I love that my show falls at this time of year for celebrating Day of the Dead, and All Souls Day. I felt like a magician of sorts while working on this series of portraits, conjuring up these spirits and faces from the past with my humble pots of soot and powder, and sticks of charcoal and chalk. The perfect mediums for a medium...
I started this woman's portrait the day before yesterday, and will return to my studio to resolve it today. This is my Great Great Grandmother, circa 1899 or so, my mother's mother's mother's mother (!)
My husband and I are having no luck resolving my camera problem, though. Frustrating!! We'll figure it out soon. Meanwhile, no pics of works in progress.
Boo. (Hoo, and Hiss...)
Speaking of boo, and ghosts, and Mything Persons and things, I am planning to print this little headstone on my title labels. It's from a headstone at a local cemetery - I thought it would be a good logo of sorts to tie together the show. I also potted up a bunch of marigolds that I had planted outdoors this summer, and plan to put them on a table at the gallery along with an album of prints of all the old photographs I've used to create this body of work. Marigolds are used in Day of the Dead and All Souls Day celebrations. I've read that their pungent odor draws the spirits out, so I am going to scatter some blossoms on the door sill as people enter the gallery on the night of the opening...
I guess that's what I've been doing, too, literally and figuratively. Drawing out spirits. When I was at work in my studio recently I was listening to Bob Dylan's version of Rollin' and Tumblin', and this apt line came ringing out and made me stop what I was doing to write it down:
I've been conjuring up all these long dead souls from their crumblin' tombs...
A photo shoot out under the clothesline this morning, documenting portraits for my upcoming show. I am also getting ready to plant a bed of marigolds from seed, so that they will be at their peak in late October for the exhibit. I will be placing them around the gallery at my niece Michaela's suggestion. Michaela loves Day of the Dead and all its imagery and folklore, and tells me that marigolds bring forth spirits!
I found out yesterday that my upcoming show at Sanctuary Tattoo will be in November rather than September, and I am so pleased! My cousin Jon, who will be showing his photographs of family gravestones along with my drawings of our ancestors, pointed out that our exhibit opening will coincide with The Day of the Dead, or All Souls' Day, which is PERFECT considering our subject matter!!
(I'm also thrilled with the new date because it gives me more time to prepare! (:^D)
Another portrait started of the man on the left in this old family photo. The man on the right is my great-grandfather Camp, my father's mother's father. I'm not sure who the man on the left is, or how he is related to me, but he looks very familiar. I think he might be my great uncle. Whoever he is, I have spent the afternoon camped out on my porch staring at his grainy digital image trying to resurrect him with charcoal. chalk, and acrylic paint. Sounds a little freaky. It felt a little freaky. But good. Better than digging up his remains and parading them through the streets. Maybe it's the same thing.
I am an artist, an art teacher, a mother of five children, and a grandmother of four, and I live with my husband and our two cats in the woods of Woolwich, Maine. I teach drawing classes through the Continuing Studies Department at Maine College of Art in Portland, and now privately in my new (!) studio @ 72 Front Street, Bath. My blog 'Martha Miller' shares my art, my process, and my inspirations, and my blog 'Not Bad Thing' showcases my daughter Lisbeth's artwork and process. It is also where I share my experience as a mother of an adult child with special needs. You can see more of my artwork on my website @ www.marthamiller.com
