Influences

American art. What makes art American? The land, how our ancestors got here and where we live. The ancestral culture that continues to influence us through family oral history, photographs, homestead. What art did we see as children? Was there any artwork that hung in your parents home?

I was watching a video on American art this morning, the topic was the art that came out of the west. Artists like Jackson Pollock, Thomas Hart Benton, Thomas Moran, Frederick Remington. Ashamedly, this film did not include women, like Georgia O’Keefe or Emily Carr. Frida Kahlo was shallowly covered, but oh yeah! The film makers were all over Diego Rivera… and I am not sure how why Mexican artists, were included in American art. There are many female artists I could name here that the film did not cover at all. Well, I think we all know that female artists are not documented as much as male artists. That is shameful.

But, lets not get into politics. That is not really where I want to go. Those women whom I have mentioned have indeed influenced me. To live unapologetically, needing the space to create their inner and outer worlds; because to exist means to create art. Societal norms were okay, but not for them. Living on my own, creating art and working in the garden, is where I am happiest. Where freedom of body, mind and soul coexist in harmony.

I am considering the influences which have evolved my art. I think about the pictographs and petroglyphs of Native Americans and Australian Aborigines. The carvings of Northwest tribal art. Inuit drawings. The art work of the Celts and Vikings. The simple folk art of the Swedes and Pennsylvania Dutch. My mother had some reasonable facsimile artwork of Monet and Picasso on the walls of the house I grew up in. She would take me to museums to see artwork; where I first saw the work of Carr, O’Keefe, Monet, Picasso. The event that really broke me apart, was a trip to Italy. My preconceived ideas, strictures, bounds were broken down by all the artwork I saw. I came back to America, glad to be back in my homeland. So, very glad… my artwork began to change. I would think this is what makes my art American, a melting pot of influences.

I have a story board on the wall of my studio. “The journey starts here, Healing the Heart. It’s peaceful here, and spending time off the grid resets your priorities. Brings lasting beauty… Create an enduring masterpiece. If you can dream it up, you can, with healing power, Take Off! Experience! 100% cage-free, a whole new world.”