Idaho Horses I

Idaho Horses I 

21x28" torn paper collage

As a collage artist, my subject matter has almost always been people.  I have worked as a special education teacher for over 25 years and continue to be fascinated by the process of learning and human development.  Classroom life has shaped my life.  The daily interactions I have with my students fill my life with stories and moments that reside deep within me.  They will always be there.  But something has changed recently.  Living here in Idaho for what has now been 8 years is moving me in a new territory, a surprising new path, something that touches on the unknown.

The Idaho landscape is beautiful, the flowers depicted in this collage are called Arrowleaf Balsamroot.  They scatter on the foothills near where I live.  Some can come close to waist height and almost act little suns that have dropped from the sky, bringing warmth to everything they touch.  When my hands carefully feel their petals, I sense a strong resiliency despite its thin layer.  The arrowleaf can withstand periods of drought and has shown to be persistent in making its appearance despite all conditions.  I wonder at what level does my own body hold these characteristics? what warmth do I hold within myself that others can sense?  What struggles will be outlived because I am made to withstand them?  

Horses are majestic.  Artists through time continue to depict them in all manner of life.  We are linked in cultural, economic, social, and spiritual ways to these amazing creatures.   They have a quality that makes them both in a sense domestic as we live with them, but also something quite different than us with their  animal wildness.  As an artist I am vastly enamored by their unmistakable contour and shapes that speak to movement.  A horse will never be drawn the same way twice.  The horses depicted in this collage come from this sense of awe and childlike admiration.  

Combining these two elements of where I live and my fascination with horses gives me knew ground to explore.  I don't know how far it will take me or how long I will walk along this path, but these initial steps in this new direction have shown to be full of creative potential.  Even as I write these words, my mind has wandered along this path and a new collage is beginning to take shape.