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MICHELLE GOODMAN

1 Clustering
2 Turning Away From the Spot

Michelle Goodman

In my artwork I use bailing wire for woven 3d drawings, and endpapers (from discarded books), found images, paint and pencil for collage. These materials have powers and energies of their own. A quickening takes place when I am able to keep a light hand and restrain myself from becoming too proprietary. Everything can be included: poetry, the news, or a preverbal response to bodily sensations. Ranging from abstraction and patterning to allusions and narrative, there is a natural flow. A twenty-year meditation practice has taught me to trust these phenomena and to respect the mystery involved. Meditation has also made me acutely aware that life is in constant flux. Putting pencil to paper is an act of soothing. Continual change can feel chaotic, but there are domineering influences present in the world today that are scarier than disorder or change. Commerce, violence, speed, and disregard for the environment are critically threatening forces. Self-soothing becomes part of a practice of balance in the face of dire conditions. Beyond practicing balance there is an important process occurring in my interactions with material and subject matter. Loosened from psychological/social constructs, I feel connected to something wider.