Repeated Acts of Blunt Force Trauma.

Acrylic on Canvas

24x20

I started this picture just before the start of the semester.  As I was painting this flower, a tragedy took place in our small community.  An eight year old boy that went to school in our town came up missing.  One week later he was found floating in a canal.   Weeks his mother and her boyfriend were charged with his murder.  The entire situation made me so angry and sick.  I couldn't keep painting flowers, at least not in the same way.  That is when the idea developed.  I started collecting newspaper clippings about this boy that was  murdered and varnishing them into the negative space of my painting.   In my mind the painting began to symbolize the boy that was killed, and then it expanded to symbolize all victims of child abuse.  I wanted the image to look pretty...initially.  However, I wanted my viewer to be forced to look beyond what appeared to be a healthy, happy image.  I wanted my viewer to see the darkness behind the image.  To look  a little closer and pay more attention to what may be screaming at them, yet may not be obvious.  The theme for my work this semester has become the issue of child abuse...and my inspiration is Robert Manwill.

A Call to Awareness

Acrylic on Canvas

24x20

This painting utilizes newspaper clippings about the little boy from our community that was killed by his mother and and her boyfriend.  I copied a statement from a newspaper article that read ..."a call to awareness".  and I placed it throughout the painting in the negative space.   The bottom of page has information on statistics regarding children killed by child abuse.  While I painted this piece I researched art that deals with social issues.  I was inspired by a site that I found on the internet:  http://blogs.uit.tufts.edu/artistsaschangemakers/

This site addresses the idea of artists as changemakers...which is the title of the site.  I found the site inspiring and at this point in the semester...I am beginning to feel more inspired and excited about my theme.  I am using recent newspaper articles in my work and sadly,  there is no lack of sources for ideas.  Although I am inspired, I am also sickened as I read about the terrible death of Robert Manwill in the local newspaper and how the truth behind his brutal murder is unfolding.  I am beginning to feel more of a purpose behind my paintings...more of a reason to paint. 

Abusers Should Not Be Protected By Silence

Acrylic 16x20

This painting utilizes text that states, "Abusers Should Not Be Protected By Silence." This is a painting that I had started last spring...however I thought it would work well with this theme.   I placed text directly on top of the painting, instead of in the negative space. I wanted to make a statement that was more forward and deliberate.  I brightened the red hue and painted on top of the text so that it was really embedded into the positive space of the flower.   I had read in the paper that Robert's mother had not told anyone about the repeated abuse of her child at the hands of her boyfriend, because she was protecting her boyfriend.  Also, it was reported that the mother had lost custody of her infant son earlier because she had fractured his skull.  She had gotten her son back by the time Robert was killed.  

Time To Get Angry

Acrylic on Canvas

24x32

 Once again I used newspaper clippings in the negative space and I  put text at the bottom of the composition.  The text is a quote from Malcolm X that reads, "Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything...They just cry over their condition.  But when they get angry they bring about change." .   The painting utilizes more text at the bottom of the composition that discusses agencies that are in  need of more community support in the fight against child abuse.  As I painted this piece, I was thinking about how Robert's mother participated in her funeral...and the words that she wrote for his obituary.  She portrayed herself a deeply mournful woman...that was searching desperately for her son's murderer.  I felt angry as I painted this...my brushstrokes are aggressive and thick.  The message in this piece is more in your face...less subtle

"A Tragic Story of How Society is Neglecting the Issue of Child Abuse". 

Acrylic on Canvas

30x36

    I am still working on this painting.  I want to neutralize my background a little more...and sharpen my foreground.  I envision this piece as my introductory painting.  With a clean still life, in front of a window in picture perfect suburbia.  However, I cut out more articles and pictures from the paper and placed them into the scene outside the window.  The idea is that we need to pay attention to what is happening outside ourselves.  I want to work a little bit more on the dark flower in the cup...I think that it may give the viewer a cue...to look beyond the pretty image.

At the Cost of the Child

Acrylic on Canvas

30x36

The painting that I am currently working on, reads..."Prosecutors opt not to seek executions".  This is my dark painting.  The red on the flowers represents blood and the fact that our children are suffering at the hands of those that are suppose to protect them.  Yet even society is considering the rights of the perpetrators at the expense of the child. This is the final painting in my "child abuse" unit.  I have felt more driven working on this unit than any other... up to this point.  However, it has been very emotional, and I still have a lot I want to say....I guess I will address these issues further in my paper next semester.