Awakening Breath...The Finished Work

Awakening Breath, no. 1

Awakening Breath, no. 27

As promised, I am posting a couple of the finished pieces from Awakening Breath, the collaboration exhibition with my husband Johntimothy Pizzuto.  These are just quickie photos--sorry not the best views.  There were thirty pieces in all...in many ways the same and in many ways different.  Once we finally had a beginning vision of the work, we knew each would be a triptych, something resembling an altarpiece in shape.   Johntimothy created the side panels and I did the center panel.  Johntimothy is a printmaker, so the sides are built up with layers of silkscreen texture and pattern at the base, then lots of rubber stamping, both with and without stencils.  Actually those strong organic shapes that float in the space on the sides are made with stencils he carefully cut out from each of the shapes I created in the middle panels.  The middle piece has a pattern of pencil on top of blackboard paint, layered with another pattern of an organic seed or cel-like shape and the surrounding field of linework  in ink.  Each "roof" has a layer of a different pattern in pencil with an ink and acrylic drawing on top.  That's a short description of the pieces that seem to have been stepping stones for both of us.  As I mentioned earlier, we wanted to embody subtlety through layering and pattern, along with a meditative quietness.  We won't see these pieces installed until we go out to take the exhibition down at the end of September.  

I think for me, this work was very important and brought me closer to a place of letting go of the image.  I found that I was so at peace and in a flow while drawing the underlying subtle pattern in pencil and then the seeds and the surrounding lines that seem to evoke a zen garden.  There is a part of me that has been wanting to let go of the image, but another part that is tied to creating some tangible link to our daily lives through a familiar image.  But so much that I need to say is all about the intangible, the fleeting...perhaps I'll now speak in the language of abstraction.  Let's see what unfolds from here....I have a feeling it will be scrolls....

The Same But Different

"Awakening Breath" in process

"Awakening Breath" in process

Thought I'd share some of the work in process for our collaborative show, Awakening Breath.  These are some of my center panels laid out on the table in different stages.  The final pieces will be triptychs, with Johntimothy, my husband, doing the side panels.  We've talked a lot about meditation, the breath, reflection, quiet, balance....all manner of issues related to trying to live in a mindful way.  There is a lot of drawing on my pieces, a layer of different patterns in pencil and then ink drawing on top.  What we realized after my last finished Fork in the Road work, shown in  an earlier post, is that there is a feeling of a zen garden....a sense of quiet, but with energy flowing and that idea was the springboard for our collaborative show.  We've also talked a lot about how the pieces might appear to look the same, but we know and we are hoping that it is a reminder for us all that there is much to be seen in subtle changes and subtle differences.

One of our favorite moments in a film comes in "Smoke", co-written by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster.  In that scene Harvey Keitel's character is showing a photo album to the character played by William Hurt.  The album contains all the photos in chronological order, that he has taken from the same spot in front of his smoke shop, at the exact same time, every day for years.  He calls it his life's work. As William Hurt slowly turns the pages, he says that they're all the same. Ah, but they are not the same at all.  Different people are passing by, or perhaps the same people are seen in different photographs, thinking different things, perhaps smiling in one and not in another, the light is different, the seasons are different.....in short, everything is different as the drama plays out day after day.  I absolutely love that, in a way I can't describe.

Day after day, our lives look very much the same, but each day is different and the accumulation of them builds a history that adds up to a life.  Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to share more pictures as the work unfolds.  Tuesday is our deadline and we still have quite a way to go with these 30 pieces!