Last week (or maybe the week before…) there was a flurry of art deadlines, and I am thrilled to report that I entered a piece in each one.
ISEA – Making Our Marks
The International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA) has three shows a year. The end of January is the deadline for Making Our Marks, an online show open to members.
I do not usually paint humans, but Hontas was a subject I wanted to explore. Pocahontas (Hontas) Waller was my great great aunt and something of a mystery. Her name was odd within a family of Lauras, Margarets, and Williams. My grandma could never talk about her without mentioning her birth was scandalous; however, she would never elaborate. Whether Hontas was born outside of wedlock or has some other sensational back story, in all her photos she appears resolute and lovely. I was trying to capture her proud look and reflect on my own family’s history with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
The artist statement below the painting is the explanation I submitted to ISEA (the answer to “why is this piece experimental for you.)
I remember coming across Hontas in the photo album and asking my grandma about her. Grandma made it clear that she thought there was a story there, but couldn’t be persuaded to talk about it. Hontas never married. I wonder if any of her story, as told to me, is true. I wonder how it felt to be ostracized in her generation. I wonder if I am doing the right thing wondering about it now.
Watercolor Society of Oregon (WSO)
I dithered around and finally decided to enter “Gifts” and “I Don’t Give a Hoot” in the WSO spring show.
“Gifts” was in the ISEA show last fall and won an award. “Hoot” is new. Jean Pederson will be the juror. I’ve already signed up for her workshop (second one) and I am looking forward to it. I value her opinion and feel a lot of anxiety about getting into the spring show. She juried the spring 2019 WSO show and we had a great conversation about “Loss.”
Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS)
Recent experiences have reinforced the old saying: You don’t win if you don’t enter. In that spirit, I entered three paintings; however, I don’t have high hopes. Competition is fierce.
And I can’t remember (or find) the third. It’s hard getting old.
Other Paintings
Keep painting, my friends.
Other Thoughts
If you have made it this far, please be aware that the text below this line is political in nature. I NEED to get some things off my chest.
— POLITICAL WARNING (Don’t read past this) —
Long-time readers will know I am not a fan of the current Republican administration. It’s been less than a month, and all of my worst fears are being realized. The saving grace of 45’s first term is that he didn’t know what he was doing. This time, he still doesn’t know what he is doing, but he’s attracted a bunch of people who know EXACTLY what they are doing and are using that knowledge to break the system.
It’s awful to watch.
Many, MANY people are doing a great job resisting. There are some great resources for resisting that I have been using.
- 5 Calls
- ACLU
- All Sides (listing of news story with their bias clearly marked. It’s fascinating how different “sides” tell a story)
- American Medical Association (has stepped up reports on bird flu as the Center for Disease Control has removed some of their data)
- Global Ministries (the arm of the United Methodist Church that response to requests for international aid. Tends to be (relatively) non-partisan and money goes directly to “on the ground” humans.)
- And many more
Unfortunately, many “resistance” sites take our interest to request money. Others rely on partisan (Democratic) infrastructure. When looking for examples, I mostly found highly biased sites working to add to the current hysteria.
In my opinion (for what it is worth), hysteria is completely called for. From the data and actions I can see, the President has enabled a small group of people to root around in a classified computer system that runs key government functions. As a distraction, he has nominated a bunch of unqualified, hyper-partisan lunatics to every position he can. While elected official are busy sorting through nominations, government employees are being harassed and tormented by an unelected team of cyber bullies.
This is what I believe. However, I am still able to see that my point of view has huge prejudices.
Yesterday, a Facebook friend shared a pro-RFK. Her point of view was that RFK’s stance on vaccines and better food made him qualified for the position he is seeking. After I stopped screaming, I looked up RFK on Wikipedia (yes, it leans left, but it’s still pretty unbiased) and learned he had a history of environmental and First Peoples activism in the 80’s and 90’s, but has widely shared and promoted vaccine misinformation in the 00’s and 10’s. In other words, he may have done some okay things, but he is not qualified to be in charge of the national medical systems.
Many, many people believe what I do. We are doing what we can to work together and stop this snowball before it gets too far down the hill. My request is this: Be very careful about what you post. I see a great many posts on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and YouTube that are factually untrue. Misinformation does nothing to help us target critical issues.
Keep calm and resist.