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Grief 1 - The Dim Possibility of Hope |
Artist Statement: I painted this with a palette knife, in the midst of shock and angst the morning I learned that my doctor had shot himself. Scraping the cross was a total surprise to me, and finished the painting in a way that still moves me. My priest looked at this painting and said “Well, I see the grief.” He didn’t see the redemption and hope I see in this painting. I believe that sometimes someone in the first shock of intense grief needs a painting that understands how terrible it feels. Too much reassurance just feels like a failure of empathy. At any rate, here it is: stark, bare, dark with a dim possibility of hope radiating out. Bio: Catherine Jo Morgan paints colorful abstract hearts in acrylic, mixed-media collage and oil pastel. Her paintings and prints are in private collections across the United States, and the images have been licensed to medical centers, conferences, and professionals as far away as Italy and the UK. She lives and paints in the wooded foothills of northeast Georgia. Born in Muncie, Indiana, Morgan grew up in Champaign, Illinois and graduated the University of Chicago, then earned an M.A. at Georgia State University. Her first career - empowering people in groups and workshops - has carried over to an abiding interest in the potential of artwork to evoke inner resources. The core aims, principles and skills she developed as a psychologist have transferred to her artmaking - first as an artist-blacksmith and vessel sculptor, now as a heart painter. |
