Paper Collages, 11" by 17"
A Fable:
Talia was born in the mystical landscapes of the country to her mother, with multiple lenses, and her father, who possesses a great builder’s mind. This curly-haired, blue-eyed girl grew up on a vivacious farm with many creatures.
Sitting on the porch on a cool spring day, an expected visitor fluttered around her, inviting her to the creek across the field, below the tall evergreens. Walking on the stones nearby, Talia lost her balance and glided in to the water. Nervous with fright, while underwater, small little people began to appear. Little fairies and figures danced in highly textured, colorful landscapes. These colorful worlds were previously unseen to Talia. There were new and exciting people made of plant textures, hazy blue indigo grass with glowing orange skies. Some people seemed otherworldly, with exaggerated features and elongated bodies. They were made out of flower patterns with gold wire for hair.
Amazed with these colorful little worlds that surrounded her, Talia began to release more and more bubbles from her mouth, as she was running out of air. She began to resurface quickly, but soon realized one of the little textured people found its way into a bubble and resurfaced with her. Gasping for breath as she hit the surface, a bubble floated with the figurine inside. Excited about her new discovery, Talia caught her breath and dived down into the cool water. Opening her eyes, she frantically swirled around, looking for the little worlds. To her dismay they never appeared. They were out of sight. She resurfaced looking for the figurine in the bubble. Where was her friend from the creek? “Here young girl” a calm, soft-spoken voice said.
“You will go and paint these worlds you have seen. You will forget about them for years, however they will seep back into your memory when time permits. Don’t worry now about where the others went. They will soon appear within sight. I will be with you whether or not you are conscious of me, to catch you when you are falling, to wake you from your unconscious state. Look for your paintings in nature to validate your intuitive truth.”
As time progressed, Talia grew and attended school. Throughout her middle and high school years, she took many intensive academic art courses. During her tenth year of schooling, she visited the west coast of South America. She went out into the mystical lands of the mountains so that she was immersed in nature. Walking along a steep path, a huge gust of wind overtook her. She began falling fast, unable to gain her footing, as she slid down the heavy steep mountain. “This is the end, the end of life,” she thought. Looking nowhere but down, and thinking her life was going to end, a man emerged to catch her from her downward spiral. She gained her composure and whirled around looking for the man, yet he was nowhere in sight.
Upon returning to the States, she continued with her rigorous yet delightful art training. In her seventeenth year of training, she was guided in to the art of collaging many small papers. Excessive paper cutting overtook her, and she became fascinated with the multitudes of small, white paper cutouts of people. This cutting – people-making – continued for a long time.
In the eighteenth year of her training, Talia decided to return to South America, based on her need for the beautiful colors she was remembered there. She made her way through many different paths to a small city, nestled among the grandness of Mother Earth’s nature and the vastness of her mountains. Unbeknownst to Talia, she was about to experience some wild things! Oh, the holy sacred sights! Talia never realized the great abundance of the universe until then. All her secret thoughts about life – the things she knew to be true – were true. She believed we could transcend the physical world with consistent meditation – and by making art or music. She wondered about other spirits and beings that might act as our guides through dangerous situations. Talia’s feelings resonated as if they were the most truth she would ever have. There was no physical proof of these things, and they could not be perceived with the five senses. Afterward, people dismissed Talia’s ideas, chiding her for entertaining these thoughts, but she knew them to be true.
Quite by accident, Talia encountered and entered many sacred spaces and holy sites. As she turned the corner, her eyes fell on a distant rocky landscape. It melted into the presence of one of her paintings, and fields of red and gold emerged from the rocks. As she journeyed, landscapes she walked through reflected her previous paintings back to her. New encounters with ancient geographies, echoing paintings she had constructed five years back. The proof of her intuition was exposed to her, directly in front of her. It was tangibly in front of her.
Again, Talia returned to the States and began her nineteenth year of training as an artist. All of a sudden and still, there was an incessant need to make paper people, but not out of white paper. Colored paper called to her! Little silhouettes began to emerge from a stack of highly textured and patterned papers. Talia blinked a few more times, and there came realizations and memories came from her childhood. Talia conjured the truest period of her – or any – life, when she was in tune and touch with worlds beyond the physical, worlds that feel unearthly. This world of hopes and ideas was where tranquility emerged, embodied in the most beautifully amazing colors and textures. Forms and figures emerged from that time that she might otherwise have forgotten.