Centaur of the Stage
My papier mâché works using antique sheet music seek to celebrate and repurpose the best and worst quality music from my great paper era collection of music which spans close to 300 years (1723-1945). My creative endeavours have focused on creating and celebrating language with a particular focus on universal languages. As a multi lingual and multi cultural person music was (and still is) a most tangible link to culture for me. I grew up moving every two years and although we were posted far and wide, my parents, an Irish mother and a French Canadian military man with proud Métis/Algonquin heritage, made sure we were given strong links to our mixed heritage. I also use it because the wealth of printed music from the last several centuries has become obsolete for the most part. It was collected and shared with great care and love, from one generation to another, as such the quality of the paper was essential to its longevity. The greatest paper made over the centuries was made for music, which was to stand upright on a piano and pass from hand to hand to hand. I have always had a great love for it and yearned to use it in my work as an artist and artisan.
It is paramount for me to honour every aspect of each piece of music I used for this work. As such, the inventory of colour resulting from age, paper composition, moisture (the honey coloured paper is the result of bleach as an additive during war time/early 20th century), margins, print size, decorative whimsy and graphic patterns became components of my palette. Making sculpture is a way for me to navigate complicated waters with love, respect for all people, all music and hope for healing for all us earthlings.
I am a storyteller and so my sculptures are a way for tales to be told and songs to be sung. I have created a series of sweethearts with different clay bodies, to distract me and keep me company. They are keen listeners and they have sweet sly smiles, so you know they’re singing a song of sweetness or thinking/hearing one. With the paper work going on in my studio (all around them, all the time) I decided to merge my materials and give wings to my sweethearts. And thus my mythological sweetheart series was begun. This winged centaur, for all the great performers of the stage, who give all their energy to being transformative and magical. Does not music give us wings?!? They are the mythology of the centaur merged with pegasus, inviting you to magic and music.
My papier mâché works using antique sheet music seek to celebrate and repurpose the best and worst quality music from my great paper era collection of music which spans close to 300 years (1723-1945). My creative endeavours have focused on creating and celebrating language with a particular focus on universal languages. As a multi lingual and multi cultural person music was (and still is) a most tangible link to culture for me. I grew up moving every two years and although we were posted far and wide, my parents, an Irish mother and a French Canadian military man with proud Métis/Algonquin heritage, made sure we were given strong links to our mixed heritage. I also use it because the wealth of printed music from the last several centuries has become obsolete for the most part. It was collected and shared with great care and love, from one generation to another, as such the quality of the paper was essential to its longevity. The greatest paper made over the centuries was made for music, which was to stand upright on a piano and pass from hand to hand to hand. I have always had a great love for it and yearned to use it in my work as an artist and artisan.
It is paramount for me to honour every aspect of each piece of music I used for this work. As such, the inventory of colour resulting from age, paper composition, moisture (the honey coloured paper is the result of bleach as an additive during war time/early 20th century), margins, print size, decorative whimsy and graphic patterns became components of my palette. Making sculpture is a way for me to navigate complicated waters with love, respect for all people, all music and hope for healing for all us earthlings.
I am a storyteller and so my sculptures are a way for tales to be told and songs to be sung. I have created a series of sweethearts with different clay bodies, to distract me and keep me company. They are keen listeners and they have sweet sly smiles, so you know they’re singing a song of sweetness or thinking/hearing one. With the paper work going on in my studio (all around them, all the time) I decided to merge my materials and give wings to my sweethearts. And thus my mythological sweetheart series was begun. This winged centaur, for all the great performers of the stage, who give all their energy to being transformative and magical. Does not music give us wings?!? They are the mythology of the centaur merged with pegasus, inviting you to magic and music.