"It Helps Sometimes To Take the Long View" by Joan Diamond

  “It Helps Sometimes To Take the Long View” is my piece that has been juried into Studio Montclair’s upcoming exhibit called ViewPoints.   The show runs April 23-May 27, 2022. You’re in luck:  the opening is today! 3:00-5:00 p.m.  And if you come you will be treated to the talents of 51 participating artists.   In case you live far from NJ, below I’ve included the artist statement which  accompanies this piece and will explain more to you about the work.

2021. Wool, Silk Noil, Silk Organza, Acid Dyes, Single Use Plastic Bags, Thread. 52"H x 48"W

Like tectonic plates shifting earth’s features, lockdown imposed a paradigm shift in the ordinariness of reality.  Globally, collectively, our nests of normalcy shape shifted, morphed by deadly contagion, violent storms effacing landscapes born centuries ago, and twenty six million refugees seeking shelter in other lands.  Science drew its blood along political fronts.

This backdrop of chaos, isolation, and uncertainty caused me to reconsider my own complacency, my ideas about things precious, and, of loss: of loved ones, but also loss of culture and landscape. The title of this piece references a healing prayer by Shamanistic teacher don Oscar Milo-Quesada.  

Shibori is a technique with which dye records the shape and pressure placed upon a cloth that has been manipulated-crumpled, squeezed, folded, etc.  It is a process akin to the recording of forming geology in that the agents of change are memorialized. Shibori seems an appropriate visual metaphor for the thing that is bigger than our lifetimes:  the passage of time.  Working with what was on hand in the studio, mountain ranges, plastic, and timeless Shibori mix to ask:  are we mindful enough of what we hold dear? 

Detail