“Triumph”, OIl on metal leaf on panel. 16″ x 12″ ©Michelle Arnold Paine 2020
Art Celebrates Women at the Ohio Statehouse.
The Athena Art Society celebrates women in art at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus in March. Every two years the Statehouse invites the Athena Art Society to exhibit art for Women’s History Month. This year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, we chose the title “Red, White and Blue”. At 114 years, the Athena Art Society is even older than the 19th Amendment. It is an honor to be able to be a part of art that celebrates women at the Ohio Statehouse.
Figure Drawings Celebrate Women’s Confidence
I based both of the pieces for the “Red, White, Blue” exhibit on figure drawings from my “Mind, Body, Spirit” series. For example, “Red Standing Twisting” and “Legend” immediately leapt to mind as powerful expressions of female confidence. Since I recently began painting figures on metal leaf , I thought the “Red, White and Blue” exhibit would be a good moment to continue the challenge. In the drawings I leave the backgrond completely blank, allowing the lines to carry all of the expressive power of the figure. In a similar way, in the gold silhouettes I am using the gold for the negative space.
“Red Standing Twist”, Watercolor pencil on Paper ©Michelle Arnold Paine 2020 Click to Purchase
The altarpieces I experienced while living and working in Italy years ago influenced the new gold silhouette paintings. In icons the gold is meant to express the heavenly realm and be a means of communicating with heaven through prayer. The gold in my paintings reminds us that we are beings created in God’s image. My paintings are not intended to be sacred art, but rather to remind us of the sacred nature of life. God created women (and all of us) to reflect God’s heavenly nature.
“Red Reach on Gold”, Oil on metal leaf on panel, 16″ x 12″ ©Michelle Arnold Paine 2020
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