Day 246 of Year 2 (Actually Day 251)
Something very simple tonight. I'm connecting to a calm and peaceful internal energy while working and it's keeping me sane. I also just received a new ultramarine ink. The working properties are very different from my other inks so I'm exploring that too. Just finding normalcy where I can and looking for silver linings everywhere. I hope you are doing the same and if you can't right now that's okay too. Be kind to yourself. Sending you lots of love. xo
Day 245 of Year 2 (Actually Day 250)
Making landscapes puts me in touch with the spaciousness of the inner world. I find myself making these moonlit scenes when I feel confined. A lot of us are feeling hemmed in right now, but the inner world is a beautiful resource. There is so much to explore and know inside. Let us become explorers and adventurers. The interior world is as vast as our physical confinement is small.
Day 244 of Year 2 (Actually Day 249)
Working felt good tonight. I'm finally back in the flow after weeks of struggle. My show was an amazing experience and when it ended that body of work came to an end too. I tried so hard to plan so I wouldn't miss a beat between my show and getting back into the studio. And I did keep working, but the energy wasn't there and I battled. I know this but wasn't listening: you have to respect the cycle and where you are in it. You can't fight the emptying of energy. If you do everything stagnates and there is no room for the new. I resisted this truth and so I struggled. Finally I just accepted that I wasn't making my best work. It was ok, just a wave I needed to ride. After a while, things began to shift and I'm renewed and excited by my work again. Lately I see many artists posting that with social distancing and the extra time, they feel they should be working but somehow can't. It's a stressful time. If you can work great, but if you can't, respect your process. Given time things will shift, your tank will fill and your time will come. Be kind to yourself and this kindness will pass onto others too.
Technical note: I used the ghost image from last night's print under tonight image. Lately I've been taking ghost prints of everything for use later. So fun!
xo
I am so incredibly honor to be featured by Religion Unplugged, an award-winning, non-profit digital magazine about religion in public life around the world. They’ve done a lovely write up about me, “Inspired By Medieval Spirituality And Her Own Suffering, An Artist Exalts Transformation” and this wonderful video. here is an excerpt from the article:
Her pieces are imbued with religious imagery, though she doesn’t identify with any particular religion. She earned a degree in medieval spirituality after her parents said no to art school. Archibald’s art is inspired by Sufi poetry, Plotinus’ “The Six Enneads,” St. Bonaventure’s writings on St. Francis of Assisi and the illustrations of Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen, and blended with her own struggle-tempered spirituality.
Her body of work spans mediums. With paintings, sculpture, prints and novel creations featuring light and sound, she meditates on the multilayered nature of reality. Through all of it runs a theme of transformation — how suffering can be turned into something else; a creative flow that neither begins or ends with any one person. Her pieces make visible the subtle connectedness of everything, always in motion.
“That’s life,” she said. “Life is about creation and change.”
Thanks to Paul Glader and Micah Danney for producing this wonderful piece! 🙏
I am so honored to be part of Donna Bassin’s amazing project! Here’s what she says about it:
Since the election of President Trump, I have invited others to my studio to collaborate in the creation of their own portraits of resistance to the daily onslaught of obliteration and silencing.
https://www.donnabassin.com/Projects/My-Own-Witness/1
Here is Sybil's story and portrait:
“We can’t control what events happen to us, but we can control how we chose to meet them. I was diagnosed with Scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease, more than 20 years ago and given 5 years to live. Instead of letting the darkness of that diagnosis and its possible outcome rule me, I chose to focus on the present moment. There are times that have been tough and times I did not think I would see tomorrow. But over all my years of dealing with illness, the most important thing I've learned is that you can't let a possible future steal your life, your present moment. Don’t let the darkness paralyze you, put one foot in front of the other and you will find the light. You can do it.”
Day 243 of Year 2 (Actually Day 248)
Although we must stay inside, freedom is very much a state of mind as well.
This print is paired with:
A Ream of Paper
By Jane Hirshfield
Read it here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734433/pdf
First published in The Southern Review and now in her new amazing book Ledger https://amzn.to/38SU3MD (Buy poetry books! Supports poets!)
Day 241 of Year 2 (Actually Day 246)
The light is there even if we cannot see it.
Day 240 of Year 2 (Actually Day 245)
Every few months a self portrait comes up. Sometimes they are a way of learning something new about myself, sometimes they are to relieve feelings. Tonight's piece is the latter. Although I am generally feeling calm, it's hard not to pickup on all the anxiety in the air. It's important to acknowledge and embrace whatever it is we are feeling so it doesn't overpower us. This will pass, this will pass.
Jane Hirshfield just released a stunning new book of poetry called Ledger (https://amzn.to/33nvmXF). I highly recommend it. Tonight's poem, from Ledger, is excerpted from the poem Nine Pebbles. It is a work of deep calm and stillness. It helped me to touch this energy today.
This work is paired with "Retrospective" by Jane Hirshfield
You can find it here: https://briefpoems.wordpress.com/2023/03/06/pebbles-brief-poems-by-jane-hirshfield/
from Ledger https://amzn.to/33nvmXF
Day 239 of Year 2 (Actually Day 244)
Again with the keyholes! 😊 What are they all about? Symbols are complex and have many layers of meaning. Examining them is like peeling an onion and at different times, different meaning come clear. Tonight keyholes strike me as a pivot point between two worlds. There are so many doorways in life, so many times we must leave safety and be thrust into to the unknown. Keyholes promise transformation. Into even the darkest room they shed some light. We are all deep in the unknown right now, these keyhole remind me to look for signs of light.
Day 238 of Year 2 (Actually Day 243)
Poet Lynn Ungar posted a beautiful, comforting poem today on Facebook. Many people are scared and disturbed by the corona virus and all the cancellations and potential sickness. There is so much uncertainty and things feel out of control. I am in the high risk category, but I'm trying not to worry too much, just a little 🙂. Over all my years of dealing with illness, I've learned you can't let a possible future steal your present moment. We can’t control what events happen to us, but we can control how we chose to meet them. Ungar’s poem helped me today. I hope you find comfort in it too.
Pandemic
By Lynn Ungar
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love--
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live. --Lynn Ungar 3/11/20
This was published on Facebook, but checkout Ungar's book Bread and Other Miracles https://amzn.to/2IDCGov
Day 242 of Year 2
Day 236 of Year 2 (Actually Day 241)
Another evening of failed attempts on the etching press. But I'm really enjoying the learning curve. This monoprint is my favorite of the night. It has a lot of subtlety in color that isn't completely coming through in the photo. What I need is a full day to just play, to work, rest, absorb, and work again. Hopefully soon I'll be rested up enough to attempt this, my tank is a bit empty at the moment. Until tomorrow. xo
Day 235 of Year 2 (Actually Day 240)
Earlier today I did demo monotype of this image but the energy didn't feel complete so I tried again tonight. I find this image strangely stirring. Longing for the Unknowable yet fearful of it. xo
Meeting the Light Completely
By Jane Hirshfield
Read it here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/152783/meeting-the-light-completely
From October Palace https://amzn.to/2PWxEHC)
Day 234 of Year 2 (Actually Day 239)
Yesterday's spat with my new printing press took its toll on me. I woke up exhausted, that wheel is HARD to turn! So I decided to take a breath tonight and go back to a more traditional monotype. Here I'm experimenting with multiple thin layers of texture. Lately I've been taking ghost prints of everything I make, but often they are not strong enough to use a a completed piece. I saved them knowing they would be of use at some point. In this piece, there are three layers of texture- soapy ink I left on the plate, the ink I put down over it, and the ghost ink already on the paper. It's an interesting effect. I'm definitely going to play with this more. When in doubt, play. Until tomorrow... xo
Your Ocean
By Dorothy Walters
When you are in love
you do not say
you are near love
or beside love,
or seeking to know
love's truth.
You say you are in love.
Never mind how you got here.
This is your ocean.
Drown in it.
From A Cloth of Fine Gold https://amzn.to/3cLgQxp