Beneath the Surface

Things are not always as they seem..On a beautiful summer day, I was paddling on a mountain lake, darkness shrouded my mind as I glided across the glistening water. Then out of nowhere a huge turtle glided across the bough of the canoe. This visitation lightened my mood, helped me see beyond my troubles towards the light. This experience over a dozen years ago has haunted me for years and finally made an appearance in my work a few years ago. Thie exploration of this theme, helped me think me beyond myself and inspired me to create the Amherst Biennials. A select group from this series is on display the the Lord Jeff Inn Gallery, 30 Boltwood , Amherst, MA through the summer. If artists are interested in exhibiting in this gallery, contact me directly at terryrooneyart@gmail.com.

OZ Totem - Not TOTO this time

In my first exhibit of OZ, I wanted to present this wonderland of OZ from a different perspective. The original artworks were from paintings from the knees down! I then realized, that this perspective was from Toto's point of view!!!

Presently revisiting this body of work, I've been experimenting with the different elements of this series, playing with them as if they were building blocks. The most successful of this experimentation is this new OZ totem, which combines a child's mannequin with the yellow brick road leading to OZ painted on it, sitting on a cube showing different parts of Dorothy's life. Tthis makes external our journey through life onto a body and on a building block.

Below is link to an article on the first OZ exhibit at Nash Gallery, Easthampton, MA

  http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7772

OZ & The Ruby Slippers

As I journey down the yellow brick road, exploring the tales of Frank Baum's OZ, I discovered that in fact the "ruby slippers" were silver in his original tale. When MGM released their film version of this story in Technicolor, they changed Dorothy's slippers to ruby for greater visual impact. In the studio, I've been moving the various components of my OZ pieces around and coming up with some surprising pieces. To the right I've combined a small section of Dorothy at the crossroads,  which is the small painting with the X with the mannequin piece with the yellow brick road, which used to have the ruby slippers pictured above. Journey Down the Yellow Brick Road, the hands beckoned viewers to journey down the road with me.

House an Extension of a Woman's Body

One of the formative experiences in my life was renovating a "Handyman Special" with my husband in the Berkshires. Through this process, I became aware, how affected I was by my connection to our house/home. When it was in disarray, so was I: when it came together so did I. It made me reflect how women through the ages are connected to house and home - raising families, cooking, cleaning.  A wonderful Yankee carpenter who patiently renovated our Berkshire home, built these 3D constructions of houses, which I designed with the leftover wood from renovations.(thus bringing it closer to home for me). In promoting my vision, I superimpose the shapes of woman's (breasts, pregnant bellies) on these iconic houses so these houses become an extension of a woman's body.

Of late, I've revisited a "body" of work that I had set aside for the last few years while I focused my attention to printmaking and producing art exhibitions.As I was reworking this piece, an old friend re-entered my life briefly, polishing tarnished memories and helping me name this piece, Moon & Sun.  All these experiences, building a home, revisiting past experiences enrich my life and my work. Art imitating life.

Liberty & The Snake

For over 10 years the Statue of Liberty has been confronted by the Snake in my artwork. Liberty is my muse and the snake represents many things, evil or transformation.. This is a detail of a 3D painting I've been reworking this week in the studio. A friend commented after viewing this piece "She (the Statue of Liberty) looks protective and almost most hopeful, or pleading for hope." Hmm, I like that and also the fluidity in this piece. After focusing on printmaking for 3 years and running two Biennials, I'm enjoying the solitude of working in my own studio and doing what I love best... painting.

Pioneer Women & Biennial

Susan Montgomery, detail of Pope Johanna

There were two openings this week of two Pioneer Women artists who also were selected for the latest Amherst Biennial. First, Susan Montgomery's Pope Joanna enlightens APE Gallery in Northampton. A timely installation addresses the possibility of a woman pope in the 9th Century. Susan first presented this body of work at Pioneer Women & Wonderland in Holyoke at Paper City Studios in 2010.
One of the large watercolors in the exhibit evoked Richard Yarde's work, who passed last year and had once told me, Susan was his favorite student.
On the other side of the state, Rosalyn Driscoll continued her exploration of the fragility of skin/body with a large sculpture at Boston Sculptors Gallery which plays a large copper covered cubed with light and hide evoking water.
I highly recommend both exhibits of these extremely talented local artists.

Studio Installation

It's been wonderful to be "snowed in" for the last 3 days, making a lot of progress on several pieces from the Statue of Liberty and OZ series. These pieces seem to be talking to each other also. Mixing up several components of the OZ series and they areworking quite well in this new format. The center piece is an OZ totem combining Dorothy at different stages of her life and the mannequin from the piece offering the "ruby slippers" to join me on this journey. The Liberty series includes a piece on 9/11, Church & State- some timely contemporary topics.