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.
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.
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.
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
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