Snickerdoodles

Chili Beans

Cherries

painting studio facing south

Kristine's painting studio

Kristine's painting studio

This is Kristine's painting studio facing north.

Response to "Labels"

This is in response to 'Labels' from Ann Johnson, graduate student at Goddard Port Townsend.

Response to

Kristine Pierson-Matthews

LABELS

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." ………………..

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always." …………………….

The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.

~ Marjorie Williams

The Velveteen Rabbit

Meticulously framed, these clothing tags are usually snipped quickly from a new garment purchased to replenish a wardrobe, to celebrate a festive occasion, to match an outfit or to cover a flaw. Labels encapsulate the essence or special feature. Labels in our culture and in our families also encapsulate narrative by creating “spin,” glossing over the harsher dynamics, pigeon-holing “other,” being dismissive of actual experience. In this body of work we are drawn into the word and challenged to look beyond the word. We are reminded of the reams of edited scraps hidden in the cracks of the condensed version one’s story.

The magnified, tight linear renditions of typeset from these labels are embedded in fields of color. Pierson-Matthews challenges the audience not only to read between the lines, but to read between the brushstrokes: “Here is the original. It is framed, intact, adjusted, protected. Ah, but look! There is much, much more to the story.” She lays it out in an expansive exhale of blended teals, greens, reds, and pinks.

Finally, the prism is reversed and refracted colors are invited back into white light. In the final painting of the series, the final message appears and fades. Depending on movement of light throughout the day, as if emerging from cloud form or unveiling shrouded perception, we receive confirmation. R-E-A-L. Integrity is present.

(Ann Johnson……..3/15/08 – work-in-progress)