| General note | "Old True is inspired by my fascination with the storytelling culture and traditional music of western North Carolina. I studied the lyrics and imagery of old Appalachian ballads, drawing from many different songs to create a general impression of the tone and subject matter they typically contain. There is love, misfortune, betrayal, and violence aplenty in these stories, usually recounted in a hauntingly matter-of-fact way. I focused on certain motifs that enchant me - lily-white hands, fair maidens courted or done wrong, the oft-repeated request to 'make up my bed' in preparation to die of grief - and explored them by layering gouache, ink, and pochoir on translucent handmade paper. The paper was made in the Blue Ridge mountains at Penland School of Crafts, where I sought to capture the colors and forms of the mountains and skies that surrounded me in the pulp itself"--Artist's statement, Abecedarian Gallery website (accessed October 4, 2017) |
