Resilient Heart 4 Art
Assemblages
You must claim the events of your life to make yourself - yours. ~ Anne-Wilson Schaef
I remember the exact moment I first saw Joseph Cornell's assemblages at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. It was a revelation that art could be so personal and break so many conventional rules.
It was many years later that I approached making my own personal assemblages. Each of the narrative assemblages below are inspired by life events, the poems of Emily Dickinson, the poems of the 12th century mystic, Rumi, as well as teachings from the Diamond Approach, my spiritual path for 20+ years.
OPEN HEART: A Field of Openness
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field,
I'll meet you there. ~ Rumi
MERLIN
Merlin is an homage to my father, whose sudden death when I was nine years old continues to reverberate through my life. Symbols include a thistle and British coin for his Scottish-English ancestry, an apple and rabbit as reminders of sweet memories we shared, and a golden thread that connects our hearts with love through time as father and daughter.
Nothing REAL
is ever lost.The HEART
is forever connected
by a golden thread of LOVE...
HAUNTING
Haunting, was inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem that begins..."one need not be a chamber to be haunted, one need not be a house..." Emily understood that we may each have painful experiences that "haunt" us forever. Hauntings are often words that were spoken to us or that we regret speaking during a life-altering experience. The "headstones" in this piece mark the year of the major hauntings of my life. Click on the interior images below to zoom in for more detail.
One need not be a chamber to be haunted -
one need not be a house -
The brain has corridors surpassing
material place.
​
Far safer, of a midnight meeting external ghost
Than its interior confronting that cooler host.
​
Far safer, through an abbey gallop -
the stones a'chase -
Than unarmed, one's self encounter
in lonesome place.
​
~ Emily Dickinson
HOME
"Home” is an homage to both my childhood home and my spiritual home as true nature or essence. This assemblage expresses the understanding from the teachings of the Diamond Approach, that, rather than human beings on a spiritual journey, we are all spiritual beings on a human journey. As spiritual beings, we each have the potential to return to true nature, our true home.
The center panel honors my childhood home in what was once the small town of Cheshire, Ohio. The town of Cheshire was destroyed by the presence of the James Gavin Power Plant, first through years of environmental pollution, then suddenly and completely in 2002, when American Electric Power (Big Coal) bought the town and bulldozed all the homes. This was the first time the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted permission for a corporation to buy a town, rather than require it to clean up its pollution.
Today, the houses are gone and little remains of the town of Cheshire except every spring when daffodils bloom in abandoned gardens as ghostly reminders of the town that no longer exists.
While our human home can be destroyed in myriad ways, our spiritual home as true nature, is indestructible.
BIRDWINGS: The Balance of Sorrow and Joy
Birdwings was inspired by my grief and the need to balance the sorrow of an unfathomable loss with the joy of living.
Life is a tragedy ~ full of joy!
~ Bernard Malamud
IDENTITY
Identity was inspired by two Emily Dickinson quotes, "I am out with lanterns looking for myself" and "I'm nobody, who are you?" To me, the first quote is a metaphor for all of Emily's poetry. The second quote reflects her attitude on the nature of fame. For me, these two quotes speak to the universal search for identity and resonated with my life-long spiritual quest to understand who and what I am. The image of an empty chair and the question, "who are you" allude to the varied identities we inhabit on life's journey. The lantern symbolizes the search for illumination of the self we discover along the way.
MYSTERY
Mystery was inspired by the hidden potential of locks and keys and a lifelong love of discovery.
POSTCARD TO EMILY
This monotype collage titled, Postcard to Emily, is based on one of my favorite Emily Dickinson quotes, "I am out with lanterns looking for myself." The collage includes an orange-tipped Lady Amherst pheasant feather and a bouquet of locally gathered dried flowers. This postcard was included in an exhibit at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, along with hundreds of other postcards submitted by fans from all over the world, in celebration of Emily's birthday.
DRACARYS (DRAGONFIRE)
Dracarys (or Dragonfire), was inspired by the series Game of Thrones and playfully created from reclaimed metal during a class at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA. Can you see the dragon?
