I promised my friend Angela Kennedy on the Creative Souls ning that one of these days I would actually explain what I was thinking while I was creating some of my wood panel collages. Usually, I prefer to let the viewer make up their own mind about what a piece might mean, I find it absolutely fascinating the way that our own life experiences, culture and personal bias colours the way we interpret elements of art, but I digress; which you've noticed by now happens often...


This latest piece titled "The Visionary" depicts a woman living in one time, but who is looking forward to another. She is trapped in her body and her mind is longing for something different. She is in such need for a different reality that she can clearly visualize it. This is emphasized through the addtion of the watch piece as a monocle. The chain creates a connection between the monocle and the door knocker at her chest (heart) further accentuating the depth and magnitude of her longing to be in a different time. The collage elements that form the woman's body heighten the awareness of a woman pulled between two places in time. The turban suggests an older form of dress, while the grungy ink covering her eye suggests a more recent time. The ink further represents her vision obscured by tears that trickle down her face as she is denied the existence she so desperately seeks. In the background collaged numbers and pencils represent a time that women were denied access to education. The antique brass compass and chest piece reminds of the same facts, contrasted by the metal plate from a microchip that brings us to modern times and the emancipation of women.

So that's my biased interpretation of "The Visionary" - now, what do you think it all means?