Some losses are just unimaginable. Natural disasters create windows for those of us not affected to see into the experience. People being interviewed next to a slab that was their home. Or their town.

People discovering some small remnant – a household item – as all that’s remaining.

I was thinking about these “after” moments when I created a work for an upcoming SAQA Global Exhibition, “Primal Forces: FIRE.” Artists were asked to respond to the concept of fire in some way.

I chose to give voice to the sense of loss after a fire has unleashed its fury. My work, “Nothing Remains but the Loss,” was accepted and will travel as part of this exhibit for two years. Here’s the completed work.

Here is the text I submitted as part of my application:

“In the burned house I am eating breakfast. You understand there is no house, there is no breakfast, yet here I am . . . everything in this house has long been over, kettle and mirror, spoon and bowl  . . . ” After the fire, the structure is a memory. The artifacts of daily life within the structure are a memory. The raging violence of the fire itself is a memory. Nothing remains but the loss. (Quoted text from “Morning in the Burned House,” Margaret Atwood.)

Backing up from the completed work to the process of creating, I have to admit that this one did not come easily at all.

I had a very strong concept of the way I wanted it to feel, how I wanted the power of fire and the emptiness afterward to co-exist on the surface. The haunting poem by Margaret Atwood was a strong part of my inspiration; it is a poem I know well and I thought of it immediately when I read the call to entry.

In the early stages, I was very involved in creating the parts.

I created fire.

I created dark areas representing the charred home. And I created the kitchen bowls.

(If you are interested in reading more about the early stages of creating the dark brown and black sections, I posted about that on my blog in February. You could read it here.)

The house was not part of my original concept, although now I see that it is the essential heart of the story. I had thought that the charred bottom section would approximate the remains of a home. But once I had it all put together, without a more concrete depiction of a home it had no emotional appeal at all. Just contrasting sections. As soon as I added the house, everything came together.

In addition to wrestling with the devastating emotions surrounding loss of home, adding the image of the house was technically tricky. It is all created by paint, rolled on in various values after the main quilt was already constructed. It had to be a lighter value in the top half to show up against the flames; it had to be darker in the bottom half to show up against the charred sections. It was a scary, make-or-break stage of the work.

I am grateful for the chance to show this one to audiences as part of SAQA’s traveling exhibit. I hope it will stir in viewers thoughts of the power of fire, the temporary nature of all we have, and the place in our hearts of “home.”

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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