Revision of Liz Downing's portfolio from Sun, 01/03/2021 - 19:39

Oh little cabin in my soul, I am thief and I am guard

Created in March of 2020, in isolation.
I was invited to create a toy theater piece.

I created this sound piece with Michael Willis, from home sounds that I collected with a PCM field recorder, of backyard chickens, keyboard typing rhythm, boiling water and coffee perculating. I sang along with this home sound track just a little while I moved the puppets.

The story is this; The Hand puppet with Reptile Eye, who is me, would love to steal the light . The Moon , protector of the light within the cabin is me also and will not allow the theft.

Cosmic Cabin with Thief and Guard MOV
Moon and the Loblolly

With Underworld Orchard, (Hanna Olivegren, Steve Strohmeier and Liz Downing) I created and performed this crankie. I have performed this scrolling panorama of images in many settings including the Baltimore Museum of Art and Black Cherry Puppet Theater.
Dirt

Plant a seed. Grow sapling tall. Fell the tree. Build a home. Fire eats home. Ground eats wood. Wood is dirt. Dirt wants seed.
A Wish from the last pages of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. 2021

This piece is a vertical crankie, 6" wide which I created for a mini crankie festival in the winter of 2021.

My Soul Boat, Your Soul Boat

Tears will lift your boat, Tears will become the river that will take you somewhere. In this particular place you will see the Dagon Twins dancing to the Dirt song, and the soul boat being tossed on existential waves.

This sound piece, I created in May 2020 with collaborator, Allison Clendaniel. The visual, I recorded alone on my iphone using hand held puppets moving to a sound track by Lurch and Holler, (Liz Downing, Michael Willis). Allison Clendaniel and I added vocals and Allison created further sound layers with James Young on Oboe .
Full credits are at the end of the piece.

Moon tells us as directed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Tears will take you somewhere. Tears will become a river and lift your boat off the dry rocks on the psyche's shore."
Dogon Fish God Man Twins dance to the music of the Seed, with these words:
Plant a tree
Grow sappling tall
Fell the tree
Build a Home
Fire Eats Home
Ground Eats Wood
Wood is Dirt
Dirt wants Seed

Your Soul Boat, My Soul Boat

Tears will become the river that will take you somewhere. In this particular place you will see the Dagon Twins dancing to the Dirt song, and the soul boat being tossed on existential waves. This sound piece, I created in May 2020 with collaborator, Allison Clendaniel. The visual, I recorded alone on my iphone using hand held puppets moving to a sound track by Lurch and Holler, (Liz Downing, Michael Willis). Allison Clendaniel and I added vocals and Allison created further sound layers with James Young on Oboe . Full credits are at the end of the piece. Moon tells us as directed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Tears will take you somewhere. Tears will become a river and lift your boat off the dry rocks on the psyche's shore." Dagon Fish God Man Twins dance to the music of the Seed, with these words: Plant a tree Grow sapling tall Fell the tree Build a Home Fire Eats Home Ground Eats Wood Wood is Dirt Dirt wants Seed
The Everlasting Dance between the Once and Future Trees

This piece, gouache on black board, was created in 2021. The Sound Art is by "In the Womb of the Everywhere Room", Liz Downing, Allison Clendaniel with synth and musical arrangements by Greg Hatem. In this piece, the Byzantine Devil dances with the wooden Bat, an ancient enemy, friend.
A Wish from the last pages of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. 2021

May you be born in a Lotus Blossom. Lotus flowers for your hair. Floating upon a lake of fire. Lillie pad will be your chair. Should you not, the Lotus Blossom, should you choose instead a womb, choose then well the door to enter, choose then well, a loving womb. May you be born Remembering. This is a 6" scroll of images, with song Gouache, ink and colored pencil on paper
Venus crankie

Crankie with no sound Scrolling images illustrating the story of Venus..Who in 500BCE, according to Velikovsky, would come dangerously close to the Earth's surface, causing violent disruptions. The women of the Babylonian communities would crawl onto their rooftops offering tall cakes. They would levitate the cakes with their voices, ringing vibrations against the mountains, which can still be felt today.
O little cabin in my soul, I am thief and I am guard.
Dirt
Moon and the Loblolly

Crankie with song
Moments before waking March 2020

Early in the pandemic, I used pieces of field recordings and my home environment, coffee maker, backyard chickens clucking through the window, to make a sound track for moving my paintings in and around the "stage".
New You

One day, I was walking and I saw New You. Sound created by "In the Womb of the Everywhere Room", Allison Clendaniel, Liz Downing with arrangements by Greg Hatem. Summer 2021
Mama Ubu Pappa Ubu MOV

Dadaist Toy Theater, Reading of Ubu Roi. In March 2020, I was invited to create a reading of any part of Ubu Roi, a play by Alfred Jarry, by Joanna Klass of Curie City, Warsaw Poland.

Black is the Backdrop of the Universe

When working against black, every dot is evident and every mark is meaningful. To me the series is about reduction, even before beginning. Which marks are necessary and which marks are implied? I love to paint the cosmos in this way. Every dot is a galaxy. Every dash is an eon.

Scorpio Moon.

The Moon is a piece of the Earth, a favorite fact. This is an oil painting on a flat circle of wood against a black back drop. I attach this moon to a stick and hold it like a sign, while singing songs of longing to the Loblolly Pine. 25"x 30" x 1/2" 2018
Stump with Agency and Means

This piece is on Black board, images created with gouache and ink. 32"H x22"W . Created in January 2021. The stumps around the lake are underwater half the year. When the town was first flooded, the trees were tall and old already. The Alabama Power Company flooded valleys and towns by damming the Tallapoosa River. The water level is raised and lowered according to the power needed by nearby towns. Some times of year we get to visit the stumps, some times of year we don't.
Cosmic Laundry

A drawing for a theatrical set placed in the Bardo. 2019 22'x32" Gouache on black board
Dress blowing in the cosmic microwave background winds

Gouache on black paper, 2020.
Human Cabin Under the Cosmos

The human cabin with her domestic scene, exists under the murmuring of the Cosmos.This is a detail of larger piece which is 22"x32".Gouache on black paper 2019
Breasted Lantern

From the lantern series, an oil lamp on black. To create form with lines is a beautiful trick, one I will never tire of. This breasted lantern magnifies light.
Leading the Way with Tears

This Merbirdhuman is traveling the darkest path at the loneliest hour. This piece is from the Lantern Series and is Gouache, Ink and colored pencil, 22"x 32".
Twilight Visitors to the Rooted One

These are images in several shades of black and several shades of white. They depict a visit between elementals, archetypes at a fragile and shimmering time of day.
Human Cabin
Cosmic Bouquet in a Shroud

Flowers and funerals make a beautiful pair. Gouache on black with colored pencil. 2019 22"x 32"

Story Boarding Monsters

Within the grids on black paper, with gouache, I catalog the dream actions of childhood monsters who have continued to live into my adulthood. These monsters are: The bear who got off the train and crushed a path through the pines to my family's living room, where we all sat. The goblin who lived under the slop sink, behind the mops and brooms. My dead grandfather's head, which appeared in the corner of the room, more opaque on anxious days. The girl with a Moon Head who followed me too closely. The crusty drunk, being frighteningly unaware.

Detail of Lifting the Veil in Small Squares

Monsters, Heroes and Flowers in gouache with colored pencil. This is a detail of a 22"x 33" drawing, created in 2019.
Corn and Moon and the Sisters Inside the Wood

Monsters arise during the phases of sleep and inform the dreamer of the deepest layers of existence.
Moonheads sing the stories

Life in all it's death talk makes us long for the Moon and our Mothers. Gouache and colored pencil. 25" x 34" 2019
Punch the Monster

The life in the subconscious links with the lives of all others. Here, I am displaying the dreams of my childhood and how they have informed my life. Gouache and colored pencil on black. 2019
Bear got off the Train

My dead Grandfather's head appeared in the corner of the room and never left.
Me and Momma went to town, to the Piggly Wiggly .

Dreams of the first Americans making their way into daylight but on the other side of the veil, I am riding into town with my Mother to the Piggly Wiggly, to the Big Bear, grocery stores with animal names. Gouache and colored pencil 2019
Moon Headed, planted by moonlight
Decomposing parents
Monster over my shoulder

In a dream, just before giving birth, I dreamt that my baby was tied to a crusty drunk who was unaware. I was running after them, but running in place. This piece was created in 2019 as part of an effort to decipher dreams by capturing the main action and turning them into psyche dramas or hieroglyphs.
In a boat, casting stars

Casting stars from a boat, My dead Grandfather's head, the Bear who got off the Train, the Goblin under the Slop Sink, all are in these squares as I try to make into symbols these actions from dreams.

Dream Images in scrolling panoramas

This group of work is from a series of ink and gouache drawings on large sheets of deeply colored paper. These are illustrations of dreams, or paring down of dreams into an image, then into a symbols. I have experienced these dreams during pivitol points of upheaval and change in my life. Each dream is illustrated in 6-8 drawings and taped together, end to end and wound onto a scroll. Then I roll the drawings through a viewing window, in a device called a Crankie. I accompany these scrolling drawings with songs, which I hope further illuminate the meanings.

The Moon and the Loblolly

The Moon has long wished to nest in the boughs of the Loblolly Pine, but in her crashing down, she broke all the loblolly's boughs. Knowing this to be true, they cried, they kissed. Gouache and Ink on Orange Paper, 2018.
Lighting the Way, We Need All the Animals

A bird merhuman traveling through Red carries a lantern. I used mostly dots and dashes of black ink and white gouache on red board. 30" x 30" 2019
In the Rosy Dawn Waiting

The psychic stump waits for now, while the archetypes swim up or perch for renewing visits.
Baptist Church Steeple came flowing, bell ringing

In this dream, womb waters had just broken and sent a flood down the river, sweeping away church steeples and household items.
Pink Goblin sat under the slop sink.

From the Dream series, The Goblin lived under the slop sink behind the mops and the brooms. The Goblin would rise and sway, wide smile, when I passed by. And I would be running and running in place.
Apron and hands
Air Newly Formed

The Air in this dream was like Air that had never before been lived in or breathed.
Bear on the train

This Bear was always riding the train in my recurring dream. He would get off the train deep in the woods and head toward my family home. I knew he was coming and I was always, in the dream, trying to reposition my family from the couch and recliner, so they wouldn't be crushed by the bear's footsteps. The Bear grew larger with each step and I grew smaller as he approached.
Babylonian Bulls, carved from stone

From the walls along the staircase in the Palace of Darius, two great bulls were fighting. Later in a dream, on a high red dirt plateau, I saw from my bird's eye view, the same two bulls, drowning in the quickly rising waters. Ink and Gouache, 22"x 32" 2018
Anxious Moon

From the Moon series, the skies articulate the state of the psyche. Gouache and ink on red board, to be cut out for a hand held puppet. 2019

The Sun and Moon Series

These pale colored papers of Cerulean, Robins Egg and Blush, allow the transparencies of the sky, such as the motion of the clouds and the faces of the Deities, to be seen. Using gouache and ink, I can draw with liquid lines, the silhouettes of pines, whom I love. How better to conjure water than with another liquid. Dots and lines of white gouache are capable to describe light on water. All these things make it possible for me to relay the beauty of the land and water and calm the angst for a little while. All the paper is 22"x 32" and year created was 2017.

Moon Adoring the Pine

The Moon, for many seasons has watched the Pine grow and longs to rest in the Pine's boughs.
Starry Headed Aunt, caring for the stand of Pines

In this Gouche and Ink drawing, the motion of the Galaxies, with lacy arms is directing the wind and crows.
Mother Arms

Mother Arms envelope the Lonely Pine, who is awaiting the Moon.
Western Pine with Cosmic Hands

In this Ink and Gouache drawing, the Lonesome Pine is the lookout of the Moss Covered Stone and the Cosmic Hands are the Lookout for the Pine.
Dark Moon Calling
Deity swallowing the sunrise
Twilight, Roosting Crow in Rosy Horizon

These two trees are tall pines, the favorites of local crows.
Seeded Face, Dark Mother, welcomes the crows and then shooooes them away.
Bird Terrarium

Crows live in the terrarium dress, worn by the Mother.
IMG_0600.jpg

Piggly Wiggly

These ink drawings were created for illustrating a song. The drawings will be put on a roll and cranked to roll past a viewing window as I sing their story. This group of drawings was created for the Crankie Festival at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD in 2016

Me and Mama went to town
To the Piggly Wiggly, to the Big Bear
grocery stores with animal names
grocery stores filled with poison creme
like creme horns and creme puffs
like the creme filled check out lady.

Their eyes were made of stone.
Their fingers only pointed upward
Starring Angel
Plastic Bouquet
Creme Filled Check Out Lady
Creme Horns
Big Bear
Mama
Piggly Wiggly
taxidermy bear

Shape Shifters on the Tallapoosa River

These are paintings on canvas using oil and are mostly involving the action which occurs when matter is transforming.
The air and the glow from within the beings of these paintings are engaged in a song, humming vibrations which I strain always to hear.
This work was created between the years of 2011 and 2015.

Ancestor

This oil on canvas is of the ancestors whose burial ground is under the lake. This lake was created by damming the Tallapoosa River. The resulting lake flooded many small towns and burial grounds.
Stuffed Doll with Eye Portals

The guide on the doll's shoulder will lead you into which ever eye portal you wish to enter.
Bottle Tree for Haints

There is a tradition in Alabama of hanging bottles in a tree just outside the door of a newly deceased person. The newly dead will try to enter the old home place but will be sucked into the bottles instead. Releaving the living inhabitants of the problem of haints.
spirit animal reflection

Looking deep into the water you will find your true reflection.
Spirit underneath, ready to rise

Just before dawn, the spirits rise from the water and float around the fields until the dew falls again. This painting is oil on canvas.
Cloud Spirit

Impish cloud spirit, waiting for the proper moment to spring. oil on canvas
Spirit rider

Ghost hat, worn by a horse person, when attending a cloud stirring ceremony.
Stag on Pink

This oil on canvas is of a Stag in August.
Doll stuffed with Clouds

This oil on canvas is a portrait of a stuffed doll that I stitched with needle and thread, against a cloud filled sky.
sky ceremonial headdress

I painted the sky years ago and waited for someone to come inhabit it. One morning in the still darkness, I began to stitch with paint this hood and then the ties for the deer head, not knowing from stitch to stitch what was about to appear.