"Know now that we have always been in danger in our separateness"

My friend and colleague Sharman Colosetti, was visiting yesterday, we are doing a peer study series on EFT,  I love learning with Sharman, she has an innate curiosity about life, a wise woman. Sharman was asking me about the story behind this painting, and said she loved hearing the stories behind my work. This painting is 5″ x 7 1/2″ and was done in 1986.  This was a time of change and growth for me, my online casino son was 8 years old, I was a single Mom and struggling to keep afloat.  After leaving my marriage, I started a house cleaning business, which I called my single Mom”s and artist”s survival kit.  I did well with my business and also was able to continue painting, as well as support myself and Zach. This was also a time for self-reflection and maturing spiritually, emotionally, for me.  This painting represents my experience at that time, the feeling of aloneness, reaching out for connection, feeling the response in community that sustains.  The two small figures at the bottom are copied from my son”s drawings of his “Ninja” figures, they represent for me,   and are totems of protection as seen through the eyes of my child. What Carl Jung, named, ” the luminous child”.

   The title is  a quote from :  Adrienne Rich”s, Dream of a common language (the title itself an affirmation) : ” Know now that we have always been in danger in our separateness”.

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