Images of Home
in partial fulfillment for ART 195: Painting, Ecological Perception and Theory
Spring 2004 & Spring 2005 with Cameron Davis
Pat the Cat
I
often name my paintings after they are completed. This is one such case
where I was exploring the depth and texture I could create with pastes,
gels, and mediums, an effort to mimic my experience of my "study" of my
cat - spending time with her, fingers diving into thick fur, the feel
of her motoring purr warming my hands, her fur's changing colors
revealing themselves like a rainbow as I crossed into the depth of her
horizon.
I tried to
capture these sensory qualities here, including the addition of the
actual physical feel of her fur in the piece by "gluing" some
shedded locks with a translucent gel
- again capturing a type of "fossil" effect that I enjoy.
Naming this piece struck me later as I was reminded of the "Pat
the Bunny" book
so often seen in children's libraries when I was seeking to create the
corner "touch me" opportunity.
If you've never seen this classic childhood piece, a mock lock of the
bunny's fur
is exposed through the cover so that children can actually pat the
bunny! I was recreating this with my cat in the corner area of this
piece. I am intrigued that few identify this opportunity when first
viewing it, but are delighted to do it when I mention it to them! 
Closeup of Pat the Cat corner:
Walking on Evergreens
Displayed
in Williams Hall as part of a class presentation at the end of the
semester, this view was taken over a stairwell railing looking down on
the piece on the stairwell wall.
Based on a childhood memory in which
an older brother led a group of us into the neighbors' cedar stand to
walk across the top after a large snowstorm, the piece was my effort to
capture the wonder of walking forward in the footsteps of my siblings
with the road and a passing car visible to the left below. Having taken
an independent step initially and experienced the sudden drop of my leg
through the snow, I learned abruptly the possibility of tumbling from
our perch. It kept me intensely focused on staying in the tracks of my
siblings where I knew
I would not fall through.
The sun rays shining from the upper left onto the snow was a
challenging light effect to capture. It took the most time of the
various elements in the piece. I particularly like how the top of the
snowpants illustrate
this best.
Artist is shown at right with image
taken at the March 2004 Mastering the Maze Exhibit in Royall
Tyler Theater. 
The left photo reveals how different lighting, perspective and surrounding context can change perception of what it is.
Faces of Home I
From left to right, this piece chronicles my "faces of home" since I
was born. Photographic images were sealed onto the canvas using a
transparent gel (mimics of fossil images). From each place,
special objects from each environment helped me realize how much I
notice, identify and ground my life from the trees around the places I
consider "home." Their significance was enriched by
unique features around or about each one: a river; an enormous
erratic on which a corner cedar wrapped and curled its way skyward
- branches creating access to view the world on top; flowers to
berries or apples; buds to leaves through fall color variations and
winter branches bent deep with the weight of snow. Other elements are
traced as well: a herstory of numbers, countries and other states
visited, even a construction site for an anticipated home. This process
was thilling in its development as it helped me to realize how many,
many years I'd lived "on a hill" and how over time and with the
continued, daily, yearly passing of experience in such a place - love
and delight, connection and treasures blossomed. It takes time to build
a "home"; houses, condos and shelters spring up much more quickly.
Homes are more devastating when unexpectedly lost or taken from
someone; buildings may be a disappointment or frustration - they
typically lack the emotional and/or spiritual ties that connect us to
places which I think of as "home"... for me, this includes our first
real home - the physical body... a tie developed in a future series
which will hopefully make it on this site soon.
Faces of Home II
The images in this piece continues the "story" from Faces of Home I
through combining perspectives from living on "the hill" and
moving into a new neighborhood. The large photo transparency of my cat
when she was adopted was an apt in its size; her attention and care was
all encompassing when I first got her and in the transition to a new
home, her needs were foremost in my mind. She stands next to what, in
this image and from a distance, looks like a mish-mash grid. This is
actually a transparency of an aerial photo from the timeframe in which
I have lived "on the hill." While a photo journal and other
architectural drawings and images informed my study, this "summary"
provided the largest and most comprehensive pieces of what had been
"home" for almost 3 decades.
The blue "hatch" lines creating a grid on the canvas replicate
architectural design efforts. So overall, the piece can support the
idea of my own efforts to honor and integrate images from various
times and in different geographic places: from places where I have
worked on campus (Pomeroy Hall, Robinson Hall,
Grassmount, Harris/Millis, Waterman, and "The Bittersweet") to
those where I have lived and studied during undergraduate years
(Harris/Millis, Centennial Hall) and later making a home as an employee
(North Prospect Street and University Heights).
The gold swirl on the right bottom edge is captures the weaving path
toward my new house, while reflecting the hope and draw to a new
neighborhood and home ownership that called to me again (Chora).
The hawthorne tree which resides in front of my building was in full
bloom on my first visit - though I've never taken the time to add it to
this work.
Encircling all of these details, a simultaneous moonrise and sunset sit
on both sides of the horizon. This mirrors an actual experience I
had returning to my new community the first week I moved there. It
so well "voiced" my ambivalence in the experience: the setting of
an old, loved home and community with the rising of a new one only
known by Chora, but willing
to walk the risk again; the setting of rentorship and a long term,
trusted landlord and work crew with the birthing of ownership and a
shared, communal responsibility. Observing the future promise as the
moon rises, with the real loss as the sun sets - and a larger trust
than either that both will come again - a possible security around the
unknown at some future time when perhaps in another move, this new now
place will be the heart-felt loss of a treasured community and building
I call and think of as home.
We often think of consciousness as awareness and equate sun and light
with this quality. So the known of where I was living is setting. What
has been in daylight, what I have seen and had time with. The moon is
often equated with rebirth, newness and mystery - qualities of a new
community and place to reside. While not yet home, I trust it will
become so over time and connection. And that is where everything
resides - in a faith greater than the visible or scientific "known" or
expected. Just like piecing together a life and a home - needing care
and attention, an embrace during times of anxiety or fear, a pat on the
back in celebration of recognized accomplishments or surprise delights
unforeseen. And the blue lines - reminding me always that however these
elements evolve and connect, they relate to some larger connections -
not necessarily known, but often felt and explored (Chora).
Flowers
On a "whim", I decided to switch the "gesso" used in creating our class
canvases - trying black instead of the standard white. I discovered
that I love the effects and options this creates in my work. It also
illustrates another way in which perception of what we "see" changes
dramatically by the surrounding context. The image on the right graces
my kitchen wall painted brilliant yellow, so the contrast is more
striking. I wanted to displayed this photo here only on a grey
background to focus attention on the effects of the black canvas base.
Dave's Dragonfly
This piece illustrates again a "naming after". It combined the black
background (I wanted to explore a large piece - this is 3x6 feet) with
the energy and spirit of texture, new paints (metallic and flouresent
colors), and elements that ground (the flowers I love so well!) which
gave the piece a sense of integrity ("pulled it all together" as a
familial expression might describe it!).
I've had so many people call it "Dragonfly" that I decided I might as
well name it that! One of my nephew's experienced his own calling with
this piece; he couldn't live without it - so it now graces his home as
shown in the photo. In honor of his Chora, I named it after him as well. Thus was born "Dave's Dragonfly".
Kayla's Sunburst
My teenage niece asked me to create a piece just for her; completed as
part of the Spring 2005 class which used the black background, a
"sunburst" as she calls my "gerbera daisy" renditions, and copies of
her pets to incorporate in the piece, the result was too dark for her
tastes. I redid it and finally finished a piece she loved and that
spoke to her as Dave's Dragonfly spoke to her brother. It graces her
bedroom wall, painted in green as shown here. The wall on which
something hangs, like the culture in which an individual resides, can
change a lot about how it is then perceived. This is illustrated
further in the section below.
What you see, changing by features such as size and background color; the "reality" is the same, the "view" anew!
Changing Focus on display at the UVM Women's Center Student Show and on a grey background.
Artist's Statement for Final Class exhibit in Spring 2004 included Walking on Evergreens and Faces of Home I.
Faces of Home I and II were on display at Artist's Mediums in Tafts Corners from November 2006 through January 2007.
Pat the Cat is on display in my UVM office; you are welcome to visit if you'd like to see it in person.
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Page last updated: March 27, 2007