CAROLINE RUST

You Will Be Deeply Loved                                                                      
2011       Medium : integrated media – acrylic on miniature ceramic plates, college
Size :  approximately 9”x 16”   [(18)-plates @ 1”w. x 1.5”with spaces between]

 After marring the concept behind the photography of Clementina, Lady Hawarden (British, 1822-1865) with a fortune I received in a fortune cookie at the end of a Chinese meal, this piece was formed.
 First, it is my interpretation that Lady Hawarden’s use of female models peering into mirrors and windows in her work was study of women and their reflections. Maybe the women are to be seen as trapped; inwardly possibly with their positive self-images within. Second, it is my favorite part of a Chinese meal, reading my fortune from the fortune cookie. The message one day read “You Will Be Deeply Loved”. Ah, the magical phrase caught in my mind and prompted me to recall the mental health lesson of repeating affirmations to develop self-esteem and empowerment; a different type of reflecting.

In the Shadow of Blue                                                                             
2011       Medium : integrated media – 7 shoe pairs on shelves of embellished shoe boxes; papier-mâché, acrylic, objects
Size :  approximately 118”x 10”   [(7)-box shelves @ 10”w. with (6)-8” spaces between]

 Influenced by fashion, the paths of women, and Shakespeare, this installation’s primary goal is to emphasize the journeys of females through the usage of symbols and paint application. Fashion has always been a passion of mine and it is my opinion that design begins in the morning when the closet door swings open. I employ fashion as a means of self-expression and self-branding and a brilliant pair of shoes in one’s wardrobe can be a vital instrument. Interestingly, pink has never been a color I favor.
 
After interviewing many women in my life, I set forth employing the shoe as a vessel filling their concealed pockets with objects exploring themes present during 7 stages of the female life cycle: The BABY is all things new, fun; the YOUTH is about learning, games, toys; the TEEN is about secrets, new feelings of love, lust, danger; the YOUNG ADULT is traveling the map of life, on the journey,  figuring it out; the ADULT is doing it, dealing with it, living with it, all of it - work, spouse hood, parenthood, packed full; the MID-LIFE/LATER-LIFE ADULT is going through changes in the body and hormones, static feelings, affairs; and the ELDER is put away, reflective.
Only later did I make the correlation between my piece and William Shakespeare's As You Like It monologue referencing the seven ages of man:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." — Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

I Always Thought I Could Be Someone
Artemisia Gentileschi
Camille Claudel
Emily Carr
2010       Medium : integrated media – acrylic on board, 2 layers of embroidery on fabric      Size : 3 @ 8”x10”

 Various concepts motivated me to create these pieces; the idea of women being seen as an object (preferably easy to look at) with her identity tucked away inside, my affinity towards the female artist kinship, the use of visible stitching symbolizing visible feeling or emotion which is lying right under the top layer of the woman, the concept that women are the makers of comfort and of comfortable life patterns, and the concept that one must find a pattern in one’s life to create balance and to “make things work”.
 Layered with symbolism, these three pieces are lovely, pristine objects. Each piece is constructed of layers of embroidery stretched over painted images of three historically notable female artists; Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian born 1593), Camille Claudel (French born 1864), and Emily Carr (Canadian born 1871). Both layers of stitching are on toile. What is different about stitching on this fabric is that the front of the stitches and the back of the stitches are both visible, leaving no room to hide anything. Thus, limiting the type of stitching that can be executed seeing as the underneath and the surface are both in sight.  Symbolically while I was working, this was a constant reminder that I had to get back to the border’s edge each time I trailed off toward the center and that I had to be able to get back to the edge prior to the thread running out. The under-stitching suggests passionate energy underneath the more reserved female surface. In terms color, the inside layer (though a little difficult to distinguish in the final pieces), are more warm in temperature and the outside layers more cool.

Preserving Traditions
2010       Medium : integrated media  – oil on canvas, lipsticks on shelves      Size : 90”x14” [(6)-paintings @ 10”x10” with (5)-shelves @ 6”w. between] 

 When I was a child I used to play with my grandmother’s lipsticks. I can still recall their waxy scent. Girls and women seem to have an innate desire to add color to their faces and lips. Curious as to why, I wonder, is it to feel grown-up, pretty, pampered, feminine, or to attract attention? Exploring this aspect of femininity, Preserving Traditions’ influence is the ritual of women wearing lipstick, coloring their lips, and employing their lips for expression. This installation captures some of the nuances of a woman’s pair of lips. Lips naturally show emotion and after adding lipstick to them a woman’s lips can appear sexy, sad, alluring, pursed and cold, innocent, or friendly.

Fire in the Night Series
Heartscape for Camille Claudel
Fire in the Night for Artemisia Gentileschi
Fire in the Night for Joan of Arc
2010      Medium : oil on canvas      3 @ 14”x14”

 The paintings in this series represent the lives of 3 historical females; Joan of Arc, Camille Claudel, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Their lives, no matter how short, were like fires in the night; passionate, bold, and embodied purpose and meaning.

Energy Within Series
Artemisia’s Fingers
Body Architecture; Josephine
Submergence; Camille
This World and That; Pocahontas
Vision; Joan of Arc
2008, 2009      Medium : oil on canvas      Size : 5 @ 30”x36” 

 In the energy paintings the red symbolizes a number of things; it represents an internal strength that we must have to survive this life; our internal source of strength, fire, and passion. Moreover, the red is an atmosphere. It is an internal space, vast, bloodlike. Conversely, it is also a hurt that the woman/female carries with her. The white areas, thin veiling layers of paint, represent our skin. They work to contain the red. We all have a common internal well of emotion that we keep hidden. These feelings germinate and churn over and over upon themselves. We keep it in. It swirls around and stays hidden. Until one day it starts to overflow, seeping from the edges. The edges try as they may to contain the seepage. The cover grows thin and tares creating holes and openings in the surface and emotion is revealed and takes life. 

 In these pieces, the women represented overcame great obstacles. They are Artemisia Gentileschi – a painter; the first woman to be accepted into the Academy in Florence. Persistence must have been her strong suit as it pulled her through a trial that ruined her honor in which she was the victim of a rape but was deemed the guilty one who caused it. Josephine Bonaparte – she survived the Bastille; it is said that it impacted her ability to produce children. It tore her heart apart she knew she had to honor Napoleon’s wish to divorce so he could produce an heir. Camille Claude – sculptor in her own right, she became a student and lover of Rodin. At a time in France when being a woman was not easy, being a female sculptor even harder, her life turned tragic, others, her own family, literally caged her in. Pocahontas– caught between two worlds, the white man’s and her native people’s, love versus spirit and home.  Joan of Arc – she was an amazing brave force against the British for her people. She led in battle empowering the people of France. She was captured, tried as a heretic, and was killed in the market in Rouen.

Wedding Dresses, For the Young Woman Drawing
2006       Medium : embroidery on silk over postcards      Size : 5 @ 4”x6”

Paying homage to a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, titled Young Woman Drawing, these pieces contemplate the life of the female as artist versus the traditional role of one half of a couple. The painting was acquired by the museum in 1917. At that time the painter was anonymous though thought to be Jacques-Louis David. However, it is now believed to be painted by a woman, Constance Marie Charpentier or possibly even Marie Denise Villers. I first encountered this painting in 1991 and it stopped me in my tracks. Drawn to this woman, I felt a powerful pull to her by what seemed to be a knowing I shared with her. She has appeared in my work since then. 

 I relate to the psychological content of the work as an artist, as a female artist. I see a dual longing in the young woman’s eyes. She desires to be everything that society dictates her to be, an attractive woman, a devoted wife. Yet she also has a longing to be an artist. In the 19^th century a woman represented at a window was construed as cage, confined, trapped. Is this piece suggesting that she is trapped inside with her art? Is a woman “with art” scorned by society? And the couple outside, because that woman is in a relationship, is she given freedom in society? Is the work on the drawing board is guiding her way?

 The wedding dresses are embroidered upon a sheer silk fabric which is stretched over postcards. The dresses hovering, person-less, crafted by hand. Even female artists long to be devoted wives. Can devoted wives be artists? Does a woman have to choose? 

Memories of Ivanhoe
1998       Medium : oil on canvas, shelves with demitasse cups       Size : 142”x18” [(8)-paintings @ 9”x10” with (7)-wood shelves @ 10”w. between]

 This installation honors a set of demitasse cups which was given to me by my maternal grandmother ~ the pattern name, Ivanhoe. One of my fondest memories is drinking tea with my grandmother from these cups. Although I do not recall being held by my grandmother, the cups represent warmth and security as I peer into their depths. The warm glow from the tiny receptacles and the tiny openings represented in the canvases somehow seem as safe and secure as my grandmother’s arms might have been. The cups are used as a symbol of femininity, a holding receptacle of warmth. And the paintings also symbolize femininity for essentially the same reason. 

Wounds That Never Bleed; Diana
1998, 2009       Medium : Integrated Media: 4 oil on canvas           Size : 111”x24”x9” [(3)-paintings @ 11”x12” & (1)@ 48”x24” , 3-shelves 10” w., (2)-pair leather gloves, (1)-pebble

 Inspired by an English legend of a place known as The Silent Pool in Kent England, many centuries ago, a lady drowned in this pool and to this day the woods surrounding it are hauntingly silent. The woman, while bathing, was pursued by a passing man on horseback. She backed further and further into the water and as it got deeper she lost her footing. She drowned while the man watched. His desire to obtain her beauty was so strong that he harmed and destroyed it. During my creation of this installation the death of Diana Princess of Wales occurred. This tragic event became an additional source of inspiration. The correlation between the legend and the death of the Princess is fascinating. In an attempt to obtain a portion of her, society ended her life. Beauty, internal or external, a curse. 

 I have exhibited this installation in its entirety and in selection sections. Though the inspiration remains the same, the groupings’ content and meaning modify based upon the symbolic meaning the viewer brings to the piece.