rachel padding ST. MARY'S PROJECT, 2010
 

 

 

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Omega and Alpha, good and evil, light and dark, Heaven and Hell, mind and body, self and other, God and Satan, or even God and man. For most of my life, I have been prodded incessantly by the idea that I was and am caught in a maelstrom between these dualities. During my time at St. Mary‘s I developed this perspective and started to believe that this was not just my condition but the human condition. As a double major in Studio Art and Religious Studies, I realized that I wanted to tell a story both singular and universal, both sacred and profane, both primordial and ongoing: the story of humanity as an embodiment and fusion of opposites.


Omega/Alpha has been my way of thinking on how we separate the world, each other, and ourselves into dichotomies. After all these years, I still feel that I am being pulled between poles every day, but I am always aware that the possibility of reconnecting these opposites is within my reach. So, my artistic goal is to create both potential narratives of that separation as well as possible narratives of reconnection. In this show, I have used mixed media to document musings on how I, or we, came to think in terms of opposites, and my hope is that these works will hint at the possibility of rediscovering interconnectivity.


My inspiration comes from religious and philosophical texts, poetry, photographs, my own bodily experience and found objects. Materials have been very meaningful in the making of this show because they reflect my, or our, daily struggle between nature and artifice, community and solitude. I use some manufactured materials like acrylic paint, cellophane and hot glue, but I spend a lot of time outdoors collecting organic materials like seeds, straw and dirt to use in projects. Of equal importance to this show is the element of relief in each work. It indicates that I like to examine as many layers of a dynamic as possible, but I always feel a wax and wane between these layers.

- rachel padding