Made It: Crooning Cottonwoods

This summer I had a piece in a show called Abstract Catalyst at the Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  

See that turquoise circle?  Read on to learn more about its birth.

For the background of this one, I applied paint both in a circular pattern (thanks to a lazy Susan) from the center out and then went over it with straight strokes.  All I knew is that I wanted something turquoise-y.

Beginning to lay down the orzos.

Finished product!
Crooning Cottonwoods
30 inch diameter
aluminum, paint, vinyl

detail

When I applied for this show, I titled it "Prairie Porthole," and that is what it showed under, but I regretted it.  I mean, the leafy-ness of the orzos did make me think of trees, obviously, and the color of the ocean, so I smushed them together.  But then I came across this stanza from the poem "Kansas" by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay:

  The wind would drive the glittering clouds,
  The cottonwoods would croon,
  And past the sheaves and through the leaves,
  Came whispers from the moon.

Pretty great, right?  A name change was required and I'm happy I did it.  It's a small thing but with abstract pieces titles can matter if you want to get a certain narrative started in the viewers' imagination.  I mentioned this in brief blurb in this post.

Also, the gallery used this piece on their promotional mailers, which I didn't find out about until it was returned to me (because it sadly was not purchased) and they included a postcard.