Words are Flowing Out Like Endless Rain into a Paper Cup – An Homage to the Almighty Verse is, for certain, the longest and strangest title of an art exhibition to be presented at The Foyer, but mixed media artist Karen Goodfellow is no stranger to the gallery in the Squamish Public Library.
This show is an assemblage of both two-dimensional and 3D works inspired by music and books, altered mannequins, mixed media collage and eco-art.
“For my inspiration, I was initially toying with the idea of music but wasn’t sure if it was right or silly. Then, with the passing of David Bowie, Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and Glen Frey (Eagles), I realized that the impact on me was significant... who would I have been without their music? It’s inconceivable how engrained music and books are in my life,” Goodfellow says.
When she started the series months ago, she says, the subject seemed too large, so she combined it with her passion of spirituality, exploring it in all its global forms.
Goodfellow’s inspiration starts with found treasures and paint to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct layered pieces to integrate the past into the present. Her art is an evolution with a developing relationship to the spiritual.
Her pieces emphasize many forms of contrasting components: dense and dark against light and airy; seriousness versus play; spiritual with the profane; old/recycled versus new styrofoam, glitter and neon colour; control juxtaposed with surrender. “As a painter, I’m a surrender artist,” Goodfellow said.
“Other than the topic, my paintings evolve from a background or an image… if it takes me in a different direction, so be it. One might start out quite serious looking and pretty but end up being irreverent and cheeky. For example, I identify as a contemporary Aboriginal artist but this year, it did not show up in my paintings. So, I am surrendered to that.”
But as a three-dimensional artist, Goodfellow is not surrendered, as she knows her will is to create a specific piece. She labels her 3D pieces as experimental, as she constantly tests new media and subject matter in a fusion between different aspects of her world.
In the past, she has used drums, dolls, tambourines, mannequins, gourds and upcycled clothing.
For this exhibit, Goodfellow says, “I worked in reverse this time with the musically inspired paintings. Instead of doing a painting and allowing whatever shows up, then figuring out a title when it’s finished… this time I picked a selection of poetic and/or spiritually-based phrases or lyrics… and then looked at all my art supplies, collage magazine faces and images and started putting potential elements in 12 piles.”
With the Altered Mannequins, Goodfellow’s development is the opposite; her initial vision determined the final product in a bigger way. She knew what she wanted the final look to be but also accepted the pleasant surprises and discoveries through each journey.
Where is Goodfellow headed? “I haven’t even scratched the surface with mannequins,” she says. “Encaustics have been on the backburner for about six years and they interest me, along with more upcycled clothing.”
She has ideas flowing out – like endless rain into a paper cup.
Young@ART
On the Young@ART wall, the 3rd Squamish Girl Guides, ages 10 and 11, present their B.C. photo challenge. The girls learned about each of the four “wow” factors in photography. If you don’t know what these factors are, then check out their photos on display all month.
Editor’s note: Toby Jaxon is the curator of The Foyer gallery, located in the Squamish Public Library on Second Avenue.
