Burn the Witch is an all-woman art show held every year in Bakersfield. Whoever wants to enter works can (women, anyhow), and it’s free. The witches have two viewing dates, complete with buffet.
Last year I exhibited the Chinese Lantern Series. This year, I’m going to exhibit six works, some new, some not, but none previously exhibited (that’s one of the rules – works cannot have been shown before).
These works use photography – but the pictures are torn, painted on, or cut up to make the statement I was going for. You don’t just have to take a photo at face value – it’s fun to try some creativity – to mix the media, hence the name mixed media for works that use more than one component. For those of us – like me – that really can’t draw or paint, getting creative with photography is a way to venture beyond photography into the art world.
I don’t mind showing what I’m exhibiting here because it’s not really the same as seeing them in person. I know some of my readers are in other states, cities and countries so I really doubt you’re going to make a beeline for Bakersfield!
This is Inauguration Sunrise. The pinkish strips of paper are from a photo I took from my balcony on the morning President Obama was inaugurated. The golden strips are sunset off of Big Sur on the California coastline. Sort of “from sea to shining sea.” I tore the photos into strips, as in the stripes on our flag. Taken together, this mixed media piece is an abstract flag.
Into the Maelstrom. There is nothing calm about this piece. The photo, which is something I put together on photoshop, is a shattered branch of a giant Sequoia tree. I cut it apart and added some paint and the glass fish. The edges of the photo are lifting from the canvas – metaphorically, nothing is secure. The fish are heading into the maelstrom – and so is the general condition of the fish in our seas. We’re running out. Will all viewers take this complicated analysis away from seeing this? Maybe no one will, but that’s ok. We all make meaningful messages for ourselves based on our experience.
Catch Me if You Can. I adore this photo of two of my grandchildren. It’s a great example of what can happen when you inspect your photos closely. Obviously, pictures of kids running and playing aren’t easy to get and I had no idea I would have such great symmetry – left arms out, right legs bent. And Annabelle’s little pony tail blowing forward, the direction she is running. I printing the photo in black and white, added a bit of blue in the sea and put red dots in the bathing suit. Don’t be surprised if the sea gets a little more attention however! I got two small drops of red paint on the ocean, so I had to cover them up somehow. I’m not completely happy with my splashes of blue, but I have an idea. Sometimes, if you have a problem, feature it!
Roots and Wings. The background leaves as well as the flowers are from Butchart Gardens in Victoria. We were there just about a year ago for our 40th anniversary. The kindergartners are from a classroom in FengDu, China, that we visited in May 2008. I have no explanation for why the one little boy has a shirt that says Chocolate Jesus. I’ll let the viewer figure out what this means, if anything, based on the title.
Carry Me Home. I talked about this on a previous blog. You can click here for the discussion of this as well as the next collage, All the King’s Horses.
So get creative with your photography! Since photoshop has arrived, I chose to work the old fashioned way, with scissors and glue. It’s flawed, there are imperfections, but that’s part of the process. To me, it’s a little more personal.
NOW, GUESS WHAT?
Tonight was the opening of the Art’s Council of Kern’s exhibit Food, Glorious Food. I had entered two works, again, collages. For these I didn’t use photos, but images I cut from vintage fruit and vegetable labels. Here’s what I entered.
Metropolitan: The canvas is painted and the images are cut from vintage fruit crate labels. Same with the next one, Rayo.
AND – these were used on the show mailers and posters. Plus, it was a juried show, which I completely forgot about, and I won a cash prize! Wahoo! That was very exciting – especially since I didn’t have to wonder if I was going to win or not! Forgetting has its uses I suppose.
Ok. If anyone is still reading, these are some ideas of how photography can step out and become something else. Give it a try – the worst that can happen is you don’t enjoy it and tear up what you did. But nothing ventured…
