Learning to Fly

Since December 28th I have been engaged with this new piece in Making Marks Studio! It is a work on paper (45 by 38 inches) that began as an investigation in primitive marks -the funny repetitive ladders that young children often draw- these scratchy patterns have always fascinated me. The plowed furrows on farm fields, the notion of parallel lines, longitudinal and latitudinal spaces, parallel play, parallel universes, the lines from moving through space, and the lines that music makes engage my imagination and my hand. The reality that I have forgotten how to fly, that I rarely get to in my dreams anymore, that I most certainly knew how to fly as a child, this also has occupied my creative impulses and direction with this current work. I have loved creating this bird in flight amidst all these lines that remind me of marionette strings and waves of sound. You can see the changes that the work has undergone and see a bit of the making marks dance that has been happening here. Learning to Fly comes directly from Tom Petty and is a work that builds a bridge from the old year to the new. Also, this work is very much a continuation of a visual conversation I had begun in 1984. I happen to have a painting in the studio from that time that I will try to get a picture of (hopefully w/out glare) so that we can view and note comparisons of this earlier seminal piece and the current “Learning To Fly”- which I am also calling “Solo Flight”.

On January 28th I am still fine tuning this piece and very happily engaged with the process. The photos that I post are taken from my iPhone and are meant to be teasers. The work is best seen up close and personal. So make an appt. with me in my studio and/or wait until the work is part of a great museum collection!

Wishing all gentle flights in 2012!

Here is the photo of “Wired” a drawing from 1983.

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