MILK and HONEY

Honey Hex, Intoxicate 2017

When I first thought about this show I wanted it to celebrate the magnificent abundance that is Vermont in the summertime, a sweet land of plenty. Fortunately or not, things are never simple.

My series of Honey Hexes are similar to Pennsylvania Dutch hex paintings in that these are made to welcome good luck and good fortune.The Honey Hexes, are talismans meant to foster sweetness, harmony, abundance and fertility and vision through altered consciousness. The designs that I have painted incorporate a honeycomb format that frames the icons within. Symbols such as cornucopias, and similar mead horns, udders, beehives and symbolic flowers and of course, bees adorn this ongoing series. As it has become profoundly clear that the majority of life on the planet depends on some of the tiniest pollinators these hexes attempt to pay tribute where it is due.

In a similar vein the series of Botanical heads symbolize rebirth and regeneration and abundance.They are inspired by “green men” variations of folate heads that have adorned architecture and gravestones across cultures. My botanical heads range from Foliate style head that which is completely covered in leaves, to the Disgorging Head which spews vegetation from its mouth, as well as the Bloodsucker Head which sprouts vegetation from all orifices (Facial) such as the eyes nostrils and mouth. In addition my botanical heads  are multi faceted images that when rotated 180 degrees reveal a new “face.”  The heads represent animals, plants and male and female “gods.”

Canary warning #3

There are always signs and warnings...if you are listening. Speaking of warnings, the Warning (canary) is part of an ongoing series of guardians. The “See Wheat (sweet)” depicts cornucopia eyes with wheat... endless sweetness.This was inspired in part by Amy’s vintage blue Pyrex Bowl.  Not a sickly sweet but, a sweet like a sunny Vermont summer day. “Milk Made,” a little Vermont Dairy truth in advertising... connecting milk to where it comes from.

The Hobo Hankies, created as part of the series, Mythos Merch. These hankies incorporate some hobo symbols (jail, Safe water, Danger) and commemorate some of my favorite attractions/characters from Big Rock Candy Mountain. I love a good story and the tale of Big Rock Candy Mountain is just that, a fictional land of Milk and Honey, with its straight up tourist trap hucksterism and charm and when you have a moment look up the last verse of Big Rock Candy Mountain!

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”

“One sees clearly only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eye."  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry these are Lessons from The Little Prince, The Rose and the Fox, which speak for themselves. To me these speak to bittersweet experience of opening oneself to friendship and love and the ways in which the senses can be fooled.


Currently on view at the the South Street Cafe in Bennington, Vermont.