Original artwork description:

I work on many pieces at once layering textures, materials, figures, collage and writing. I have no preconceived notion of what I make; I allow the work to arrive and tell its story. There are many overlapping narratives in this painting and all are added at different time periods. The conversation of text to image in this piece begins as usual with a figure and in this case, the model wore giant black swan wings. I saw a face in the wings and brought that forward. The face seemed to behold something horrible which led me down a dusty trail in the Southwest desert where Albuquerque, my home, is still entangled in its Wild West mythology and historical inaccuracy. I began to incorporate found photos of pioneering women and old barns. These tough women reminded me of my roots planted farther up north in the Mid-west farming country of Minnesota. My ancestors, “settlers” of Mankato, passed down heroic tales of escaping an “Indian” uprising, but the true story is one of betrayal and genocide. What do we settle for when only part of the story is told?

Materials used:

acrylic, paint, collage, photos, china marker, pen, pencil, marker, gel medium, glue,

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