Something I've had to embrace in the last few years is the duality of my personality and my interests: I love both art and science. Unusual? Maybe, although I find that quite a few scientists are also gifted creatively too. For many it's music, for others, poetry or creative writing. Some love photography of one form or another. And while sculpting or painting isn't common among scientists, it's my gift and I think it suits me.
My studies many moons ago at University were a combination of geology and archaeology. I love old stuff, I love trying to figure out old stuff, and I love Nature. I love knowing that I am just a small part of this world in both space and time. I guess science keeps me humble and allows me to connect with both people and Nature of the past.
But I'm artistic too - maybe moreso than I am analytical or logical. I think visually, in pictures, most of the time. Putting my thoughts into words can be a real challenge - and so I find it pretty amusing that I spend a lot of time these days writing about science. I started drawing when I was a wee lass - by the age of 6 I was much more accomplished at drawing than I was at speaking. I also wanted to be an archaeologist or a paleontologist. As a kid I just accepted my dual nature. It was me and I was OK with it.
But for most of my adult life I've felt as though I've needed to "be" either one or the other - artist OR scientist, creative OR analytical. I flip-flopped back and forth between art and science, probably to my own detriment. I always felt something was missing in my life as I embraced one side or the other. I felt split down the middle, and never really comfortable wearing either hat by itself. Adults can be so strange sometimes!
But a few years ago a friend of mine, Valencia B., a wonderfully spiritual Navajo woman, challenged me to merge the two side of my personality and see what resulted. Since then I've allowed them to come together in my "Fusion" series of paintings. This latest piece, "Lord of the Winds" is an example.
What does it mean to merge both sides of my personality in my art?
For me it means allowing my inner science geek to have fun: reading scientific journals, keeping up with a few scientists' blogs, visiting museums, volunteering on research projects, wandering around at ancient, sacred sites letting the stones speak to me, reading books....and then taking all of this, giving it a chance it to "stew" in my creative mind, and allowing elements to combine in ways my inner scientist wouldn't have dreamed of.
In the end, the artist always wins out.
The piece above had its beginnings by my stumbling across a line drawing of the Mayan God of the Wind in a book about the history of the Maya. Just a line drawing and a few words about the deity and the part he played in the culture. Months later, after I had "forgotten" about the line drawing (or thought I'd forgotten about it), this painting popped into my brain, essentially complete. I "saw" it there in my mind as if it were already done, a memory. The only thing I needed to do was paint it! Confusing isn't it, but that's how many of my paintings are inspired - I see them as finished products in my mind's eye.
I had to relocate the line drawing in the book and then, using photos of Mayan temples and sculptures as general reference as to what their ancient stonework looked like, I invented the background carving of the Wind God. So it's a "what might be," not a "what is." The carving itself doesn't exist as I've depicted it here (as far as I know it doesn't). I invented it to suit the painting that I wanted, or rather needed, to create. I wasn't constrained by something that already existed - I was free to invent the sculpture and its colors and patina to suit the finished painting.
The reference photo of the Mot Mot (the bird) was taken by Steve Jurvetson and I adapted it for my use here in this painting. I liked the Rufous Mot-Mot because its reddish colors echoed the warm peach tones and the purples I wanted to emphasize in the stone background sculpture.
Fusing the inner science geek with my artist continues to be both challenging and fun - and ultimately personally rewarding. This series of paintings is probably more "me" than any other paintings I've created, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Great post, Nancy!
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