Two works from my new series “The Thing With Feathers” will be in a bicoastal online exhibit called Wild Tangents curated by Ann Trinca from Perch Art House.
Monica Bryant—Artist Statement
Wild Tangents
My wild tangent is to look to nature for hope. In March and April of this year it was quiet outside. Road noises were nearly absent, and I didn’t hear planes and helicopters flying overhead. I noticed birdsongs. Although I feel concern for people losing their jobs and income, I welcomed the slower pace that emerged. I have a cabinet of the picture files my artist mother had collected over the years. I randomly chose to use her images of a cardinal and a goldfinch to add to my mixed media paintings. Emily Dickinson’s poem Hope is the thing with feathers powerfully expresses the persistence of beauty in our world. It seems so important to appreciate the free birds among us and to work a bit like them, scratch the ground, gather material for your nest, take a bath, fly, and sing your song. Like birds, live moment by moment and experience awe. It is hopeful to me the way nature has rebounded so quickly when the human stresses have been lessoned. This work is in my new series of mixed media paintings called, the thing with feathers.
My mixed media painting We Are Strong includes layers of paint, printed, brushed, dripped and layered on thick with tools. The Cardinal was printed and glued into the painting early on and then strengthened with cadmium red hue. The Cardinal has symbolized many things to people. I saw one three times this summer. I read that this might be a sign “that you might be doubting your strengths and the bright red bird is a reminder to check your confidence and move forward no matter the obstacles in your path.” I took that meaning as true for me and a reminder to all to know our power and strength. Hence the name We Are Strong.
Speak Up is a mixed media painting that includes a Goldfinch. This little bird sits on a purple cornflower or echinacea purpurea. The pattern above from an Indian block print suggests lines of music to me. To see a goldfinch, is a positive and optimistic sign. I feel we should speak up and sing our song.
With climate change and the extreme weather and fires we have experienced in California I can feel very pessimistic, but when I focus on my love for the earth and the life I have, I’m hopeful.
“Hope is the thing with Feathers
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,”