Warrior

Warrior - quill and lichen detail; stone, seaweed and wood detail

This painting is part of a series of 3D works I call Lifemaps and Passages. As with all of my work the Lifemaps reflect the philosophy of finding the beautiful in the imperfect, in things decayed, rusted, faded and forgotten. The images are intended to encourage the viewer to reflect on our connections to nature and to the transient, ever changing character of the natural cycle of which we humans are a part. The painting also references the current and past status of women generally in our societies - often unseen, un-noticed, unheard and blocked, fighting (the warrior) to survive and to generate transformative change.

The woodcut is a piece I created to represent transformation. In tribal lore, the person holding the horn calls on the animal to help them by transferring its qualities to the human.   The idea is to draw the viewer in to the possibilities of reconnecting with nature and with our collective past and from this to the possibility of moving forward into a balanced future.  I am using materials in this work that I have collected on my own life journey: the porcupine quills come from Kenya, the reed and bark with lichen from Vancouver Island and the stone with seaweed from Sooke, BC.  The leather thongs and deer hide come from Ontario.  The feathers come from Africa and Canada and represent stability and harmony between the physical and spiritual.

I use acrylic gel to attach the objects to archival paper, often multiple layers, which I paint, tear, stitch, wrap, draw and print on. I create the images first then build (with the aid of my framer) the box around them.

While the work is built on an archival base some of the elements can be quite fragile.  For example in this piece the seaweed protrudes beyond the edge of the frame so careful handling is needed.

Special thanks to the person who made my frames - Germain Badke - woodworker/ renovator extraordinaire.  If you're interested, he can usually be found in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island.

Hope you have fun with this piece.  Enjoy!