FIGURES & FAITH
first solo show by Jessica Blythe,
September 2007

Exhibition Catalogue Text

Introduction
I’m exploring ancient Celtic Faith, but we all have faith in something. It is the force behind our passions that drive us forward to embrace life day after day. What do you have faith in?

What is the motivating force that gets us out of bed in the morning? We have to believe in something or we’d go back to bed. This belief process works at the subconscious level yet colours our lives. To continue believing requires Faith that belief is worth pursuing.

But Faith is not always religious. It can be Faith in love, in the workings of astrology or Faith in organic gardening for example. Faith is also present in human interaction. We have to believe others will appreciate our gifts, even a tiny bit, otherwise we would become hermits and live independent lives.

Even the ancients developed their festivals and celebrations around Faith in the yearly cycle of the sun and the regular rhythms of the moon. Knowing these cycles and anticipating their turning points gave humans a Faith in the future. For example, knowing that, in June, the solstice is the turning point of winter helps us to endure the driving winds and grey skies of the season. The days get longer after the solstice and spring and summer is on its’ way. We can have Faith in these cycles. The standing stones of Celtic Britain still stand testimony to the Faith of our ancestors.

This exhibition of paintings in oil, watercolour, pastel, mixed media and acrylic represent these ideas of Faith in the form of portraits, landscapes, illustrations and a triptych. Figures include a philanthropist, a family of organic gardeners, eight Celtic Seasonal Goddesses, and a figure bursting from a calendar. From Cornwall Standing stones and Stonehenge, to lovers on a railway station and a birthday party in the rainforest, I explore Faith in a variety of forms. The human form itself is represented in portraits and anatomical drawings.

We have faith in our bodies too.

Exhibition in Detail

The exhibition opens with the Celtic Seasonal Goddess series. These eight Irish Celtic Goddesses are traditionally associated with the seasons. The yearly cycle of Festivals begins in the darkness of the New Moon, with Samhuinn (pronounced sow-inn}. As the year progresses the festivals alternate between the Sun festivals of solstice and equinox and the moon festivals which celebrate the four phases of the moon (dark/new moon, quartermoons and full). The sun festivals fall around the same day each year as the sun enters 0degrees of a zodiac sign. The moon festivals however, vary each year as for each calendar year, there are thirteen full moon cycles. These fall within a six week period and can be identified by the new moon in Taurus, the Full moon in Scorpio and the quartermoons halfway inbetween. If you wish to join the email newsletter on these topics send me an email.

In token to my Irish ancestors who brought these ancient traditions to Australia, the Henry Lawson triptych “Freedom on the Wallaby” honours the extraordinary courage of these pioneers. The Standing Stones series follows reminding us of what material evidence of these ancient traditions was left behind in the homeland.
Four standing stones represent the thousands of ancient (Neolithic?) stones carved, shifted and erected in the landscape thousands of years ago. These stones predate recorded history by thousands of years. Three of the standing stones still lie today in Anglesey in Wales and Men Scryfa stands in Cornwall, Britain.

The anatomical figures follow reminding us of our physical bodies. By what blueprint were our bodies moulded and by what awe-inspiring process? We search our faith for absolutes but none on Earth can find the definitive answer to our creation.

My imagination has inspired these next pieces. I cannot imagine beyond the limits of my life on Earth, but I can create my own version of ancient standing stones and artefacts still evident in my imaginary landscape.

Human beings dwarfed by the trees, yet articulating the ancient custom of giving and receiving gifts. We must have faith that both parties understand the custom and are willing to participate. What would life be like otherwise?

Many of us have faith in Astrology. Although this painting is not intended as a portrait of Thomas Zimmer, the creator of the Astrological Calendar and Moon Planting Guide since 1975, I have faith that it at least honours him and his connection to his thousands of customers who have enjoyed the ideas and followed faithfully the steps of planting by the moon. Gardens all over Australia must have flourished under his influence.

The sculpture in wood stands beside the beach at Port Macquarie (New South Wales) and represents a woodcutter. I wonder at my ancestors from the shores of Britain and their faith in the land providing for their needs. I cannot imagine what it would be like to walk beneath a forest canopy of cedar. Life must have been hard in those days.

Life must have been hard for Frida Kahlo because of her physical disabilities living as she did in tumultuous times and inspiring Diago Rivere to rebel the oppressive regime of their native country. Her life reminded me of the Irish settlers, my ancestors, who were also battling oppressive regimes.

The fashion industry brings us back to contemporary times. One the one hand we use clothes to keep us warm and dry, but under the influence of fashion, sometimes our clothes are inappropriate for the climate, exploitative of labour and resources and give little value for money. The industry has faith in its customers who follow fashion and we have faith that the next purchase of clothing will satisfy our needs. Otherwise we couldn’t buy it, could we?

The exhibition ends with the philanthropist and the organic gardener, both with faith that their interaction with the land will reap rewards. Do we really have enough faith that the power of money will solve the Earth’s problems? I wonder if, like the organic gardeners of the Earth, we worked with the land instead of exploiting it, we could have faith in our Earth to provide for our needs. Whatever happens, another yearly cycle will follow this one as the sun and moon will still reside in the heavens for the foreseeable future. At least I can have faith in that.

Regards Jessica