Lost in Translation
My artwork continues to be a self-portrait, an ongoing narrative that searches for meaning and answers to the forces that have governed my life.
In my current images of myth and reality--on themes of sexuality and spirituality, I examine more fully what it is to be a woman in this world of absolutes and contradictions.
In my current images of myth and reality--on themes of sexuality and spirituality, I examine more fully what it is to be a woman in this world of absolutes and contradictions.
In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."
