In the Village of Nakusp, in the Kootenay mountains, there is a long wooden jetty which runs from the Car Park to the lake, where people launch their motor boats and canoes and where the local kids dive and play in the summer.
The Upper Arrow Lakes are in fact a reservoir created by BC Hydro in the 1960s, on the upper reaches of the mighty Columbia River. As a result of extraordinary pressure and coercion in the face of local opposition, much of the valley was purchased and cleared, prosperous fruit orchards cut to the ground, farmhouses torched and fertile farmland cleared and flooded.
The memory of this disaster lives on in the hearts of local people. Earth Woman sits on the bank of the Arrow Lakes beside the jetty, keeping guard, so that no further disaster touches her shores.
Women of Myth and Legend
This Series of paintings is a celebration of all aspects of women and the female energy of the Universe.
I have given each of the women a Mythical name, in one or two cases it is the name of a traditionally recognized Goddess, and in some I have created a name especially for her. I feel that modern society is short of the spiritual role model that is separate from, and not associated with, formal religion.
These myths, which used to be the foundation of our lives, have been overtaken by digital reality and the icons are now mortal and fallible, glitzy creatures of the media. When they fall from grace, our spiritual lives are depleted.
I invite you to view these new images in the spirit in which they were created: a celebration of a story that is our own.
