ArtPrize is an awesome and huge celebration of art that totally takes over the town of grand rapids, michigan each fall. i have participated in many ARTPRIZE'S and it's always really fun and exciting to be in the mix!
my ARTPRIZE piece this year "so far but yet so near"
whew! this one is a lot, a lot....it's beautiful but it's whole-heart-heavy first and foremost. but then, as all the most impactful steep processes go, it feels inspired, hopeful and connected...then came the healing, more and more each day (every fly by), by the 'there's no such thing as the real end'.
it's loss so jarring, so deep and so tragic, loss at it's devastating worst. it's the brightest of joy in a love-life glittered with all the best memories through all of the shared wonder years. it's love strings so strong they bust and break and then go on to mend in knots, on and on and on, stronger by every strand. it's roots so deep they permeate and secure all that is this life and all that comes after.
it's support for confusion, illness, sadness, trauma, then comfort, growth and perseverance. it's an "all in" celebration of life, love, humor, tenacity, and unwavering loyalty. it's appreciating, collecting and cherishing every.single.thing we hold dear and the vision - so clear, no moments, signs or connection is missed.
mostly, though, at it's hard fought happy, even when it's sad, ending...it's validation and "the knowing" that no matter how it all went, what the world and it's convictions will have you believe and what your own confused and broken heart tries to tell you on the darkest of all days, the promise and the truth is real.....yes, "they're so far but yet so near."
a tribute to one life i carry in my love heart forever. inspired by experience, love, and the influence of two masters of their own craft. thank you, jimmy buffet for being the perfect soundtrack for this party life and yann martel for speaking to the hard end like i never could. cheers to the mash up that is this, with love, my muse, jimmy's song and yann's poetry together in process and story.
in gratitude for all that was and will forever be, forever and ever. amen.
"even when god seemed to have abandoned me, he was watching. even when he seemed indifferent to my suffering, he was watching. and when i was beyond all hope of saving, he gave me rest. then he gave me a sign to continue my journey" yann martel
43"x25"
oil, acrylic, gold floss, beads, cotton blend, tulle with sequence
on a hand stretched canvas
inspired by jimmy buffet one particular harbor/yann martel life of pi
ARTPRIZE #80766
litereature is such a major piece of my process that although i had never hung in a book store. but then there was 2024 and I not only landed a bookstore but a used bookstore which happens to also be the oldest comic book shop in michigan. lofty goals make for beautiful hard-earned success. i am so thrilled to announce that "so far but yet so near", my submission for ARTPRIZE 2024, will hang in the aged, long loved studied and enlightened and healing kind of energy only knowledge, experience and community can create. you're invited! come as you are, 100% who you are, to the argos book store in east town, grand rapids, michigan. a gifted group of artists and a kind, inclusive and supportive community is waiting which as you may already know, is exactly how all of my best happy endings go. never here for the prize money always, always here for the true prize, friendship through art. come see me and the rest of the ARTPRIZE 2024 crew! i promise you'll be so glad you did.
love ya!
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