uncoupling (the river that separates us)

Apr 16

this is a painting about separation; two sided endings.

I typically don’t use my pain as the inspiration for the content of my paintings, but this painting made itself.

I found this paddle tangled in a tree at a lake in North Georgia this summer during a specifically breaking-point day in my then relationship. I remember seeing the paddle and thinking I will use you for something. When I picked the paddle up, I didn’t realize how fragile it was, and it suddenly snapped in half at the blade. I didn’t care and kept it anyway, I knew I would use it. Months later, I repaired it so it could be the support for this wall hanging/tapestry.

The actual wall hanging began when I sewed this knit work I made in the spring to the center of a piece of lace and instantly recognized that it looked like (or symbolized all along) a waterfall. That’s when my favorite motif came into the picture. I knew I wanted to have something on either side of the ‘river’, and realized it was supposed to be me, us. I knew I wanted to include my current favorite motif, by personifying a buck and a doe to represent me and my life. The Buck is knee deep in grass, somewhere undisclosed, potentially stuck? He calls out to the Doe, focused towards her. The Doe can’t hear through the rushing waterfall, she is alone, almost floating in her power with her head held high and not attached to any particular landscape or scene, while surrounded by colors of course (dried paint scraping in this case). She can’t hear him and she doesn’t want to.

This is a painting about two sides of a story, this is a painting about separation and independence on two sides of the same river.