A conversation between the curators:
Raven Harper: Oh, the holidays… I think of going to people’s houses and eating. The smell of the kitchen, of the food cooking there.
Rebecca Jantzen: I think about my mom. During the holidays, we’d have this huge table and it had all of this food on it. Cooking and enjoying the food was a big part of the celebration. It’s a really emotional season — sadness and happiness can be happening at the same time.
Raven: I get really sentimental this time of year. I always make my art out of my emotions. You know, I take my anger and my love. I take my mental and my physical and every feeling like that and push it in my art. And it comes out the way it comes out. I never tell people how I feel with words — I tell it with my art.
Rebecca: It’s similar for me. With my art, it’s whatever I’m thinking about at that moment. Like if I’m into people, I’ll draw people. Or you know, whatever thoughts are in my brain at that moment… The shape in that image (D1593) was just on my wall one day. I was sitting in my chair and I looked over at the shadow, and the shadow looked like that figure. I see it as an angel with a trumpet. I took a photo of the shadow and then I came in to NIAD and carved it.
Raven: I was looking at it and it reminds me of people that have passed away, and when the angel blows the trumpet, it blows the souls out and takes them with it. I like her little poem. It’s kind of cool to write down what’s in your soul.
And now I’m seeing in Rebecca’s other drawing here (D8234), it’s like how when people pass away, their spirits fly away, like that kite.
Rebecca: Yes! And the other symbols show there are happy thoughts from their loved ones below them, watching them fly away. I think about that when I make drawings of lighthouses. It’s a symbol for me: this beacon of light, and it’s standing there watching you. It’s like your loved ones who have gone on before you, and the light is shining and guiding you.
Raven: It gives me the feeling of being inspired. For me, I get really inspired by the music and the poetry of Tupac. I made this dish with his portrait and I had that feeling of power. He’s looking right at you, and he’s looking so calm and serious. He was a very serious man. I made a print of his family too.
Rebecca: I like the expressions on their faces. We’re talking about love and the different feelings we show. I see their eyes and their mouths, and they’re each showing love in different ways. Generational love.
Raven: I put love into these when I made them. I do a lot of portraits and flowers. When I’m painting here (P0503), I like to think about how people feel, and how they would feel, as I put this flower together in my mind. I think about how they would like it, and it just comes to me and starts growing.
Rebecca: When I’m looking at it, Raven, I see the bottom is small and it keeps building up. I’m thinking that that’s how we love: it starts small, and it builds up.
