Here's The Plan
16" x 20" 
painted paper collage on matboard

Of Unknown Origin
16" x 20"
painted paper collage on matboard

 I have two pieces to show this time!

The first piece was inspired by having just read the book, Fantastic Voyage, by Isaac Asimov. Science fiction was never my thing so reading this book was a little odd. It was referenced though in another book that I was reading and so I thought I would give it a try. I really enjoyed it and used some of the imagery in the first piece shown. If you haven't read the book, the premise is that a team of scientists gets injected into a man's body in order to "operate" on an inaccessible clot. They travel through the circulatory system, through the heart, into the lungs and eventually make their way to the brain where they blast the clot with a laser. Improbable but very fun. I was taken with the idea of the floating red blood cells, the various organs, pathogens, and the general mayhem and resolution that ensued. Even if this subject matter isn't your cup of tea I hope the piece still provides visual interest.

The second piece was a kind of carryover from the first piece. I referenced the brain idea again, added some general DNA shapes, some creatures, some white blood cells engulfing pathogens, and included some flies. The flies are in reference to Thomas Hunt Morgan. He did groundbreaking research in genetics, showing that genes are located on chromosomes and that genes can be linked, meaning that they can be inherited together. It was an expansion of Mendel's work.(Mendel was the monk who studied peas and wrote about heredity.)  I also included some molecule shapes. They are made up compounds of course. Did you know that all molecules are composed of atoms? A compound is composed of different molecules. Not all molecules are compounds however. A molecule can be composed of only one type of element, such as hydrogen gas. Very tricky for someone that barely passed chemistry in high school!

I won't ever be the type of artist who makes work that is socially significant or that has a political impact or is groundbreaking or life changing. That isn't who I am. Hopefully, though, the pieces are interesting enough to look at and to spend time thinking about in their own right.

I will say however that I am always interested in some idea or topic. When I work, I am normally considering something. For these two pieces, I thought about man's unending need to learn, advance, and to manipulate his environment. We don't ever seem to be able to stop wanting to get to the bottom of things. That's fine (and necessary) but the results can be catastrophic. Knowledge is critical but it can be abused. One day, it will be our undoing. 

On that note, thanks for reading.
Libby
​email: [email protected]

The Case of The Wandering Organ
16" x 20"
painted paper collage on matboard

I think I have spent too much time watching Perry Mason and reading Nancy Drew! The piece above is based on several different ideas that came together. Here they are in no particular order. Tell me what you think.

Quite a few years ago I had an acquaintance tell me that they had been to their naturopath for a particular problem. The practitioner noted that my friend's organs were out of alignment. The naturopath proceeded to realign and move her organs back into place. (For the record, I did ask my own doctor about this. It isn't possible of course for your organs to "move around" on their own. They are "fixed" in place by all sorts of things-muscle, tendons, ligaments blood vessels, etc. They are of course responsive to our own movements such as our breathing but in general, your liver is not going to end up right next to your bladder.) 

So, that was one thing on my mind. The memory was prompted by something I had read concerning the location of the soul in our bodies. Where does the soul reside? Through the ages there has been much speculation: the heart, the liver, the brain, etc. Where does your soul live (and the subsequent question of what happens to it when you die)? I am a literal person so all of a sudden I pictured organs and your soul taking a trip through your body, willy nilly, not anchored to any other part of your anatomy. 

Ultimately though, while making the piece, I reflected on just how astonishing it is that we exist at all, given all of the things that must come together in order for us to live, wandering body parts notwithstanding. So many things can (and do) go wrong. To say that the generation of life is a complex process is a whopper of an understatement. All of the events that must happen so that any creature can be born is really beyond my comprehension. There is no way I could make a piece of art that expresses my amazement at what it really means for us all to be alive (and to be dead as well). Instead, I will settle for putting together shapes and colors and telling myself a few stories as I go along. It's all I can do. 

Thanks for reading,
Libby
Feel free to send me an email:
[email protected]