April 2006
"Think Outside of the Box"
All of April 2006, the "Think Outside of the Box" exhibit went on at Nevado Art Gallery, in Camas, WA.
The owner of the gallery, Judy Witteman, had challenged her artists to come up with each our own personal way to decorate a small wooden box.
The boxes were for sale and you got to vote for your favorite.
Here is mine.
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"Gray Matter"
(Where Ideas Are Born - Don't Lose Your Marbles)
The music sheet in the background is a partial copy of the very last sheet of music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote before he died. He was working on his opera Requiem and left it for other composers to complete. I collaged over it the photograph of Maestro, one of the two paintings that Requiem has inspired me so far. The notes in that painting are a few of the notes from Mozart's final page.
In the nest, the light bulbs symbolize ideas about to hatch. I represented notes of music using marbles and feathers. The marbles serve equally as a metaphor for the "marbles of the brain" so to speak, which I thought was funny.
I chose to illustrate the left side of the brain - the rational side - with a computer card to communicate the intensity of processing the information and networking it to its destination. The right side of the brain - the creative side - is pictured with a softer material. I was looking for something that would somewhat look like actual brain tissue and, next to the cauliflower, which I think is the closest and couldn't be used for obvious reasons, I was pleased to find that the sea sponge was doing a decent job. I chose to use the little charms to picture the creativity, dreams and emotions of that side. Marbles are ever present on either side.
I wanted to make it a no-brainer (ha ha!) that you were looking at the inside of a head. The ears and earrings on the outsides do just that. I think the hair is the cherry on the sunday. This hairpiece is an actual swatch of buffalo hair that I found a few years ago. I was visiting a family friend on his property, which used to be my dad's land. My friend raised buffalo cattle at the time. The hair was lost by one of the animals as part of the natural shedding cycle and was sitting on the ground, waiting for me to find it. I must say it was hard for me to part with it.
I initially wanted to make this artwork a piece that you hang off of the ceiling, so that you get to see both the back of the head and the face. I changed my mind in the process and decided to make it a piece to be hung on the wall and therefore, not making the face visible - actually not having a face at all. After I put the wires in place, both the wire to hang the piece and the wire to secure the nest, I realized that a face was taking form. Against my own will, it wanted to be. I put some "lipstick" on the "lips" and glued on the nose I had initially planned for. I think it is fun to know that the face is there, even if you don't get to see it.
I hope you enjoy Gray Matter as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Copyright © 2006 by Jacqueline Langis
All Rights Reserved