4 g J u s t o u t • apnl 6. 2001
A T
▼
erena Barton communes with ancient
souls. Annunciations and Epiphanies, her
new show of mixed-media paintings at
ON DA Gallery, explores the work of four
female artists who died centuries ago.
The 52-year-old Portland native grew up
in Eugene hut returned to her birthplace in
1965. Although she has been a professional
counselor for 23 years, she has painted seri­
ously for only about six years.
“1 don’t consciously connect them, but
people say they see a communication
between psychology and the looks on
the faces in my portraits,” she says.
Indeed, gazing at these women,
you can see the emotional
conflicts in the characters
staring back at you.
With her rich
oils, Barton
depicted the
lives o f four
female artists
who lived
from the
Medieval
through the
Baroque peri­
ods. Our his­
torical knowl­
edge of female
artists is scant
at best, so her
research is
welcome.
To what is
known about
each of them
she applies her artists imagination to fill in the
details and add depth. The result is intriguing
visual biography.
Barton enhances her paintings with collage
and text from archival record— letters, com­
mentary, images of the artist’s work—that add
critical information about her subjects.
“Layering collage and text evoke for me the
interplay of knowl­
edge and mystery
that accompanies
our efforts to under­
stand the experience
of someone from
another time and
place,” Barton
explains. The surprise
is the connection each
viewer can make with
the psyches of the
long-dead women.
Barton’s subjects are Caterina dei Vigri
(St. Catherine of Bologna), Judith Leyster,
Resurrection
Portland artist revives and revisits
the lives of four female painters
by
H eron
“ A Shipboard Declaration”
Sofonisba Anguissola and Marietta Rohusti.
“I chose these artists because their work and
lives speak to me in spite of the hundreds of
years separating us. In my inner world, previ­
ous historical periods tend to coexist with
the present.”
Caterina dei Vigri, 1413-1463, was an
Italian noblewoman who joined the C o n ­
vent o f the Poor
Clares at age 14.
She has many spiri­
tual visions recorded
and wrote books of
spiritual inspiration.
She was a writer, a
musician and a
painter. Her ideas
about self-expression
were often in conflict
with the teachings of
the church, which
directed her to he self-effacing and obedient.
“I am interested in the tension between
the artist Cateri­
na and the nun
who became St.
Catherine. A p­
parently, she suf­
fered a lot in try­
ing to reconcile
these roles,” Bar­
ton says, “hut
she was a strong
and capable
woman and
overcame
many
Sofonisba Remembers”
difficulties.”
Judith Leyster, 1609-1699, was a
marriage for her, and she died at age 30 in
Dutch painter from Haarlem who start­
childbirth. Her father’s output greatly decreased
ed selling her work at age 15. Until
after that. “Hmm,” Barton muses. “1 wonder
recently, much of her work was attrib­
how she felt about not going to Spain? How
uted to men. She married another
did she move from the role of tomboy to the
painter and had several children, but
model of female deportment?” At least one of
only one of her paintings is extant
her paintings had been attributed to her father.
today from the period after her mar­
Barton’s work reminds us that gynophobia
riage. Did her husband forbid her to
has existed for a very long time. We can expect
paint, or was she too overwhelmed
that in centuries past, women’s work was
with the work of being a wife and mother?
undervalued and harshly judged, just as it often
is today. Then as now, it would have been
Sofonisba Anguissola lived in Italy from
1535 until 1625. She was lucky enough to be
judged by men. Subject matter would have
been limited, ideas censored. Women with spe­
educated along with her brothers— an unusual
privilege for women of that era. She became
cial powers were being burned at the stake in
lady-in-waiting and
huge numbers. Women
court painter for King
were expected— no,
Philip of Spain. “I
required— to marry or
can imagine that
join a nunnery. The
going alone to anoth­
idea that some of these
er country’s court as
women might have been
she did was a coura­
lesbians does not even
geous and difficult
arise, because that was
act,” Barton guesses.
not even a concept then.
“She lived to a ripe
So, how did a woman
old age and did pretty
of talent and self-respect
much as she pleased.’
survive? Barton the
Marietta Rohusti,
counselor informs Barton
“ Sofonisba at Court”
1560-1590, was a
the painter, and the chal­
famous portrait painter and musician known as
lenges these women endured enter these
La Tintoretta. She was invited to go to the
insightful paintings. J H
court of King Philip of Spain, but her father,
the famed painter Tintoretto, forbade her to go,
A nnunciations and E piphanies runs through
as he needed her with him.
April 24 at ONDA Gallery, 2215 N .E. Alberta St.
“Emotional dependence? Needed her in the
workshop?" Barton ponders. He arranged a
HERON is a Portland free-lance writer and artist.
W c ' k
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