The desire to explore and create, to see meaning in images and significance in nature and what I observed and experienced in this life, was with me from the beginning. Read, watch, see, listen, and look more deeply into what I share in my words and images to gain a greater insight into what motivates and inspires me as a woman, and an artist. Why did I choose to create each image in each particular medium? Why was this so important in my journey through this lifetime?
"Mother and Child"
(c) 1982
Conté and pastel chalk drawing
Why this portrait? Have you ever, as a mother, felt your first child growing within your womb? The center of one's being... flesh of one flesh, blood coursing through shared veins...hearts beating in rhythm, as one body... mother to daughter, one's lifetime into another, linking us back to the beginning of time and creation. This is a self-portrait, of me holding my first child, a daughter, I named Alicia, when she was about six months old, at Christmastime, in 1977. I visualized the image I desired to create and arranged myself holding her close to my chest and bare breasts, heart to heart, beating as one, while looking into a large mirror. Then I asked my husband to take a slide photo, that I was able to project to make larger to view the details later, when I had my hands and eyes free to draw this image.
"Portrait of Monaya Lund"
(c) 1968
Pencil Drawing
This is the first portrait I ever created, when I was about 18 years old, a pencil drawing of my best friend, Monaya, during our shared lunch hours while we were both in our Senior Year at Bemidji High School. I had no camera to take an instant image in a photograph, so she sat patiently in front of me, reading, for about a half hour a day (when we were not eating) for approximately 8 hours of careful observation of her, primarily in the same pose. This required a lot of time, discipline, and patience, both for her as the subject of my observations and for me recording from my eyes through my right hand, what I observed. Why a “Portrait of Monaya”? She was, from the moment I saw her, when we were only 12 years old, and she had recently moved to our small town to start Grade 7, when I walked right up to face her, looked into her eyes, and said, "You are my best friend"... and so it has been, for more than 60 years now! She is the friend who knows me best, who is always there to listen and believe in me... to raise me up and encourage me, through all of our lives together. Our art teacher at that time was Miss Mildred (I affectionately called her “Millie”) Wardell, an excellent Art Instructor who came up from Colorado to teach in Minnesota. I have much to thank her for teaching me about art and an introduction to art history and for providing me with a variety of art materials. She also wrote my “Letter of Recommendation”, which I am quite certain helped me be accepted into Sarah Lawrence College and be awarded a Full Scholarship. God bless you both, for your major contributions to my life and growth as an artist, and examples of enduring friendship and loving support.