Look Here! Soniye

A few days ago, I attended the opening reception for Look Here!, a pilot collaboration with UWM Libraries Digital Humanities Lab and Special Collections culminating in an exhibition currently on view at the the beautiful Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum June 28 - September 16, 2018. 

In an upcoming post, I'll take a look at the reception and some of the work of others artists participating in the exhibition. 

For this group show, artists were asked to submit proposals to create artwork based on research involving library resources. 

Based on my interactions with a portfolio of architectural renderings in the UWM Special Collections, my Rajasthan Reimagined series created for Look Here! consists mostly of large acrylic paintings on Kalamkari fabrics (which were featured in recent posts). Soniye I and II are different from other pieces in this series because they are smaller, hand-watercolored screen prints.

Soniye I, 2018

23” x 20” framed (16” x 11” image size) 

hand-watercolored screen print

Soniye II, 2018

23” x 20” framed (16” x 11” image size) 

hand-watercolored screen print

My research project has focused on repurposing decorative architectural ornamentation designs from India which were recorded in the series of books entitled Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details.  

Templates based on the medallions seen above and below were utilized in making my screen prints.

As I imagined how to manipulate these ornate medallions, I remembered the innovative abstraction of Sonia Delaunay. 

Sonia Delaunay seated in her studio with 
two women modeling her fashion designs.

The complexity of these medallions is fascinating and inspiring. I composed this drawing after imagining the medallions overlapping and interlocking. 

The screen for the serigraph print (pictured below) was prepared and then printed in black ink on several different kinds of paper.

Having multiple copies of the image allows me to play and experiment with color. First I tried a monochromatic blue color scheme on a print done on light grey paper. The piece below was named Sonia in acknowledgment of the inspiration I derived from Sonia Delaunay's work. 

Sonia Blue Mandala, 2017
Hand-watercolored original serigraph print on grey rag paper
Outer paper dimensions are 18" x14" ( image size of 15" x 11")

Detail of Sonia Blue Mandala

Another piece with a polychromatic scheme, Sonia Multi Mandala, utilized deep rich colors.

Sonia Multi Mandala, 2017
Hand-watercolored original serigraph print on grey rag paper
Outer paper dimensions are 18" x14" ( image size of 15" x 11")

This detail of Sonia Multi Mandala shows the addition of pointillist dots to add value gradations without muddying the colors.

Soniye I & II was conceived of as a diptych where one print was rotated to create a "Yin and Yang" effect. A triad of primary hues (red, yellow, and blue) were employed as they were painted together: 

'Soniye' is the Punjabi version of the name Sonia. It is often heard in contemporary Bollywood song lyrics. 'Soni' in Hindi literally means beautiful.  Punjabi guys (and non-Punjabi guys who hear a lot of Bollywood songs) call their girlfriends 'the beautiful one' or Soniye, out of love (and out of flattery). I changed the title 'Sonia" to Soniye as the title for the diptych presented in the Look Here! exhibition feeling it was appropriate because the Punjab region is close to  Jaipur (Jeypore) - about 293 miles. 

Here is an interesting article by Vanicka Arora in English and Italian about the Jeypore Portfolio.

My next blog update will feature photos from the opening reception of Look Here! as well as a look at the work of several of the other participating artists.

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.

Look Here! Mystic Garden

Mystic Garden, painted for the Look Here! exhibition at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, is the largest canvas I've done in several years.

Mystic Garden, 2017
Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric 

48" x 72”

Two color plates in the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Detail were referenced. The first featured ornate Mughal-influenced arches in an image recording a marble panel inlayed with colored stone,  The botanical iron work of Cyril Colnik housed in the Villa Terrace has a visual similarity, so I thought my work on this theme would be interesting displayed in the museum.

A door grille with escutcheon by Cyril Colnik

Here is a similarly-shaped arch I saw in Kolkata:

In years past, I have painted many colorful floral paintings. 

Recently much of my work has been neutral grisaille painting. Longing to reintroduce bright color in my painting, the botanical theme of the floral image was very appealing to me.

My friend and collaborative partner during my year-long art residency at RedLine Milwaukee, Nirmal Raja, gave me this beautiful Kalamkari she brought from India. I loved that the floral motif was so pronounced in this design.

I stretched the fabric...

And cut a template for the symmetrical columns...

Persian floral vines were stenciled to add another layer of space: 

Repetition provided the opportunity to treat each column to a variation in handling. Having the columns fade in and out of focus gives a feeling of memory or time passing.

Abstract blocks of color both recede as background and project forward in contradiction to the illusion of space.

I decided to experiment with a coating of clear glossy latex paint over the entire piece to give a shine and create rigid surface more like a gessoed canvas.

This photo shows the scale of this painting versus other recently-completed works:

Here are some details which show the relationship of painted elements to the printed floral design of the fabric:

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.

Look Here! Flora and Fauna

Having had a long interest in Asian art history, much of the artwork I've made in recent years has been based on ancient Buddhist and Hindu sculpture studied on research trips to Bhutan, India, and Thailand.  

So on my first research visit to the UWM Special Collections library for the "Look Here!" initiative, I was immediately taken with the Dados volume of the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Detail. (Three volumes of the beautiful 12 volume portfolio are housed in the UWM library.) 

Dado is an architectural term that describes a panel above the chair rail. This area is given a decorative treatment. 

The illustrations recorded lovely low relief wall carvings of landscapes. A wide variety of different trees and plants are represented in a stylized treatment.

I fell in love with this image of monkeys playing in a Banyan tree where cattle graze below. 

It reminded me of this ancient tree I visited on the banks of the Ganges where Paramahansa Yogananda walked  in Serampore, West Bengal, India.

The nursing cow portrayed on the panel was much like some folk paintings I've seen decorating trucks in India.

Another intriguing image showed a wilder side of nature. A family of lions play under the watch of vultures. This scene contrasts with the more gentle pastoral scene.

The style of this portrayal of lions reminded me of the large ceramic statue of a lion I had made in 1983 during my senior year of high school. 

A table cloth with an intricate design of abstracted tree-like forms serves as the ground for these paintings. The border on this cloth creates a wide frame not unlike the complex frames on the dado panels.

Deciding that this white fabric looked too clean and new, I decided to try my luck with a natural indigo dye* bath.

*Indigo dye, cultivated in India, was in high demand during the 19th century, so is in keeping with the time period the portfolio was produced. (Farmers in Bengal revolted against the unfair treatment by the East India Company during British rule in 1859 in what was known as the Indigo revolt).

First a light soak created delicate blue which allowed the golden pattern and yellow color to show.

I worried about losing this pattern when I chose to dip the fabric in the indigo bath longer to achieve a deeper blue, so opted for a gradient ombre effect.

Flora and Fauna II, 2017

58 x 49 1⁄2 inches

Acrylic on indigo dyed fabric

Flora and Fauna I, 2017

 58 x 49 1⁄2 inches

Acrylic on indigo dyed fabric 

Originally these paintings were planned as stretched canvases, but I decided later that they should hang as scrolls. A golden Kalamkari fabric was used to add contrast and warmth to the mostly blue and white paintings. The large common area outside my Kenilworth studio served as a great place to lay these out while cutting the large fabric pieces.!

The finished diptych with rods spans 12 feet.

The next blog post will show more paintings in my Rajasthan Reimagined series for the Look Here! exhibition to be held June 28 - September 16, 2018 at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

This diptych is now available for purchase online at my Etsy shop CynthiaHayesArt

Check out my artwork available at my Etsy store and on my Facebook page as well as my Instagram feed.

Look Here! Jeypore Dreams Remembered

For the past 18 months, I have been working on a series of paintings for Look Here!, a pilot collaboration with UWM Libraries Digital Humanities Lab and Special Collections. Artists were asked to submit proposals to create artwork based on research involving library resources. 

This project culminates in an exhibition to be held at the the beautiful Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum June 28 - September 16, 2018.

Cynthia Hayes
Jeypore Dreams Remembered, 2018
44” x 60”
acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

My Rajasthan Reimagined series is based on my interaction with historical Indian architectural renderings compiled in the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details (1894) which was issued under the patronage of His Highness Maharaja Sawai Madhu Singh G.C.S.I. of Jeypore (today spelled “Jaipur”). Several of the volumes are housed in the UWM Library’s Special Collections.

The twelve volume portfolio is the result of an extensive undertaking initiated in 1887 by British Colonel S.S. Jacob, Engineer to the Jeypore State, to record Rajput architectural wonders in the region in or near Delhi and Agra. Realizing these sites were rapidly decaying, the goal was to produce a reference collection of ornamental patterns to be of practical use to artists and architects. 

Highly accurate original drawings, done by graduates of the Jeypore School of Art, were reproduced in England by W. Griggs and Sons in large scale photo-lithograph plates with hopes they would be used chiefly as working drawings for the artisan. 

“To rescue such designs from oblivion and give them new life is worth something.” — Colonel S.S. Jacob

The color palette of a design (above) and the rendering of a low relief carving (below) inspired my painting Jeypore Dreams Remembered.

I selected a wood block printed Kalamkari fabric on a recent trip to Kolkata. 

The colors and floral elements were similar to illustrations in the portfolio, so I felt it would be an appropriate surface for a painting integrating some of the patterns. 

I hand cut a stencil of the spiral tendril lattice design. 

Memories of crumbling ornate ironwork I observed in India influenced the broken placement and ghost images of the painted lattice as I worked.

The finished painting is removed from the stretcher and hung as a scroll. The fabric's border becomes a frame. 

Jeypore Dreams Remembered, 2018
44” x 60”
acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

My next blog post will show more paintings in my Rajasthan Reimagined series for the Look Here! exhibition to be held June 28 - September 16, 2018 at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Check out my artwork available at my Etsy store and on my Facebook page as well as my Instagram feed