Leather scraps, ink transfers, framed to 20"x20"
Individually, the Maiden is a young woman. She is superficially thought of as being filled with passion, discovery, and exploration. Yet, life for the maiden is also a time of vulnerability and disillusionment. Even in mythology, the maiden Persephone is kidnapped and assaulted. It can be a difficult time learning to navigate in a world that poses threats in every darkened parking garage, and invasions of the body by doctors, society, and potentially violent men.
The Mother is a woman accepting responsibility and learning to surrender or let go. In the story of Persephone it falls on the mother, Demeter, to find and rescue her, but ultimately to also let her daughter leave. As with the Maiden, there are challenges that crush fantasy in this stage. Wearing oneself too thin, competing in a patriarchal workplace, and ignoring self-care are grim realities juxtaposed with the imaginings of rocking sweet babies with adoring partners offering support and appreciative colleagues helping to promote our efforts. These realities exist in addition to our need to eventually settle an “empty nest” and having to allow the fruits of our labors, whether through children or careers, to experience life outside of our control. I often describe the process of making art as that of being a mother. Artists nurture ideas of the work we hope to make, then birth those ideas into reality as we create, but finally must let our work be enjoyed and interpreted by an audience outside of our influence.
The Crone has grown in wisdom and abilities. She lives in the stage of satisfaction, achievement, wisdom, and mentoring. It is the Crone, Hekate, who helps Demeter find Persephone. Perhaps for both the Maiden and the Mother, the Crone represents hope that they will finally achieve completeness. We dream of the peace her wisdom brings. The third stage of the Triple Goddess is when women are free to seek deeper meaning in life, spiritual significance, and transformation. Crone wisdom is the accumulated experience that has been learned over time and can be drawn upon. It has been said that when you cease to look to experts for authority and trust your own expertise, you find your Crone wisdom.
Yet, it begs to be noted that within each woman is a bit of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone no matter our age. Young women have intuition that acts as wisdom. Mothers / matrons experience the “passions of youth.” The Crone still feels passion and is ever-learning, she is still a mother who loves and nurtures, and she recognizes her experience and knowledge as she becomes a guide and mentor.
Donna Haraway offered an interesting sub-title to her writing “Cyborg Manifesto” of, “An ironic dream of a common language for women in the integrated circuit.” This body of work uses the common language of art and art making to express the three phases of the Triple Goddess. Perhaps art is the integrated circuit Haraway searches for in order to offer expressions of individual experiences, as well as our connections as women because of them. It is through this work that I hope to offer a glimmer of the universal collective unconscious, our integrated circuit, that the viewer can feel as they consider the archetypes of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, ever present in our world.
The Mother is a woman accepting responsibility and learning to surrender or let go. In the story of Persephone it falls on the mother, Demeter, to find and rescue her, but ultimately to also let her daughter leave. As with the Maiden, there are challenges that crush fantasy in this stage. Wearing oneself too thin, competing in a patriarchal workplace, and ignoring self-care are grim realities juxtaposed with the imaginings of rocking sweet babies with adoring partners offering support and appreciative colleagues helping to promote our efforts. These realities exist in addition to our need to eventually settle an “empty nest” and having to allow the fruits of our labors, whether through children or careers, to experience life outside of our control. I often describe the process of making art as that of being a mother. Artists nurture ideas of the work we hope to make, then birth those ideas into reality as we create, but finally must let our work be enjoyed and interpreted by an audience outside of our influence.
The Crone has grown in wisdom and abilities. She lives in the stage of satisfaction, achievement, wisdom, and mentoring. It is the Crone, Hekate, who helps Demeter find Persephone. Perhaps for both the Maiden and the Mother, the Crone represents hope that they will finally achieve completeness. We dream of the peace her wisdom brings. The third stage of the Triple Goddess is when women are free to seek deeper meaning in life, spiritual significance, and transformation. Crone wisdom is the accumulated experience that has been learned over time and can be drawn upon. It has been said that when you cease to look to experts for authority and trust your own expertise, you find your Crone wisdom.
Yet, it begs to be noted that within each woman is a bit of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone no matter our age. Young women have intuition that acts as wisdom. Mothers / matrons experience the “passions of youth.” The Crone still feels passion and is ever-learning, she is still a mother who loves and nurtures, and she recognizes her experience and knowledge as she becomes a guide and mentor.
Donna Haraway offered an interesting sub-title to her writing “Cyborg Manifesto” of, “An ironic dream of a common language for women in the integrated circuit.” This body of work uses the common language of art and art making to express the three phases of the Triple Goddess. Perhaps art is the integrated circuit Haraway searches for in order to offer expressions of individual experiences, as well as our connections as women because of them. It is through this work that I hope to offer a glimmer of the universal collective unconscious, our integrated circuit, that the viewer can feel as they consider the archetypes of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, ever present in our world.