CATHEDRAL SETTING Leather Sliders

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ABOUT THE PAINTING:

CATHEDRAL SETTING: Acrylic on canvas, 3 x 2 FT.

A cathedral setting is often used for engagement rings. It’s where a diamond is fitted in the center of the piece, flanked by arches of metal. I used to call such rings “sweater snaggers” because they seemed to always be made with a big diamond as the focal point and looked gaudy to me. In actuality, it is a beautiful design, meant to capture light from all angles of the cut and really make the stone sparkle.

When I think of a cathedral setting in practical terms, I remember my tours in Europe. I think of the Rose Window in Norte Dame, Westminster Abbey’s flying buttresses, the Vatican with its marble sculptures and other such sacred places I’ve been blessed to see. I also think of my years studying art history, especially a whole quarter dedicated to Gothic cathedrals and reliquaries. This piece was inspired by those visual beatitudes… and the sacred feminine.

Sometimes, I feel as though women are meant to exemplify a saintly portrait made of stained glass: flat yet luminous, fragile yet stoic, worshipful yet humble. We’re supposed to be a mosaic of glistening ideals, but the shards cut. What is it to be a woman? What is it to be a mother? What is it to be a wife? What is it about the identity within womanhood that makes our definitions seem so damned mutable? And, why is it not enough to be a diamond in the rough, existing comfortably in the state of our natural form?

This piece is about those questions, looking between the lines, painting over them and realizing that the answers lie within the whole personhood, not solely upon the parts to be identified. Women, let’s let our light shine, all that animates us.