Isaac

My son Isaac is now 18 years old and this representation of him is from when he was eight years old. I’ve been holding onto this image of him for a decade, an image that had to be art. It wasn’t until after I completed this portrait that I understood what it was saying to me. I didn’t realize how much this image says about him and his journey. This expression he’s wearing his face in this portrait is what he wore a lot as a kid. In our house, we call this expression mean mugging. He’s got a beautiful intensity about him which was certainly not lost on you if he was “mean mugging” you. I think he wore this expression like armor and I think he felt mad at the world a lot of the time. Isaac is different. And I say that proudly and with great pleasure. But it posed many challenges for him growing up. He was born a gifted and persuasive leader, with a fighting warrior’s spirit. Physically he was a sight to behold. Faster and more acrobatic than anyone. I use to watch him fight imaginary “guhs-guhs” or monsters in the yard and he would run and flip and climb up a tree, jump back down, and throw himself on the ground all to win the fight. He’s incredibly gifted spiritually and I get the sense that he’s spent his life preparing for something that I can not see but he can. 

All of these extraordinarily beautiful gifts would have been exactly what was needed, what was natural to become a great leader or warrior several hundred years ago. He would have been so revered. People would have traveled miles to hear of his visions. There's still time for that, but his gifts were often not welcome in a classroom where the expectation would be that as a child you aren’t a leader you're a follower, and as a student you're much more successful if you simply sit in stillness and listen. This exceptional child of mine experienced a great degree of pain for being who he was because often those around him (I’m absolutely including myself) would struggle leading with patience and understanding instead of frustration and anger which sometimes came more naturally. We often joke about how he drove us all crazy. As an adult now, with a great sense of humor and more mature perspective, he can laugh with us and us with him about all the crazy sh** that went down. The pieces of his portrait are more rectangular instead of circles like the rest of the portraits. We’ve always said that his life experience was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. His portrait being done this way was not intentional, or I should say it was not intentionally representational of this. The connection hit like a brick well after the portrait was completed. The outfit he's wearing is that of a man’s not a boys, which is why it's falling off of him several sizes too large. The goldfinches are swarming him. And like a bees nest, you can get stung but the goldfinches are filling him with such sweetness, such valuable and remarkable gifts that being close to this young man is definitely worth the risk of being stung. 

Exhibitions:

“Identity” The Atrium at the Bloomington Art Center, Bloomington, MN U.S.A Sept 21- Nov 5, 2023

“Identity” The Edge Center, Big Fork, Minnesota U.S.A July 1 - July 31, 2023

“Identity” Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins MN U.S.A. May 18 -June 17, 2023

“Identity” Great River Arts, Little Falls Minnesota U.S.A. Jan 1- March 1, 2023

“Identity” Northwest Art Center, Minot State University, Minot North Dakota U.S.A Nov 1-Dec. 1, 2022

“Identity” The Whit Gallery, St. Cloud, Minnesota U.S.A March 25 - April 16, 2022

“Of An Era: International Juried Exhibition: The Art Effect, Poughkeepsie, NY Nov. 5 - Dec. 9th 2021

“31st International Juried Exhibition” Viridian Artists Contemporary Art Gallery, New York NY Sept. 7 - Oct. 2, 2021

“May Group Exhibition”: The Jones Gallery Kansas City, Missouri May 7- 28, 2021

”Prelude” Invitational @ The White Gallery, St. Cloud Minnesota U.S.A May 1 - June 26, 2021

“Identity” Duluth Art Institute, Duluth Minnesota, October 2020 - January 2021

“Borders 2020” Venice International Art Fair, Venice Italy (July 23 -Aug 21, 2020)

“Identity Portraits” Watermark Art Center, Bemidji Minnesota, January 10th -March 28th, 2020