ARTPRIZE 2023

this one is interesting in so-many-ways. nothing i do ever fits very neatly in a box. no surprise there. i typically come spilling out everywhere, i’m proud for that. but this one not only can’t be boxed into a series, it’s got a big toe in two! a bridge between my “life songs” and “for the love of literature” series’ “the ones who circle round” is so perfectly both. with a level of depth in meaning, celebration and materials that surprises even me it was so much a hard fought love-love experience. technically, this piece was a bigger challenge than i have faced in a while. it was a lofty goal and i nailed it! rarely do things shake out as i expect them to at the sweet and naive beginning but this love story is one hundred percent true to it’s muse inspired origins. a brilliant combination of celebration for the book “the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse”, the song “we shall be known” by mamuse and my dearest ones. it is layered in the kind of challenge, lesson, success and validation made possible only by the closest and strongest relationships. it’s a love letter to my village, far and near, near and far…it’s one and the same. i carry and honor them in my heart, always, and this is the promise that we are forever in this together. “we shall be known by the company we keep by the ones who circle round to tend these fires.” 

30"x40"

oil, acrylic, ink, paper, beads, floss and wood

on a manufacturer stretched canvas

inspired by charlie mackesys' the boy the mole the fox and the horse and mamuses' we shall be known