"Failed Experiment" and "Peace At Last!"
While beads and jewelry seem to be my focus (read "obsession"), I didn't choose either of them for my first art exhibit. My employer mounted an exhibit for employees and I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to create a piece of art that promoted critical thinking as opposed to just something pretty to look at.
Knowing what I wanted to say, my brain seemed to churn with the idea, trying to envision the best way to turn this into reality. At first I thought of a back-to-back piece mounted on a turntable under a Plexiglas cube. After reading of limited floor space in the gallery, I felt that this might limit my chances of having my submission accepted. Eventually I opted for two separate mixed media pieces that could be hung on the wall side-by-side.
What intrigued me was the way the original design morphed throughout "construction." As it progressed I'd get new ideas. Or while rummaging through supplies, something I hadn't considered caught my eye and I incorporated it. Technical challenges resulted in fresh ideas too.
With the deadline looming, I sacrificed many hours of sleep. The dining room table became buried in fabric scraps, paints, yarn, buttons along with the sewing machine, laptop, scanner and the iron. At last I was ready to take pictures of my art to submit along with my artist statement and bio.
I was surprised at how anxious I became waiting to hear if my work was accepted. I was giddy with relief when I received an email from the organizer.
It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day busyness and let the mainstream media tell us what to think. Now my wish is that everyone who views these pieces will really think about what they say and think critically about what is going on around us.
"Failed Experiment" is symbolic of the fact that mankind has experimented for millenniums with every form of government imaginable - with what results? War, pollution, death, misery, hunger, etc. The black and white hands represent humanity of every skin shade from whitest white to blackest black. The test tubes filled with government names represent an experiment gone bad resulting in bad human attributes. The results form the background.
Peace, on the other hand, reigns when humans embrace and each personally express the unifying qualities pouring down from above. This is shown through "Peace At Last!" This is a global peace among humans, animals and the environment.
