Feb 17, 2010

Falling Down and Getting Back Up

While the mandala was on its way to me, from Danielle, I received an email from her. I share this with her permission, but I think it illustrates one of the challenges that lie in store for each of the artists working on this series: when to stop....since it's a shared project.

"...you are gonna have to change stuff. i have a hard time with this...i usually work with an idea of a finished piece in my head and this is really painful. not know where it's going or when to stop working....working on the thing, was like i kept falling down but couldn't figure out why.

sorry i fell down on yer project.
"

(ETA: Let me clarify, that I found this letter to be so cute and humorous, because she had nothing to worry about. Yet it brought up a relevant struggle for artists, 'the letting go'. I think every one of us has had the same thought in our minds, at some point during this process. I know I felt as if I 'fell down' on it during round two with Heather.)


I also received several photocopied packets from D. along in the package. One is called "Animal Speak" and has a lot of information about spiders in it. The other is a packet entitled, "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe" which contains information regarding the Breath of the Compassionate (the universe being formed around it) and eight-fold geometry.

...Grandmother Spider has eight legs, doesn't she? D. is one smart chic.

D. has hand-painted (not airbrushed!) a pattern, of which I assume to be eight-fold geometry, onto the piece she sent me this round. She used gold, which is one of the colors she told me she has been using a lot lately. I went a different route, and used a reductive method on the piece I worked on. I scraped the paint from the wrapping paper in selected areas (no easy task), and added an Egyptian-looking eyeball (it's actually Alicia Key's eyeball) because I felt that the pattern was reminiscent of the lotus flower and other Egyptian symbols. Here we go...

Cycle 3, Round 2:




D. Garzelloni to Shana R. Goetsch
Chicago, IL to Milwaukee, WI










Shana R. Goetsch to D. Garzelloni
Milwaukee, WI to Chicago IL




6 comments:

shana goetsch said...

i am intrigued by this 'breath of compassion' deal, D. thank you for the info./insight

Vag said...

i love what both of you did here.
i really love the background you added shana. and what danielle did looks (to me) like the underside of a scarab...(similar shape)

shana goetsch said...

good call on the beetle-bottom.

Heather Gordy said...

I think they're both great!! It is hard to let go and to know when to stop or keep going. It's all part of the experience and for me that's the best part. Yes, I started with a vision but I knew it wouldn't come to fruition. How in the world would another artist know where I was going unless I explained it in great detail. That's the fun part. Seeing how Shana interpreted what I've given her and how I interpreted what she's given me.

shana goetsch said...

usually, this is not my particular struggle, being that my main mediums are both unpredictable at best....but the 'not knowing' has definitely added an extra dimension to working on these.
i am thrilled by the prospects, personally.

Vag said...

i struggle too with what to do or what to add or when to stop. and i'm just mainly a crafter/scrapper! so i'm sure y'all find this very interesting indeed...i feel like there is no wrong or bad work here. its all different and amazing at the same time to me.