Riding the Air

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

--Toni Morrison, “Song of Solomon”

Accept, be, surrender—all of these terms imply that there are times that we

rest, integrate, become dormant and that we will be given great, effortless power.

Sometimes we spend so much effort trying to become, resisting, pushing, forcing

that we lose our sense of who we truly are. I want to dance like a maple seed,

turning and whirling on the wind, coming round right.

This piece started out by placing a finger labyrinth under wet paper and doing a rubbing with a brayer. This particular labyrinth is is one that I really love, called “The Dancing Woman”.

I wanted to play with color and added blue and silver acrylic (mixing them with water and pouring them onto the wet paper.) As the colors began to dry, I began looking for collage and black line images that I wanted to add, and came across the ballerina, the muse, the musician, and the line from Lord of the Dance. I wanted to create an image of feminine power, transfoming the “lord” of the dance to the “muse” of the dance. After completing the collage, I found the Toni Morrison quote. There is a wonderful translucent quality when the piece is held up to the light.

Barbara B 12.6.10