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| Attendants, 2015. Diptych, each: graphite & oil on wood panel, 16x10", 16x22 overall. |
Every infant arrives as a mystery. We cannot readily guess or determine how life will unfold for this new being. We do not know who they will become. This mystery often multiplies in the case of adoption. All who mother, father and nurture this child may never be known. And those mothers, fathers and nurturers may never know the becoming child.
"Attendants" alludes to the biblical tale of infant Moses, hidden in a basket, floated in the reeds of the river, tended by his elder sister, Miriam. I was first drawn to the subject by identification with Miriam in her role as attendant to her brother. As the image took shape in my mind and I recalled the story, I recognized that Moses passed through many hands and hearts in his rearing. So in this diptych composition he appears merely as a floating basket between his vigilant sister and the Pharoah's daughter's handmaiden. It is this unnamed servant who conveys Moses on the next passage of his journey.
My explorations continue with further studies of Miriam and Moses, or less specifically, the attendant and the infant. I am only interested in the biblical story as a cultural touchstone I might share with those who also contemplate such essential relations as they appear in the series.
The subject matter -like virtually all of my current work- has presented opportunities to explore new media and palettes.
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| In the Reeds, 2015. Graphite & oil on wood panel, 10x8". |
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| Miriam Study I, 2014. Graphite, ink and watercolor on paper, 8x10". |
I apologize for that outside image of the Miriam Study I, intruding on this blog post. It does not appear in my draft, and I cannot seem to remove it now.
ReplyDeletethank you for this post, for talking about your process and thoughts around your painitings and subject matter. Interesting what you have to say about adoption. I have known a number of adoped children now grown and friends who adopted and it was at one time a theme in a novel unpublished that I wrote.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading the blog and offering your remarks, Susan. I'm curious what prompted you to use adoption as a theme in your novel. Were you personally interested in these friends you mention above, or perhaps intrigued by the notion in more philosophic terms?
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