Black oil based ink on kitakata paper. The carving was
done on poplar wood.
When I first thought of this idea it was for a Day of the Dead
exhibit for Lake Erie College. I made just one print and that was it.
However, when it was time to come up with ideas for Exchange #3, I
couldn't help thinking of death again, since my mother had just died.
I pulled out the print to have a look and realized the straw hat on
death was like the hat my uncle wore the last time I saw him. My
mother had been very close to her brother (Coleman) and he had
already died a number of years ago. So, when I renewed this print for
the exchange, I titled it this because I saw Uncle Cole as Death
dancing my mother (Mikki) out the door.
Praise: I really like the way the gouge strokes make
the bones, very skeletal feel, & how instead of a negative space,
here the white is positive, in the fore.
Suggestions: I think the gouge strokes in the background, left
& right, would fade back more if done with a different size or
texture, than the rest of the print
The reason I did the strokes this way is that I
wanted the death scene to include the background because of the
transition of life to death. I wanted the whole image to be melded
into one event.
Comments: Funny how themes appear in an exchange, and maybe with
the millennium. I think of Holbein's 'Dance of Death' to a mariachi
beat. Very nice (& I really like having two of the hat series--
they play off each other).
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