marysgardens

As a young woman and Peace Corps Volunteer, many decades ago, I became entranced with the Madhubani paintings etched on the outer home walls of the Bihari women of my village neighborhood in India. The mud wall paintings were colorful, filled with shapes and stories of local culture, using natural dyes, painted by village women using simple tools such as sticks or by placing the colors on the walls using their hands and fingers.

We lived in an area of Bihar where women were largely at home and when they did go out, they went outside with their heads and sometimes their faces, covered. Yet, even under these conditions of hidden faces and strict “purdah”, their art was not subdued but instead remained brave and colorful. It is an art based on thousands of years of experience and its bravery and beauty fascinated me.

Some time in the 1960’s, the Madhubani paintings started being sold on paper, as part of India’s cottage industry, allowing women and their households to gain some earnings from their local art activities. It also allowed tourists and interested persons like myself to take some of the Madhubani paintings home and place them on our home walls, where we continued to appreciate the art and tell others about it.

Since then, I have always thought that it would be fun to try something similar using my own experiences, but amending the art to touch more upon my own cultural interests. Recently, while joining with a group of artists organized by Ruth Armitage, I have begun a series of paintings that use this concept of the Madhubani painting, but in my own style, and my own way. Sometimes I use paint brushes, sometimes I simply put the paint on with my fingers or using a simple bamboo stick. I tend to use earth tone colors, with the simple reds, yellows, blues and browns.

The purpose of these paintings has been to express simple emotions, from frustration, to hope and happiness. Here are a couple of examples.

This particular painting was playfully painted on a large piece of cardboard that I chose to recycle as a canvas for painting. I outlined it with a colorful border like I have seen used on African cloths. I call it “Beach Bar Dance”.

Here is another one, called “Happy”, that depicts a similar point of view with life.

Below, is another version of a happy couple dancing. This one was painted by putting gesso over an old painting and using my hands and a wet cloth to produce the structure.

Not everything that I tried in this fashion was happy. Here is one depicting home, in the times of Covid and under our current political stresses.

During this period of work with the “Roaring 20’s” group, I have been experimenting with new styles and approaches to my art. Sometimes it meets with great success. At other times, I think that I am leaving others speechless when they look at the end result.

But in my eyes, and in my heart, I am finding this time with an organized group to be very instructive and filled with new ideas, even when these new ideas are coming from memories and the art of village women whom I met decades ago.

I hope that I honor them in the process.