A History of Monsters

I have been gathering up my resources for another exhibit on monsters..."A History of Monsters" part II. The late writer Gilbert Bouchard was so supportive of the concept of the 2008 "A History of Monsters" exhibit, at ArtsHab One, that he offered to write a catalogue and letter of support if I were to continue with the idea. He said it is worth pursuing and he'd put the fire under me and the other artists in the exhibit to develop the project into a more focused, larger exhibit. He wrote us a great preview in the Edmonton Journal. 
I write this as my pledge to commit. I am pursuing other directions at the time but think about this discussion with Gilbert often.

Artist statement I wrote is posted here: click on the "History of Monsters" header

"A History of Monsters" poster designed by Jodi Tychkowsky
Image from "Harness," by Caitlin Sian Richards, 2008

The drawing on the poster came out of sandpapered marks on washes of rapid draw ink on poster paper. I am working on drawings using a similar technique on clayboard and scratchboards where I can build up layers of paint and then scrape away through the layers until an image emerges. I then work into the image and reduce the areas for a strong graphic image. 


I am going to enlarge these monstrous figures into a new series about chicks and their familiars, nudes with masks, and women wandering in transparent jellyfish, angelfish fin dresses. Some women are birds themselves, posing infront of a classical painting of the famly's pet hawk, and holding taxidermy blue jays. Other women lie infront of the doorway with opium seed dresses, foxgloves, and disperse into the ink spills and eroded surface. I want them to be as elegant and slink by the viewer as this women with the harness and her dog. I originally wanted to title the drawing "night watch" as she appears confident harnessing power over and from her familiar. We'll see what happens.