All A-QUIVER

Seeking The Light Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

The car is loaded, documents are prepared, screw driver, blu tac and other assorted bits and pieces are ready. QUIVER is ready to be hung. I am hanging the show tomorrow [Monday], and the doors open to the public on Tuesday.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

QUIVER is an exhibition of new paintings inspired by concepts of Mother Nature. Using the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol, I explore distance from the nano to the multiversal. In this distance where perspective, both literal and metaphoric, takes on multi layered dimensions, the quiver …tremble….vibration…of all life reminds us of the shared rhythmic pulse across time and space. 

In an age where environmental and sustainability issues battle with increasing energy needs, water viability and food production, re-examination of Mother Nature’s story, myth and symbolism may provide new perspectives which are not only Earth bound, but also directed to and from the cosmic world, at the same time as potentially penetrating quantum secrets.

In many of these new paintings I combine a figure of a woman, with the tree-of-life. The woman seems to dance across indeterminate spaces that seem both vast and intimate. Her limbs erupt with trees that seem to connect her to these spaces in ways that resonate viscerally. This connection suspends time as Mother Nature embodies the first impulse of life as well as its present and future continuance.

In other paintings I have combined the tree-of-life with other elements to 'ask' questions about how we 'value' our land, how we might discover new perspectives and how we might re-imagine our place within modern cosmology. How do we partner with Mother Nature to understand the spectrum of life from the quantum to the cosmic?

QUIVER

Graydon Gallery,

29 merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia

17 - 29 April

OPEN DAILY 10 am - 6 pm or by appointment

ANZAC DAY 12 noon - 6 pm

Please check out Carolyn McDowall's article in The Culture Concept.

Please check out a recent QUIVER post and my online gallery on my WEBSITE

Copies of my recently published book FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings will be available at QUIVER

....................................................................................................................

SEEKING THE LIGHT

Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

In this new painting [above] the female figure, representing Mother Nature, seems to attract light. He arms and feet erupt with vascular-like trees connecting her to whatever energy it is that propels life.  

This painting is one of three 36 x 36 cm paintings in QUIVER. The other two paintings are below.

 Out There Somewhere Oil on linen 36 x 36

The Beginning Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm

I will upload photos of the show when it is hung!

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

BECOMING

                                                 Becoming Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm 2010 SOLD


BECOMING

The painting above is called Becoming. It is the one I referred to in my last post...the woman with trees growing from her head, heart and feet. I mentioned I was painting an image about change.

This painting is inspired by my enjoyment reading Dr Norman Doidge's book 'The Brain That Changes Itself'. I have mentioned this book in a few of my recent posts. I am re-reading it for the second time...but it is taking awhile because I am going to bed so late.

What inspired me was the over arching idea that change is not necessarily something that happens to us...we can make it happen as well. Change is a constant whether we precipitate it or not. So, if we are in a process of constant change we are constantly in a process of becoming. Now, you might ask, 'Becoming what?' I do not know the answer to this question, but I suspect if I did then the process of becoming would be thwarted by prescription and therefore not reach whatever its ultimate force is. All I know is, that if I can do things to ensure my becoming is generally positive I will do these things! Even, if we can make change happen, we cannot minutely control the outcomes of that change. Indeed, I doubt that the change itself can be completely pre-described. I gather from reading 'The Brain That Changes Itself' that many programs designed to fix or improve a disability or problem have often had other positive outcomes which were not initially conceived.

So, as I was thinking about change, an image of a woman with trees growing from her feet, hands, head and heart came to me. I could 'see' her before I even painted her. The tree is my much loved transcultural/religious tree-of-life and in this image represents life's inevitable and constant change, whether it be for one individual or for a group...and even possibly all of humanity. The tree represents growth and a connection to the earth as well as a conduit to the universe and Heaven. The tree can connect with the substance of materiality as well as the substance of the non-material. The tree changes as it loses its leaves, but each cycle of growth and change represents a process of becoming.

When my children were little I read that small children should not wear shoes too early or too much, because the physical experience of feeling on the soles of feet provides information which helps a child to develop healthily in regards to balance, proficiency with walking, running and so on. This made sense to me, so I made sure my children went barefoot whenever it is possible. In Norman Doidge's book he makes a comment about older people and their habit of looking at the ground when they walk. This is because as we get older we rarely go barefoot...well unless you are an artist working from home like me! By not going barefoot and not allowing our feet to experience different surfaces and feelings, we have tourniqueted the natural flow of information to our brains and the return messages which would give us more confidence to walk with our heads held high. Our brain maps for walking confidently are diminished by wearing shoes all the time! Long story...I know...but this gave me the idea of painting my lady with trees growing from her feet.

Knowledge gained via our feet can help us hold our heads high, meaning we are not watching the ground in case we fall or trip. This means we see more of our surroundings, the world around us and importantly we 'see' ourselves in relation to the world...being a part of it, rather than missing out because we need to look at our feet to know where to put them! Kinda nice to think that by going barefoot we might have more chance to witness our own becoming in the world!



TREE SYMBOLISM

My BLOG friend Fred who writes this great BLOG http://www.moneyplusthoughts.blogspot.com/ sent me a link to another BLOG post about the Holiday for Trees or Tu BiShvat holiday, a Jewish celebration. Tree symbolism is incredibly interesting and I have noticed on a few other websites that tree symbolism is now being linked to environmental issues...not surprising really. Symbols do 'say' more that words can describe!
http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2010/01/tu-bishvat-symbolism.html

Here's a link to a short intro to Mayan tree symbolism:
http://www.buriedmirror.com/yaxche.htm

And two links about Islamic tree symbolism:

http://www.sol.com.au/kor/15_02.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/Islam-encourages-us-to-conserve-and-protect/articleshow/5347547.cms

There are so many sites to visit to learn about tree symbolism. But, as I have written before...it just reinforces my belief that we are all forever connected through archetypal symbols because they are transcultural and transreligious. Something about them chisels away at our subconscious where a 'knowing' and resonance exists.

Cheers,
Kathryn

LIFEBLOOD

Click on the painting and you will see $ signs! In a previous post 'Currency' I have written about my interest in the uses of this word with regards to money and water. http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/currency.html

I have called this painting 'Lifeblood' because water is the Earth's 'blood'. Rivers, oceans, streams, underground aquafers, rain, melting ice are all parts of the visceral and vascular system which assists in keeping our planet and us alive. Yet, water has become a commodity to be bought and sold, borrowed, harvested, allocated and litigated about. There is a monetry value to water and its flow which, if monitored appropriately, will ensure appropriate use of water for all people. However, can we be sure that this will happen?

So...in this painting I have created a vein of red $ signs in the sky. From this vein rain falls in two strips. This rain is also painted with $ signs. I have painted the rain in strips because when I lived in western Queensland I was always intrigued by the appearance of rain in the distance. Driving west from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi I often witnessed strips of rain on the far horizon and hoped the rain was falling on Goondiwindi! This kind of hope is deeply felt by country people.

I have also painted the dammed and underground water and the surrounding soil in $ signs. This is commenting on the 'value', use and diminishment of underground water. The depletion of underground aquafers causes salination and thus the loss of soil richness, subsequently causing land degradation and loss of income as well as sustainability.

Whilst this painting comments on water and its 'value' it also contibutes to my interest in perspective. Like many of my recent paintings this painting, when viewed from a distance, does not reveal its details. It looks like some sort of ambiguous but vast landscape. However, up close
the viewer can see the details of the $ signs and starts to question the 'big picture'. In a way the movement back and forth to view the painting [mirroring how an artist works] is a metaphor for contemporary life living locally in an increasingly globalised world.

I have previously uploaded this painting, but since then I have worked on it a bit more.

Lifeblood Oil on linen 90 x 200 cm 2008/09.