Connections

Today I took and hung this work at the Bellwether Gallery here in Springfield, Missouri to be a part of Friday's Art Walk. The Bellwether is a gallery in downtown that was opened by Second Baptist Church as a ministry to promote the arts, encourage artist, in the downtown area and for the community.

The very first show I was in was with the Bellwether. It began with a juried art show called "Connections" sponsored by this church. At the time I had just begun to play around with creating these pieces using stencils. I would take and cut out a shape from watercolor paper, then I would lay the shape(S) down on watercolor paper, paint around them, then move them around, turn them over, etc.,
Many times I would work on two of them at a time, while one was drying I could work on the other. Plus, it kinda helped to get away from it a bit to see it differently again, and know what to do next. I worked intuitively, with no rules. It was all fun. The challenged was then to make it work. Later, it got to where the stencils themselves were glued in and became a part of the design. A collage This one that is posted is one of those. I have thought about doing a workshop with this technique, just because it would be alot of fun, but not sure if any one would be interested in it.

Then I heard about this art show they were having, and I thought no way. A friend encouraged me to enter a couple of pieces. I didn't place but I was chosen to be in the show. With it being a juried show I felt quite honored. The next year the same thing. I still felt very honored. This time when I went to pick up my work, I stopped to talk to this lady who was working there "Ginny" and she was thanking me for having shared my work. I responded with I really wish there was a way that I could tell the story of how these came about. She asked me about it, and loved it. She later asked me if I had more works that I could show, and I was able to place twenty pieces in a show along with couple of other artist. My first show! I was so excited! Anyway after this Ginny asked if I would be willing to provide a piece for each month. So, many of these pieces had some pretty neat biblical accounts that went with them.
The one that I am showing this month (it's the one I posted) I'm really pretty excited about. This piece had been done around that time as well, in the same matter, but I never really liked it, and so it had been tossed into the throw away pile to possibly be used later in a collage. Well, several years have gone by and one afternoon (I have a disabled student that I work with on Tuesday afternoons that loves abstracts), Christa pulled this one out and said "I love it", and so I thought o.k we'll do something with it. I took it to the framers and dropped it off along with some other work that I needed done, but then forgot about it. Several months later, I was thinking about what I was going to take to the Bellwether and had gone to pick up some other work, and when I saw this one I looked at it, and perhaps I was given different eyes, but I thought oh how beautiful. I saw the crosses in and I knew it was the piece for the Bellwether.

But yet, I didn't have a message for it. I got to thinking about it and realized that how it came to be was the message. It is titled "Throw Away"- and the message that will go along side it talks about how when we or others can feel rejected, ashamed, not good enough etc., thrown away so to speak, God with his great love for us, and through the holiness of Christ can make something beautiful of that which is tossed aside as not being worthy in man's eyes.

This was a part of the beginning of re-connecting with creating art. I went through a time in my early years of thinking that as a Christian it was not a good thing to be involved in art. That was some crazy thinking! Having been created in His image, and God being the master artist creator, gave us a sliver of that desire to create. We were made to create for His glory.

Recently, I met an incredible artist that has really inspired me and so I would like to share this one with you. If your interested check out this site http://lauriepace.blogspot.com- "A Texas Contemporary Fine Artist" I do believe that you will be inspired as well!!