The Dragon Fly is one of my spirit animals, an archetypal image that returns and returns in the works; a very early childhood memory of watching Dragonflys swoop and dart in and out of the ethereal evening sun at the riverside. In all cultures' from the indigenous to the occidental, the Dragonfly is symbolic of change; "self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life. .Japan made the dragonfly its national emblem. It is a symbol of joy and rebirth. In some Native American traditions, it is also a symbol of the departed souls. For the Mayan, the dragonfly is the emblematic animal of the goddess of creativity, Ix Chel. It is said that the dragonfly’s wings and magical songs revived her after she was almost killed." To quote Octavia Butler, "Change is God" The original acrylic & mixed media painting now in private collection, entitled Blu Dragon or Dreaming the Dragon. & The BlU Dragon V-Neck. Excerpt from The Language of Listening, image and prose by Pamella Allen: Ritual Ritual to bring water Ritual to bring Rain Water to quench your parched earth Water to quench your thirst We dance to bring down the baby We dance the coming birth We stomp, we drum down the dead To carry the soul on ahead We sing and chant the pain away We sing and chant insane away They say to pray the devil away And some to even make him stay. Pamella Allen 2014
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Coming soon: Small Works Reproductions featuring selected works from "My Mandala". Stay tuned for new additions to Pamella Allen Wearable ArtWorks 'PAWA" |
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Pamella AllenBorn hard-wired to replicate what I see, the creative process is an intuitive one for me that is greatly informed by the mystic beauty of the natural world and my experiences with death and impermanence. In my infancy, it was the death of my mother followed by its relentless recurrence over the course of my lifetime that has driven me to seek out, replicate and create all that I can and cannot see to explore these confounding mysteries. I breath, I paint, I live in an attempt to capture what I have observed in my travels around the world, over land and sea, and find place in it. A Jamaica born, Brooklyn based artist, I use artifacts from my life experiences pulled from memory and observation, my work is layered in process: Mixed media paintings, printmaking, sculpture, paper making, Installation, photography/video essay & prose combine to create my own archetype, a universal language of images found and remembered that speaks to the diversity of my heritage, lived experiences and reverence for the mystic found in our natural world. Archives
October 2016
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