Seeking Further Sanctuary



This is the fifth of seven in the Seeking Sanctuary series I completed a few weeks ago. The pieces are currently hanging at The Nest: Center for Women, Children and Families (until I pick them up tomorrow!) and they couldn't have found a more appropriate setting. Each piece is deeply, specifically personal, with so much symbolism that it's amusing when I hear a comment like, "Oh, that's so pretty!" In this piece for example, Cinderella, there is a rusty razor blade, a gun and a stick pin, albeit masked amid pearls and a gorgeous Frozen Charlotte. 
Most of us know the pain of rejection, humiliation, falling short, abuse, neglect and other sorrows and I wanted to express darker moments in these, a sweeping out of the old bones, per se. So, as you can see, the shoe doesn't fit Cinderella after all... no happy ending. 
In (her fourth volume of) The Diary of Anais Nin, she wrote about the creative's need for emotional excess; in other words, my earlier life, every event leading up to this blog post is the collective well of material, a vast storehouse from which I'm able to transfer, translate, transform my experiences in a way that suits me. I suppose it could be considered rationalizing but I think most, like Nin, would agree. 
Don't know why it took so long for me to open the vein and work intuitively, no rational-thought based decisions, and let the imagery emerge. Most satisfying indeed.

"Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them."
~Anais Nin 


Comments

Oh Patti, this is such a powerful piece. I love how the layers of symbolism are embedded in the art to reveal such a beautiful and passionate assemblage. Very impressive.
Judy Shea said…
Patti..I Love your pieces.. such thought and heart that I see in them. Thanks for stopping by my blog and congrats on the "pulse".
Parabolic Muse said…
I am loving the images on your site! So rich and textural. Nice to find new artists through The Altered Page!
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A lovely piece, Patti. I would never have guessed at the meaning when I first looked at it. when I saw the razor and the gun, it spoke to me of how we try to hide all the "bad stuff" under a pretty facade, but it's still there, isn't it? Brilliant!
Jill Zaheer said…
Very thought provoking Patti- so much to reflect on- ponder and think about where our creativity comes from- what inspires us to art as we do. Thanks so much for sharing your art and your thoughts! Love the addition of Anais Nin's words as well. Jilly

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