Hands can convey as much human emotion as the face. They express the very basic need for human interaction and connections through touch.
Hands
The Divine Feminine
A great way to build up an artistic resume and get a sense of what’s involved in showing your work, is to enter group shows. I’ve done this quite a bit in the past, and have only recently gotten back into the habit of keeping an eye out for artist calls or juried shows to submit my work to.
I was thrilled when I heard about the upcoming “Divine Feminine” artshow at Radha Yoga and Eatery because I felt it was a theme very suited to my work. I’ve always had an interest in the goddess (as is evidenced by my choice of flickr name goddess_spiral) that evolved from a love of mythology as a kid, and developed further through personal study of female divinities from around the world.
Upon deciding to submit to the show, I selected two of my more recent digital images and reproduced them as metal prints using image transfer paper and a heat press. It’s the same process I used to create the work for my show last year at Wicked Cafe, and I will describe it further another time. I’ll be curious to check out how each artist chose to interpret the theme, and to see how well my own work will fit with everything else.
Taken at Radha Yoga & Eatery, in June 2005.
The Divine Feminine exhibition
Radha Yoga & Eatery – 728 Main St.
March 31 – April 30
11:30 – 4:00 PM Monday to Friday
Featuring the art, photography, printmaking and fabric art of 31 artists! Curated by Eva Waldauf.
Morning Lion
I know. I know. It’s well past time for me to write something on this photo blog. I’ve always intended it to be more than just a place to showcase my photos outside of Flickr. Writing something good and informative will take more time than I seem be able to spend on an entry here these days…
This is one of the stone lions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the photo was taken with a Holga CF 120.
Learning to use my wings
Are you searching for your soul?
Then come out of your prison.
Leave the stream and join the river
that flows into the ocean.
Absorbed in this world
you’ve made it your burden.
Rise above this world
There is another vision…
~ Rumi
Buddha
I decided to go with the buddha for today’s photo blog post, in honour of the meditation retreat I did this past weekend. I have a long way to go before I’m any good at it. I think my mind is just too chaotic.
Ancient Face
I recently gave a print of this image to a friend, so I thought I’d post it here. It’s good to dig up older creations to remind myself of work I’m happy with.
This image was created specifically as a donation for the Textile Museum of Canada’s annual silent auction fundraiser. The face is a stone sculpture I photographed in one of the Egyptian Museums in Berlin. The overall forms and textures were created by combining photos of waterlilies, graffiti, and a computer-generated design.
Faith
Entitled “Faith”, this was my very first digital composite when I began learning how to use Adobe Photoshop. The image is created from five separate photographs, including the markings around the female subject’s eye. I realized after I had completed it that each detail of the piece (excluding the portrait) had a religious association – the rose window from La Sagrada Familia, a lion from a tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, and details from Catholic tombstones. Hence the title, “Faith.”
Near and far away
Taken with a Canon EOS 500, using cross-processed Fujichrome Provia slide film. This is the third or fourth time I’ve worked with this film and it seems to have a lot of red in it when cross-processed. The colour bias isn’t always suitable, depending on the subject matter, but it works well with these two shots.
Her name is Diana
My friend Christopher Evans recently lent me one of his Diana cameras to try out. The Diana is a plastic toy camera very similar to the Holga. Both shoot medium format film, and produce artsy fartsy photographs through their respective technical faults, such as vignetting and light leaks. The Diana’s image size is slightly smaller at 4cm square which allows for sixteen shots per roll of film.
The above shot is from my first roll taken with the Diana and I’m happy with the results so far. I’m glad to get the chance of working with this camera more thoroughly and really see what I can do with it.
I touch the earth
“I know I am made from this earth, as my mother’s hands were made from this earth, as her dreams came from this earth and all that I know, I know in this earth…and I long to tell you, you who are earth too, and listen as we speak to each other of what we know: the light is in us.”
~ Susan Griffin