SANCTUARY 6

4 more children came this month

or were trapped on their way.

In the charcoal under-sketch
this boy seems safe.
But the rough twine…
…twisted across 
branded burlap bags…
…cut into the canvas where
the child’s hands can grab.
And now we see he is caught…
like the baby clutching ropes
last month.
Next, this preliminary sketch of a little girl
seems timeless in its softness.
Her friend’s worry seems eternal too.
Their faces are completed with pastel.
Then we realize:
The two little girls hold signs they made,
trying so hard for us to like them.
They break my heart.
Finally for this month,
a close-up of this sketch shows
how charcoal and pastel merge
to portray a baby…
…who only wants to go home
(seen in the preliminary cut-out canvas).
Mounted on a coffee bean bag,
Their story is revealed:
The baby doesn’t understand
why Mama took her and ran
with nothing but the clothes they wear
in search of sanctuary.
SANCTUARY 5
As I watched gallery visitors
experience the first part of “Sanctuary,”
I stared at these figures
hung together for the first time,
 and asked myself
who else would be on this journey?
I was taken by the baby with a bottle
and decided on a rhythm
of children without parents …
… expanding the emotional impact …
… as the tiny fingers
gripped the twine
that cut into the canvas.
The coffee bean bags will continue
as both background and trappings
until these travelers find sanctuary.
 
Creating this work took all I had in February.
Watch for more to come.
SANCTUARY 4
She wants to be pretty
in her necklace,
8 months pregnant,
laden with what matters
under her open hand:
her toothbrush and an old toy
for the baby
or herself.
She has no shoes but she’ll keep walking
to deliver the baby
in sanctuary.
He’s saying it will be better.
There are doctors where they’re going.
Her clasped hands
balance a bag of her dreams
with a map of the whole world.
*
 
Above the scenes
a baby’s brow is furrowed
as it drinks its bottle.
 
Beneath this child, the coffee bean bag
is stamped “PRODUCT OF HONDURAS.”
 
*
 
These are the final travelers for the installation at:
 
MuzeuMM Gallery
4817 W. Adams Blvd
Los Angeles 90016
Reception: Jan. 19 from 4 to 8 PM.
 
It’s a preview, around half of the 40 ft. exhibit you can see next fall.
 
The next blog in late January will show many of these installed!
SANCTUARY 3

Now come the men in this installation

carrying their children

to sanctuary.

This father will kneel on the gallery floor,

baggage on his back,

enfolding his child…

…both of them screaming.

His hands clutch the baby 

as its hand grabs onto him.

His watch stopped at 5:59 

when the guards took away his child…

…who dropped this toy dog.

The next man’s story is in his face

(drawn in charcoal and pastel on raw canvas

like most figures in this series).

He carries his daughter

wrapped in one of the burlap bags

used throughout this installation.

She’s cradled in his hands.

Her slim fingers hold the rough blanket 

as if it might protect her

But at the bottom of the canvas

he stands behind a barrier 

of jagged metal wires.

Will he find a way to bring her through

or is he handing her over 

for someone else to take 

to sanctuary?

SANCTUARY 2

When I saw these giant coffee bean bags

on “Artists Trading” at ShoeboxPR

I knew their texture could unite

the figures seeking sanctuary.

(Thank you, Virginia Broersma)

The impact will build as figures amass,

2 or 3 per month until summer.

In this one, a bean bag becomes

a basket carrying a child.

I wanted the woman to have dignity,

resolve, a way forward…

…without sentimentality.

So I gave her a cellphone.

(This detail also shows her dress

made of 2 dozen canvas pleats.)

The emotional heart is the baby

peeking out to a place

that might not welcome them.

Each piece is around 7 feet tall,

too big to photograph indoors,

so this one is on my backyard fence.

(The streaks are light coming through.)

The woman’s face – charcoal and pastel –

has a gentleness that belies her journey.

Combining drawing and pastel

allows the raw linen texture to show.

With one hand the child holds on to his mother…

…while the other hand, roped to the bag,

clutches a toy bunny.

Here is the emotional heart of this piece.

A ray of sun streamed over the fence

to guide them.

SANCTUARY 1

Please join me for a year-long journey

to “Sanctuary,” my 2019 series.

This one is different.

Previous shows had individual pieces.

Now a single 40-foot installation

will arise from many components.

Refugees seeking sanctuary compel this work.

The 2 and 3-dimensional figures

with their rough harvest sacks

will extend from the wall

on canvas draped ceiling to floor.

Moving along the wall,

the effect is immersion

as witnesses to the journey,

and also as seekers

as we walk beside the travelers.

The installation will hang in layers.

Furthest back are small silhouettes

peeking out at the top.

In front on the bottom

are the largest figures like

“Meditation on a Bird’s Nest.”

Each month I’ll post more

as they evolve to 20 or more figures

each carrying their valuables

— a honeycomb, a nest, a doll, a bowl –

to wherever they will find sanctuary.

Thank You

Artifacts of Grace

Aug. 28 through Sept. 22

Opening Reception: Sat., Sept. 1 from 6 to 9 PM

Artists Panel: Sat., Sept. 15 at 3 PM

String Quartet featuring Raya Yarbrough: Friday, Sept. 21 at 7 PM

TAG Gallery

5458 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Gallery Hours: Tues. through Sat. 11 AM to 5 PM

 

“Artifacts of Grace” will install Aug. 27

and the show opens the next day.

If you’ve followed my blog about making these

please come see them live.

 

Thank you to all the valued professionals

who help make my shows happen every year.

Kristine Schomaker (shoeboxpr@gmail.com),

my art manager — advisor – PR rep,

consulted on these works in studio visits all year.

As a curator, Kristine included me in other shows.

“In the Current” was at Blue Roof in June.

This porno peach was created for her

“Let Me Eat Cake” pop-up at POST in July.

Art critic Shana Nys Dambrot

saw the earliest 3 of this series in a preview

at MuseuMM in February.

She reminded me that the beauty of palm fronds 

need significant augmentation

to develop from found objects to art.

So I went back and did “Bionic Angel”

with detailed sculpture and copper wire.

It took months before I revisited the frond shape

in “Stay With Me,”

the most complex construction in the show.

Once the work is done, it has to go on a wall…

somehow…

Keith at Grayhorse Picture Framing

(310) 207-9172

creates ways of hanging things by magic.

Every year Monica Nouwens and Melanie Aron

photograph my new series, no matter how reflective

(monica.nouwens@gmail.comand info@melaniearon.com).

What you’re reading is posted by my web-master

Ching Ching Cheng (kinoko477@gmail.com)

who beautifully re-designed my website this year.

All my shows are perfectly installed by

Ewan Clow at Tartan Art Services

(tartanart@earthlink.net)

My brilliant daughter Raya Yarbrough

composed a song cycle for this show

and will perform with a string quintet

at the gallery Friday, Sept 21 at 7 PM.

If you choose one event, come to this!

Finally I’m grateful for Rakeem Cunningham

 TAG Gallery’s intrepid Director

who manages an astounding 36 solo shows per year

and keeps this immense gallery flourishing.

 

See you there!