Cheering the Goddess, first pics

Here are the first few pictures from the "Cheering the Goddess" show.

Most of the pieces are terracotta earthenware clay: I quite enjoyed the possibilities of this material since working for my show in Istanbul.

Above is "Earth Mothers" - a typical Turkish landscape with life in the river, and goddesses hovering in the hills: Goddess as protector of earth & life, creator of bountiful harvests, provider of waters.

When I think 'female', I think of flowing lines and sensuous curves.

"Ova" is, of course, all about fertility - the most obvious way in which woman is Goddess.

"Seeds" of turquoise give this piece a pop of colour, which I like. Another nod to fertility.

"Mother, Protect Us". Somehow the mother has a nurturing and loving look about her, even though she has no facial features: the essence of motherhood as I see it.

As I look at it now, I also see eggs & sperm, which I hadn't seen until the piece was hanging on the wall. So I guess it's about fertility also. But it was intended to represent the mother protecting her children, while realizing that the nature of children and the protection we can give is fluid and changing as they slip in and out of our grasp.

More tomorrow. Heading out soon to the Opening. Yay!

Back to Reality

Well, it's surely been a very long time since my last entry!! Between October and now, I've sent the unsold pieces from my Istanbul exhibition back to Avanos, bid a sad farewell to my friends in Avanos for another few months, returned to my Gibsons BC studio, bumbled through Christmas, and spent a mad few weeks creating the work for my exhibition at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery! Whew! What a ride!

Entitled "Cheering the Goddess", the present exhibition follows the female/goddess figure from paleolithic times through to the present (or, at least, it's my interpretation of her.....). I've built a ceramic patchwork quilt with tiles that have historical goddess images, abstractions of female characteristics, and even a couple of milagros from Oaxaca. Other than some of these tiles, there are no historically 'correct' images. The rest of the show comprises panels (& 3 bowls) depicting my own interpretation of what it means to be female, and my representation of some of the qualities that caused various cultures through history to elevate women to 'goddess' stature.

The goddess is the embodiment of abundance, fertility, nurturing, wisdom, continuity, regeneration, and life-giving waters. The panels incorporate myriad symbols that have been used for millenia to represent the female and those characteristics which make her so essential and revered.

A full complement of pics will be up tomorrow........

All for today. & welcome back!