Openings Connecting: remembering the river

Monday, October 12, 2009

remembering the river

the river ran wide
in back of the farm
where i grew into me

12 comments:

Caterina GiglioOctober 12, 2009 at 7:13 PM
yup those michigan rivers! we had one out back too and where it overflowed each year, we planted the corn in the muck and it was the sweetest corn ever! your photos are gorgeous!
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LawendulaOctober 12, 2009 at 9:53 PM
Wonderful pics.
Sitting next to rivers makes one calm and relaxed.
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UnknownOctober 13, 2009 at 9:46 AM
beautiful poem ...... the pictures are just bursting with unexpected color - esp the top one with the snatches of blue sky and green tree reflected water. It's all such a beautiful tribute to what grew you :)
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ArtPropelledOctober 13, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Lovely photographs, Nancy. I relate so well. I also grew up with a beautiful river flowing through the farm.
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Renee HowellOctober 13, 2009 at 4:46 PM
I love your poetry in motion. And LOVE the first photo - it's a fav of mine.
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NancyOctober 13, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Hi, just stopped by from the Ball, and I must say, I love picture and the words are perfect.
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Blue Sky DreamingOctober 15, 2009 at 8:32 AM
This is a beautiful photo of "your" river...what a wonderful experience growing up with this in your life.
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rivergardenstudioOctober 16, 2009 at 9:33 AM
What a beautiful river... and how important it is a part of how you "grew into"...you. And your paintings are dreamy and magical. Roxanne
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RosieKOctober 19, 2009 at 3:39 AM
Beautiful autumn reflections!! and re your previous post - you are an artist!! Artists just practice all their life! that's why they call it 'their practice'!
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nancy neva gaglianoOctober 19, 2009 at 6:13 PM
rambling rose, the previous post is a counter of sorts to one i did august 13th, "i am an artist" when...so many ways to practice.
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SethOctober 25, 2009 at 7:19 PM
That first photo has such beauty in it. And "where I grew into me" is such a poetic phrase to me.
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UnknownNovember 22, 2009 at 6:47 AM
I found your blog from Robyn, over at Art Propelled. Just wanted to say I am enjoying it! Love that top photo.
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FOUR DIRECTIONS/FOUR VISIONS: Two Graces: First showing for me, JUNE 3, 2011

With no directions home, I found Taos in the late 60s. It felt like home immediately. It still does. I know this sentiment is familiar to countless others.

The mountain stopped me in my tracks, and I stayed for several years. Since that time, I circle back annually.

To me, that circle is symbolic of this body of work at Two Graces. This is a time in my life when I've been fortunate enough to experiment with art making. Not surprisingly, I found myself drawn back to the images in the Ektachrome slides that I'd taken in the early 80s of Chaco Canyon, the San Francisco de Asis Church, dusty roads, and the ever changing skies of Northern New Mexico. The spirit of this adobed land lingers in my core and manifests itself within these works.

This past Michigan winter was spent creating enlarged negatives from my thirty year old slides, pulling part of my past into the present via today's tools of scanner and computer. Using traditional silver-gelatin darkroom processes, these resurrected and modified negatives acquired a new life. The majority of these prints are the result of this mediated reincarnation.

The smaller images took me into photographic processes from the mid-1800s. These handmade platinum/palladium prints are created coating vellum, for translucency, with these metal salts and exposing them to ultraviolet light. They are then bathed in the alchemy of the darkroom. The tonal qualities are unique in each print. Finally, 24k gold is layered to the backs of the prints, emanating the warmth, glow, and depth of these beloved places.