Should artwork contain the artist’s personal content? I think, yes. Should artwork address timeless and universal human problems? I think, yes. This work is personal, expressive, emotional and passionately done. It is about my life and body.
I remember studying Rembrandt’s self-portraits, chronicles of his age and decline as a popular artist. How sad that he was so invested in the market and in his lost wife. His eyes portrayed his despair. More than the texture of the paint or the luminosity and deep shadow I was moved by the images of the aging man. I loved the painted records of his flesh and spirit over time.
The word, crone, the dictionary says means withered, witchlike old woman, from the Latin, caro, flesh. Crone to me is positive; witchlike, can this means with magic? I love the aspect of becoming an old woman. I celebrate survival, becoming a grandmother, acquiring some wisdom (on top of knowledge), and experiencing the body in different ways.
Cloth can hold the sacred. (It has, after all, so often held great meaning). I wish for these silk panels to be burned through with the poems of my aging and symbols of old blood and earth. I wish for my spirit to reside between the layers.
These two pieces are about my sisters, daughters, mothers, grand daughters; part of me.
Patricia (Pat) Reagan, is a fiber artist, associate professor of art and the chairperson of the department of art at Southeast Missouri State University. She has been a professional fiber artist for 20 years. Her work includes 5 major bodies of work that have culminated in one-person exhibitions as well as participation in invitational and juried group exhibitions. Ms. Reagan has taught art on the university level for 17 years, specializing in the fiber area but also teaching drawing, design, 3-D design and art appreciation. She leads art course trips to major art centers within the U.S.A. and has taught 2 courses abroad in London and Paris. In the past Ms. Reagan has held positions at Southern Illinois University, Belleville College in Illinois and Craft Alliance in St. Louise.
Ms. Reagan has held positions as the Coordinator of Adult Programs at the Saint Louis Art Museum for 2 years and the Museum Director of the University Museum at S.E. MO State University for 6 years. Ms. Reagan served 2 years on the Visual Art Panel of the Missouri Arts Council and was president of the Missouri Museum Association as well as a council member for the national board of college and university museum.
Ms. Reagan’s artistic expertise lies in weaving hand-painted warp, double cloth that emphasizes patterns from color, words, weave structure and material texture. She also hand paints and manipulates silk fabrics to produce large wall hangings. She often uses the Japanese derived Shibori resist and acid burnout on the panels. Her imagery is for the most part non-objective with subtly overlaid written poetry that she writes, with shapes and colors meant to evoke meaning through feeling.
Ms. Reagan lives in Cape Girardeau, MO
