out of a desperate situation, and the Ghost Dance began to be performed frequently among the Lakota. The dances alarmed many reservation officials, and troops US troops were called in to discourage the events. On December 28, a small band of Sioux erected their tipis on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. The following day, US forces opened fire on the camp. When the fighting had concluded, 25 U.S. soldiers and 153 Lakota-mostly women and children- lay dead. The Massacre at Wounded Knee effectively ended the Ghost Dance phenomenon, and Native resistance on the Plains.

"Fertility" is a piece which did not survive Katrina. I keep hoping that I will find one of the necklaces which graced this assemblage-especially the lower one, which was modeled after a fertility necklace from Nepal.

"Lakota" was a mixed media construction which was built around a traditional, ceremonial "dance stick" of the Lakota people. It was comprised of wood, leather, trade cloth, copper, acrylic, buffalo teeth, feathers, and beads of glass and bone, including some old trade beads. It featured a removable neckpiece with beads of bone, glass, wood, and old African trade beads. Adios to this one too.

"Mask"is another one that didn't make it through the storm. Haven't seen any part of this one, either.

"Three Virtues of a Chinese Gentleman" was a mixed media construction which included handmade paper, wood, carved bone, turquoise, amber, African brass kirdi beads, Chinese coins, and sterling silver beads from Asia. It featured a removable neckpiece for personal adornment. It was another one of Katrina's victims.

"Totem" is still with me. I evacuated with this one because it was one of my favorites, and it has been in storage ever since Katrina. It is a mixed media construction which includes trade cloth, burlap, turtle shell, pottery shards, old brass thimbles, Indian head pennies, feather, and beads of glass, turquoise and amber. Much of the inspiration for this piece comes from the Lakota culture of the Northern Plains. The turtle symbolized long life for the Lakota, and and the trade cloth, thimbles, and beads were important elements in the people's economic well being in the 1800s. It features a removable neckpiece for personal adornment.