Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I'll Be Your Mirror




"I'll Be Your Mirror"

I finished this memory mirror a couple of months ago, but I was having a bit of a problem coming up with a title for it.
I don't know about you, but my feeling is that a piece is not 'finished' until it is titled and signed.

A few days ago,  I settled on the title "I'll Be Your Mirror" because It reminded me of a a 60's song by the same name written by American rock musician songwriter Lou Reed.  Before going out on his own solo career, which spanned several decades, Reed was a guitarist, vocalist and principle songwriter of the Velvet Underground for whom this song was written.

Below are the opening lyrics of the song:

     I'll be your mirror
     Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
     I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
    The light on your door to show that you're home 

 

 Coincidentally Lou Reed passed away this week, he was 71.  

 

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Things Remembered . . .

 "Things Remembered . . . "
Why do we remember some things and forget others?  Why do some moments in our life come rushing forward, without notice and in a flash with the simplest of prompts? 

Sometimes, when walking past the neighbor's flower garden, the fragrance of marigolds immediately transport me back to me to my first job in a nursery at age 14.

The minute I see or hear the sound of a vintage Volkswagon Beetle, I feel myself driving my very first car, a 1973 VW Bug.

Smells, sounds, and things all have the ability to flood our memory with moments in time, long ago forgotten.

This piece reminds me of the amazing ability our minds have to bring back those memories. The moments are ours, we possess them, but many of them have become faded.

Wooden box lid, collaged with hand made papers, and overlaid with sewing pattern tissue.  2x2-half inch wooden blocks covered in magazine images, maps, vintage sheet music and dictionary text, are embellished with bits and bling.  Each block creates a tiny vignette, a treasured memory of things remembered.