I was
invited to be part of a gallery show of 20 women artists doing self
portraits at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene. With this project, a portrait of myself over the past 6
months, I decided to purge what was plaguing me.
For as long as I can remember, I have been hounded by guilt,
as
I believe most women are. Whatever I am doing, I always feel I should
be doing something else. Doing something for someone, taking care of
some responsibility, working on something, feeding the hungry, housing
the homeless, saving the world! What a burden it has been to carry. And
so each time a new guilty feeling arose, I made an arrow for it. There
were so many that I could not include them all. Now that I can see them,
I feel sad that I have tortured myself for so long with such
ridiculousness. At 64 years of age, I feel I have earned the right to
let go of all the “shoulds” and stop feeling guilty. After all, this is
my ONLY life, and from now on, I plan to live it for myself.
And now I will try not to feel guilty about that.
 |
| The Burden of Guilt 24" x 36" Paper Clay/Mixed Media |
This show is well worth seeing and runs through June 20th.
