Artist's Statement:
"These paintings portray an intentionally literal interpretation of the games and rituals I remember from childhood. The children are involved in experiments to create one thing from another; rose-coloured clouds from blood and tears, perfume from petals, and liquors "distilled" to cure imagined ills . Utensils and raw ingredients found in their immediate domestic surroundings are used in their play to mimic the instruments of the alchemist. They are workmanlike about the tasks they are doing, regarding them as essential and natural within their imagination. This reflects the adult world they observe from the safe perspective of their childhood landscape".
I too recall playing such games: near my house in a wooded area was a tree stump with a gouged out area where a knot was. This naturally bowl-shaped indentation seemed like the place for grinding up leaves and berries of nearby plants to make...what did we think, poultices? Creams? A potion to be used for...who knows? I feel it proves there is some kind of yearning for alchemy built-in to our psyches.
http://www.heathernevay.net/
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