Coming Back to Art
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I didn’t go to art school. But because my parents went through RISD, I had their influence and example. Working as a nurse in a clinic in Woonsocket, I could get to my art only every so often. We make our priorities. I would go years without doing art, telling myself I’d have time when I retired.
In 2020, the brutal first wave of COVID shut down the world. I volunteered for testing and vaccinations with the
RI Medical Reserve Corp and the
Camp St. Community Center. During that year of stress and loose ends, I resolved to return to my art, although empty of creative ideas. I’m good at drawing, but I had no inspiration as to what to draw. I might have bought adult coloring books, but I was too proud for that.
Instead, I began to pay attention to geometry. I saw that it is everywhere: hubcaps, flowers, crystals, architecture, traffic signs, quilts, mosaics, to name a few. I copied the beautiful and challenging knotwork designs from the book Celtic Methods of Construction and then started to make my own. I had found a way, after all, to appreciate the beauty all around us and put it into art.
From places of worship to Indian basketry, you see beautiful geometric designs built into life. Pentagons are in our civic emblems, badges, buildings, and flag.
Shapes have meaning depending on context. Geometrically, odd numbers are more dynamic, even ones more stable. I was drawn toward odd-pointed stars, especially the 7-sided heptagram, which you don’t see around much.
Harkey collection There is a practice called Sacred Geometry. Although making my art has become a spiritual practice, I call what I do “Coffee Geometry” — crafting my art for coffee money. I’m cautious of seeming to peddle spirituality. The buyer will find their own meaning in my pieces. It makes me happy when I can make something with beauty and harmony. Young people exposed to geometry could become curious about math, leading to things like carpentry and engineering or even how to aim spaceships in the right direction.
Process
My father gave me an electric miter saw to make my frames. Fearing I’d cut my fingers off, I was afraid to use it.
You see, during my years of nursing, I faced many scary situations. The tool became a convenient focus for my fears in the darkness of this fall and winter. Once again, I took instruction from YouTube videos where men in garages explained things. So, I began using a chart that showed me how to make a frame with the number of sides I wanted.
My tools for drawing geometric shapes are a ruler, triangle, and compass. YouTube videos show how to do this. I can draw any polygon I want with a compass well-placed sequentially on a circle. Recently, I bought a used Spirograph toy, and I’m playing with that, too.
This is copper tape, with one side adhesive. If you’re thinking of going to the hobby store for a project, consider going to the hardware store first. You might find something that is really unusual that inspires you, and lets you do something nobody else is doing. I go to Ace Hardware down the street and buy screws and tacks and things. Some screws have heads that are 6-pointed-star. You’ll see them in my work.
University of New Mexico I have been interested in painting on metal since seeing Retablos, a sacred Latin American art. Retablo paintings are lodged in shrines to petition a saint or to honor a favor granted.
As much as possible, I use materials I already have. My father had given me sheets of aluminum he used for offset printing, some still showing the shadow of text and pictures.
I have a lot of dyes because I used to be a photo-retoucher. These are alcohol-based dyes, really great on non-porous surfaces like aluminum. I made many paintings on my father’s plates.
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Artwork photographs by Nancy Green
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I’m a packrat, and I have 50 years of art supplies I bought or were given to me by my father, mother, and sister who is the artist
Kathy Hodge. We both did art when we were children. We’re all artists when we are children. But she has stayed faithful to it with much work and sacrifice.
It’s a cliche that ‘life gets in the way,’ but that doesn’t explain why so many of us who enjoyed making art when we were young are unable to sustain a practice. I asked my neighbor, the lifetime artist and teacher
Ruth Dealy, “If you were an artist and you let it go, can you ever get it back?” I expected she would say that the muse won’t bother with you unless you are faithfully working
all through the years. But what she said was, “I don’t believe that. I’ve seen it in my students who return to art after years of doing other things.” I’m pleased to share those encouraging words with you. Art has saved my sanity in many ways during my years of nursing, and I’m grateful to find purpose and community in art now.
Making Community
I realized that working alone is limiting and that to do my best, I need a community. I’ve been fortunate to connect with other artists. A notice at the Rochambeau Community Library directed me to a group named Art Motivation, which convenes monthly at this location.
“The Art Motivation Group creates a receptive space at Rochambeau Library for artists of any age. At a meeting, our attendees each write a word intended to provoke discussion. We collect them and the newest person pulls one out, and that becomes the inspiration for approaching a participant’s artwork. For me, it's about the small-community feel of finding something — the fire — in people who live around me. Although I am a practicing, exhibiting artist, without the Art Motivation Group I would not have as much appreciation as I do for the effect that artists can have on their fellows. We, the Art Motivation Group, show that we’ve got it in us to create delight out of our meetings and word inspirations.”
Olajide Adeleke, Art Motivation
Nancy’s artwork at Wanskuck Library As a volunteer in Providence Village, I was invited to extend my community once again by sharing my work with you in Village Voices.
Libraries and Art
Wanskuck Community Library “During the 2019 Urban Librarians Conference in Brooklyn, NY, the keynote address was made by sociologist and scholar of urban studies, culture, and media, Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People. Speaking about the role of public libraries in democratic societies, he stressed that all people, not just the affluent among us, deserve opportunities to succeed. Wanskuck Library is situated in an underserved community. I firmly believe that through access to art exhibits and access to read freely, our patrons gain a critical cultural point of reference. Librarians create a space for the imagination and connect their patrons’ souls to the stars!”
Denise Brophy, Wanskuck Librarian
Denise Brophy, Wanskuck Library “For older people, especially widows, widowers, and those who live alone, libraries are places for culture and companionship, through book clubs, movie nights, sewing circles, and classes in art, music, current events, and computing.”
“For many seniors, the library is the main place they interact with people from other generations. It’s a place where they can volunteer and feel useful. It’s where they can be part of a diverse and robust community, not a homogeneous one where everyone fears decline.”
Palaces for the People, 2018, Eric Klinengberg, p 37-38
Artist Portraits, Robert W. Easton, an Artists Loop exhibition at Wanskuck Community Library “The Artists Loop is a program founded and developed by Pnina Pressburger to curate displays and events, to connect artists with the public for the purpose of offering face-to-face space for conversation, to exchange feedback, and to challenge each other. Participants gather to share work and to talk about art. Invited artists make presentations and share their experience as artists.”
Pnina Pressburger, The Artists Loop
Village Voices is conceived, recorded, and edited by John Harkey, Providence Village.
Jim Fredricksen is the web page designer.