FOR THE LOVE OF BUGS

Photo detail of  art aseemblage Home by Elizabeth Gordon

I have been in love with bugs as long as I can remember.  My Mother the biologist and science teacher invited us into her classroom when she invited us into the world.  She told us stories of insect, gave them names and explained how they lived and the good they did for us all.  She told us how important they were to the world through her stories.  Grandaddy Long Legs who lived in the bath tub, who would pop down the spout only to pop up again after water drained out.  The doodle bugs who live in Mississippi dirt and made holes in the ground. There is even a childrens saying...Doodle bug, doodle bug, your house is on fire....  She taught us how to catch Black Widow Spiders safely at young age.  We learned about ant hills and had ant farm so we could watch how industrious they were.  My brother had a wonderful butterfly collection and many after noons were spent in the Mississippi woods with a net in hand and a little sister following.  There were lessons on preserving and pinning butterflies and so many many things.  I wish everyone could have had our childhood in that way.  A most memorable part of my early education was when I was about 5 years old and my Mother was finishing up her Masters Degree.  My brother and I would go with her to Mississippi State on Saturdays and spend the day while she was in classes.  Our favorite place was the natural history department and display hall.  And yes thee were insects galore!  

As I went on in life those lessons never left me.  Insects continued to fascinate me and still do.  I learned about the art of Joseph Cornell and others who used insects in their work and realized I could too.  I studied the work of Nancy Graves whose Father was an Archeologist and the influence it had on her work. More recently I have become aware of the work of Christopher Marly who uses insects totally in his work.  As I researched more I became aware that insects have been used in art for centuries...more by painting or the use of their properties for making colors in paints that the actual insect.  

But for me, it is the love of the insect..whether by transfer, drawing or the actual preservation of the actual insect.  I just love insects and the huge variety, shape and color of the species.

Artist who uses insects

Eva Hesse/Pioneer in a Man's World

Eva Hesse has been one of the most interesting artist I have studied and her work early influenced my thinking about my art and the experimental nature of media.  Her story is one of tragedy, loss, and struggle.  She died at young age, yet made an indelible mark in the art world.

 For me Eva identified the scientific part of art that I love, the experimentation and discovery.  In her work I find the intellectualism that is missing in representational art.  In a world dominated by men in the art world she was a persistent force that refused not to be heard.  Her body of work now is looked on by other artists and critics as being a crucial step in minimalism by humanizing a normally cold structural movement.  If you are looking for beautiful representational art, you will not find it here.  What you will find is an artist involved in the discovery of new media, she is creating through experimentation with new materials.  

New York and the modern art scene has not always been friendly nor accepting of women, one could say there is a downright prejudice among museums and galleries to carry male artists work primarily.  That is why pioneers like Eva Hesse, Judy Chicago, Nancy Graves, Elizabeth Murray, Georgia O'Keefe, Louise Nevelson, Louise Bourgoise, Cindy Sherman , Niki de St. Phalle, Yayoi Kamasu, and others are so important.  They took on a male dominated art wold and persisted.  Women throughout history have played an important role in the art world, but in the past were not always recognized, many creating work that was credited to the men they studied with.  

I was fortunate to grow up with three strong women in my life: My Mother, my Aunt Josephine and my Grandmother.  Each were role models in their own right and gave me a gift of what it is to be a strong woman and define yourself in a male world.  They were accomplished women who persisted no matter the obstacle and succeeded.  I grew up with curious intellectual female role models, who taught me to think for myself and seek out the world on my own terms.  Strength of character was their mantra.  So it is in this vein I honor Eva Hesse and all the women artists who have made their mark in a male dominated art world and always persisted.

THE BEAUTY OF DETAILS

Details interest me. An object or view can catch you attention, but then take a closer look and it becomes a whole other world of shape, color, pattern, and texture. This is a photo is a close up of a drainage spout that pours into a canal in New Orleans. This canal is near one that gave way and flooded the city of New Orleans during hurricane Katrina.

I find such beauty in nature and man made objects worn and changed by use and weather. There are colors that one could not recreate if one tried. There is a vignette of a moment captured by time and light. Later in the day, the water may not flow, the light will change the color of the leaves and mold, the water would reflect differently. The impressionist knew this, they painted light. Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet and others knew this. They studied one field, on crop of trees, or vineyard at different times of day and different season.
The closer I look I see gorgeous red orange dust, silvery green, white, tan, dark greed, blue green and more...I see leaves that look like koi in a Japanese garden, the edges of the spout take on a feeling of a shell. Now I am feeling as if on the edge of a tidal pool looking down.
As I back away I see a delicate sculpture that speaks to me of Henry Moore and Nancy Graves.

I begin to see the possibilities in my own work, the what ifs. There is such beauty in this world if you take time to look, even in a drainage canal in New Orleans! Look around you, look down, now slow down and look closer. What do you see?