Story Boas
Why
Art, like life, flows in unexpected and sometimes unnoticed ways. New chapters emerge unannounced. Sometimes you're in the middle of one before you know it has begun and you won't know what it's about until it's almost over. Nan's art flows out of an impulse, an insight, a thought; emerging out of hours of reflection, color matching, word matching.
The why of the Story Boas is as quintessential 'Nan' as her work gets. It was created because giving things their due leads to further reflection, which in turn produces words and thoughts that deserve attention. Giving things their due leads us inevitably, on a journey.
A Story Boa is supposed to make you curious, what are these parts here to accomplish? It's about nature, about birds, but it is really about beauty and beauty is about people, about how we see ourselves in the world.
How
Beauty Boa
It began with a quote from Fran Lebowitz. "You look better than you’re ever going to look again." This launched a period of reflection on beauty, especially how we view it in modern western culture, but also things that Nan found beautiful, and even people who she found beautiful: Jane Goodall, Audrey Hepburn, Maya Angelo. This was the first chapter. The colors chosen were blues and greens for this piece.
Paris to Barcelona
This piece flowed from a long journey, a trip to Europe: Paris, Provence, Barcelona. The name of the airline and then the hotel name, then unexpected 1'st class seating, eventually the whole trip was woven into the piece decorated with charms and other small items collected along the way. It allowed for a reflection on landscape, architecture, design, and most importantly, journey: all through the lens of beauty. Red, it’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Ornithology
Reflection on feathers, beauty, and journeying leads us to the emergence of the final piece birds. She studies their migrations, colors, and their feathers for herself but also through the lens of her father, a lover of journeys, and of birds. Each of these levels deserving of and receiving the touch of the "artists loving hand." (Don McLean). Bead feathers and bright colors flowing and draping.
What
Formed from three distinct sections, Boas took on the form of a bead-feather boa, the classic talisman of ecstatic showy beauty. It is heavy and meant to be worn. It is full of color and sparkle, texture and shape. It is a eulogy to journeying and to beauty itself.
Story Boas
This work was completed from 11/16/2013-6/17/2014 and wears at 28 feet of continuous strand though melded into three distinct parts. There are 93 birds named and an additional 27 parts of birds’ feathers named. With 63 different original feather designs, this is the most “sculptural” of her current works. Constructed on 1350 feet of Fireline fishing line, the “boa” surrounds the centerpiece silk needlepoint on silk gauze which names the piece in 1024 Stitches per square inch.
