Layers, Cycles and Stages

• Main Author: Calhoun, Kathleen Cluverius
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2012
• Subjects: layers; cycles; stages; painting; multi media; rocks; seeds; structure
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2656; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3655&context=etd

Deserted and disintegrating barns, houses, and silos have always perplexed me when driving through the country. I am fascinated by how this leisurely decay reveals their structural integrity in a slow, reverse process of construction. It is as if humanity and nature consciously collaborated to create these gigantic memento mori for a steady stream of highway viewers. These monumental tributes to inevitable decline, along with my own adventures in gardening, childrearing, eldercare, and travels, have led me to explore the universal cycles of life. The dilapidated buildings in my work are rendered in a tight, sharp, close-up viewpoint so that the viewer is forced to engage them. I will often layer images of seeds, leaves, and rocks on top of images of houses to symbolize the different stages of the life cycle. I see seeds and buildings as containers and incubators of potential. Any foliage represents a fulfillment of that potential, while rocks stand for the fossilized remains, or the achievements of one’s life accomplishments.