Remember my burned-but-unpainted hummingbird piece that I was working on for the Southern Illinois Artisans Shop?
I put it aside while I worked on other pieces because I knew the bird didn’t quite feel finished yet. A few days later, I went back in and burned some more details into the bird. Painted it afterward with milk paint and voilà.
It’s called “I Am Beating All My Wings.” The title is from an Anne Sexton poem, In Celebration of My Uterus; I think the first few lines are so lovely:
Everyone in me is a bird.
I am beating all my wings.
Unraveling, Amy Ventura, burned wood engraving finished with milk paint, 2013.
The other piece I was working on is finished as well. I’m calling it Unraveling. It reminds me of my childhood blanket, this old, raggedy, falling-apart piece of knitted cloth. There are giant holes in it now and it’s more loose ends than knitting. But somehow, it still holds together and it’s still beautiful to me.
I create burned wood engravings that combine my love of the textures and patterns found in nature with a deep interest in the unconscious world of dreams, symbols and mythic folklore. 