Here is some info...

I don't have any imagery for you right now but here is a little of what I have collected as background and press release information for my piece...

Merissa Sincavage Seminara

"Multi-Tasker Mother"

Strength, Warmth, Energy, Energy, Energy

Silk, Acorns, Buttons, Wood, Leaves?, Wool, Cotton, Stainless Steel, Dyes, Pigments, Wax...

There are 2 components to this piece.

Both of them have objects, existing or created, symbolizing "strength, warmth and energy".

The hanging piece is a mobile representing air, heaven, future, creativity, thoughts, imagination.

The standing portion stands for earth, bound, stable, balance, grounded.

The piece developed from reading the myth of Persephone... and looking at the balancing she had to do between the worlds... heaven, earth, underworld. This resonated with me. I feel like a mother/multi tasker has this kind of juggling act.

masculine vs feminine and materials--

Well, my work tends to be very autobiographical. I seem to sick to what I know and who do I know best? myself (most of the time), a women, artist, mother, human... this is the work that I always seem most proud of and connected to. I love to make beautiful things and for others to view them the same but life is not always pretty and so neither is my art.

This piece is still very much about me but is outside my comfort zone in the fact that it is three dimensional. I tend to work 2D sticking to one surface and building on it in layers through surface design techniques. Strength, Warmth, Energy, Energy, Energy emerged on its own ,seemingly to me in the beginning. But has come to make some sense as a wade through all the materials I have been drawn to, the techniques I am employing, and life I have been experiencing. The materials have been chosen based on intrigue and my necessity to create objects that are symbols for key things in my life. These symbols are my own creation but with the knowledge that some of these objects already have strong symbolism, which I will try to be build upon and grow. I am going to use my objects to build three dimensional layers to stick to something that is familiar to me.

The piece grew from one piece, the mobile(1st component) to two after laboring over the idea of cyclical life. Persephone's life and how cyclical it was made sense and seems to be how most life is lead now. Day to day, beginning to end, life to death. Everything seems to have a start and and a finish. I wanted to be able to illustrate that idea in this work. It will be present in the gradation of color. This is something that is very obvious to me in the change of the seasons. Color changes, temperature shifts, life/daily chores change... another link to the myth of Persephone and and her seasonal life changes.

The grounded piece(2nd component) is an extension to the idea of cycle. The color gradation will continue through this piece linking them together but in some ways it does have a masculine feel to it. It will hold objects that are heavier, darker and more masculine in feel. It is more about strength, which in society tends to be a more masculine trait. So, that is my only link to masculine I am feeling/ feeling at the moment but my work really tends to evolve, especially this piece, so more may come up. I will let you know.

I hope you were able to take something away from all of this and make sense of it.

Happy New Year!

A rose by any other name....

Gearing up for the holidays makes me ponder what life was like at different times in history. I often find my mind wandering to some of those classic stories that involve Christmas. I think of "A Christmas Carol" as many do, but oddly, my mind always wanders back to the holiday scene in "Little Women". There was a war going on, but despite a missing patriarch, life seems to have moved on like normal. It makes me reflect on how in many was, despite the fact that we are in what appears to be a never ending war in Iraq & Afghanistan, life here on the homefront seems to continue on, much as it ever has.
With that, I've written my description of the portrait series. Here it is for you all
-Meghan

Archetype: Women of War
A series of 5 Portraits-

1. Revolutionary War- Water Woman, 2010
cotton & synthetic fabric, poly fiber batting, thread
2. Civil War- Bandage Rollers, 2010
paper, cardboard & glue
3. World War I- Red Cross Nurse, 2010
cotton embroidery floss, canvas
4. World War II- Factory Worker, 2010
wool yarn
5. Current Iraq War- Soldier, 2010
rose petals on canvas

A series of 5 portraits showing working women of character during great wars in American history. A Woman's place in history has always been defined by what they were allowed to do; their skills were valued differently by the times in which they lived. Each portrait is created using a traditionally feminine craft technique: quilting, quilling, embroidery, knitting and pressed flowers. These skills and pastimes were appropriate for a girl of good upbringing, one who shows her obedience to family and country by doing what is proper. Her value to society was defined by how well she could behave in social situations, and how masterfully she could preform these feminine skills. By using these craft forms as the processes for creating the portraits of these women who stepped outside societal boundaries in times of crisis, women who wanted to give to their country and it's fighting men a helping hand, the artist hopes to highlight the fact that despite historical leanings, women have been contributing members of the war front since the beginning. This culminates in the final portrait of the female soldier in the current Iraqi war. This piece is made using pressed rose petals, which, depending on color have specific meanings and were a way for a man to show his feelings for a lady without speaking the words. Here, being paired with the strongest image of a woman's role in war, of being an equal to the men around her, here she is made from petals, she is truly as delicate as a flower, and as beautiful as a rose.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Carolyn Turgeon

The One Stone Collective at the Grail in Cornwall-on-Hudson Announces Its Inaugural Art Show:

COMPASS,

Opening July 27, 2009

12 - 6pm at the Grail in Cornwall-on-Hudson

The One Stone Collective is made up of nine women artists from around the country working in various media. For their first show, they’ve collaborated to create fine art pieces around “compass,” an intentionally broad theme that has inspired work as disparate as enormous denim sails covered with ancient mariner imagery, industrial felt strips looped to create a series of spirals that “scribe a compass,” an oversized knotted net inspired by traditional red map lines, a Byzantine-style self-portrait on lacquered silk, a mechanized gyroscope attached to a Greek-style bust, a written fairytale about a girl with “a compass for a heart,” and a papier-mache and ceramic-shard winged sculpture inspired by this story.

Sponsored by the Grail, an international organization with a long history of providing spaces for women to create art, and held at the Grail in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York (located at 119 Duncan Avenue), the show is site-specific. The Grail at Cornwall is situated on 45 pristine acres in the Hudson River Valley. Nets will be draped through honey locust trees in the woods, artwork will swing in the archway of early 1800s ruins, sails will hang in one of the meadows on the property, sculptures will be displayed in outdoor garden shed, and small pieces will jut from holes in the oak trees along the path that leads to the ruins. The June 27 opening will feature live music provided by GO GIRLS NYC and sponsored by Imperial Guitar & Soundworks of Newburgh, a reading by Collective member Carolyn Turgeon, a raffle and prizes, and other activities. The exhibit will remain up until mid August.