Arrow and Time
On display in the South Gallery at Columbia Art League
10.6.26 - 10.31.26
ARROW & TIME
When I look at my most serious work from the past forty five years, it is without exception, a celebration of the power of women. Those honored in my work are both ancient and contemporaries…gentle and resilient…loving and fierce…nurturing yet suffer no fools. They are women warriors.
The Cherokee WARWOMAN was the inspiration for my MFA work. Warwomen emerged regularly in this matriarchal society, and their stories are woven into the history of my beloved Appalachia. Cherokee women participated in battles, traditionally earning the revered title Beloved Woman (Ghigau) or Warwoman. The bravest and wisest held seat on the General Council. In this body of work, my metaphor for the power of women is the arrow pointing skyward. The arrow pointing toward the earth is my metaphor for the loving, nurturing, birthing aspects of women…the vessel.
An unexpected surprise in the early 2000s occurred when a DNA test linked my lineage to that of a Viking Warrior, made famous when her grave was discovered in the 1880s. Archeologists mistakenly thought her to be a male warrior because she was buried with her weapons and horses. Research in 2017 revealed the warrior was indeed a woman and this ancient connection renewed my interest in the power of women. This “Birka” grave in Sweden helps reveal a social structure where Viking women held roles of military leaders and strategists.
While viewing this work, one might enjoy looking for the aggressive triangles pointed skyward and the nurturing vessel triangle pointing toward the earth. The numerous spheres are moons symbolizing a woman’s cycle, nature’s tides, the juxtaposition of light and dark, and the divine feminine. In addition, aspects of my personal aesthetic include an obsession with movement, color gradation, an elongated format, figure/ground ambiguity, and a geometric visual language. These themes and motifs have beenpresent in my work for over 40 years and are part of the visual language that defines a Hyatt piece.
