The work on this _log is work that relinquished in my show in Baltimore. I have a huge amount of work that has either been given away- sold or all ready gone away. This past few weeks my dreams have included images and text from a show I did in 1992 titled OUTSIDES. I did a two person show with my friend Mary Cecile Gee amazing artist- writer performer friend.. she was the artist who drove along with me to Baltimore. Well the story of this show is I was living in an amazing house/apartment in Pasadena California. This house was a home- it was enchanted, it had soul, presence and a voice. My intuition was everyone who moved in had deep family wounds that needed to be resolved and the house helped people heal those wounds. When the house did not like someone, the person moved right out. It all sounds silly as Im writing it, but It was a powerful place. It was in a part of pasadena that was still filled with used books stores and gay bars. The people in the house were varied artists- writers-actors quirky weird odd balls who made an amazing community and created family and tribe together….
There was a woman Barbara Jean who lived in of the apartments for over 30 years. She did not let many people in, but she was always kind to me. She died in her home and had no family or no family that cared to come and look over the objects and details of her life. I was deeply drawn into cleaning out her last belongings. Going through someones personal belongings is a very intense and sacred experience. I am going through it again with my mothers belongings. It was an honor to know Barbara Jeans life. I felt like I knew Barbara Jean through her items, her empty boxes, her erotic reading material, the tupperware, clothes, pots and pans. I had a deep feeling that I wanted to do show that would somehow honor Barbara Jeans life as well as transform and exorcise the space. We did the show in Barbara Jeans apartment. I used color and materials Mary Cecile.. cut crosses out of wood- made images and used Barbara Jeans items to create this show. Mary Cecile had a deep sensitivity towards everything in Barbara Jean’s home. We shared a beautiful experience preparing this show. I am sure that my recent dreams of this work is bringing me back to celebrating, communicating with and honoring the dead. I had a dream a few nights ago with african rhinos and hippos in a large grass field.. there were dead animals and new born animals.. it was a valley of death and re birth an ancient cycle that every human being goes through….In this dream I sat by a large river covered in salt but the river was partially made out of concrete spray painted white… the ancient nature mixing with the nature I have created for myself. When my mother was in the last month of her life her doctors said to her everyone dies – the time frame is different for everyone. It sounds so simple yet it is such a shared human experience…
