ON THE FENCE & ON FIRE
Outsider artist-in-residence
Alison Spiesman/Baltimore
 
MANIFEST: Magic~Mystery~Miracle, Canvas as Sails, Sails as Messengers, Heart on My Sleeve, Storytelling, Songs …I had a VISION to take this OUTSIDE! The World had stopped 2020, I was stuck in total isolation, then LOCKDOWN, an Emotional Abyss. See Project: Graffiti Bridge above. Post my Third Rock Bottom Holiday Season, this “Shoot from the Hip” productions was born. Stepping back to Oct. of 2020, a desperate trip south to have human contact, to household, to hug my 92-year-old Mom (mommer), see some kin and get my head screwed on straight, everything was escalating with all that had gone down, pandemic, civil uprising, election year, I could no longer stand alone. Upon my return the last of 2020, Holiday Season for many, I STOPPED EVERYTHING: Art, TV, MUSIC, in a constant meditation, incense and prayer. Seeking Higher Spiritual Ground AND making room in my soul for MAGIC.
 
I was additionally still trying to Rebuild, Discover What was Left of Me, Who I was Now, SO MANY BROKEN PARTS, New Parts, Short Circuits, and Misfires in my Operative System …Dealing with My Second Great Loss, as a Double Down Widow, 2003 & again 2018. I was in the land of “Lost Souls”, (recent Pixar movie SOUL reference). Major Grief barely patched together 2019, only to SPIRAL Down, COVID year, Like So Many.
 
ENTER: “a spark”, a Spiritual Healer, a Witch Doctor, maybe a Devil Goat, He was Deep, Dark, Mysterious, able to Reach to my Core, he could find me, see me, understand me, later he would post, “He was her dark fairytale, and She was his twisted fantasy; Together they made Magic”. F. Scott Fitzgerald
 
ON THE FENCE & ON FIRE, was built on Blind Faith, Intuition, possibly Time Travel, a Living MANIFEST; The SPELL is dual; I refer to it as a (collaborative work). 8 Raw Canvas, 5’x9’, utilizing Art Park Project wrap around fence as stretchers, experimental, uncharted territory, roof nails to anchor, weather stretched fabric, taunt on planks of wood, incorporating signature gold gesso and imprinted fence pattern, new self-taught language of graffiti spray paint, adding a new limited pallet layer of acrylic, add to this my forte final layer of oils. “The Build Up” My Man would say, both the medium and narrative built up in Layers …all of it hung out on the fence, to weather, for all to see, to bear witness to a MYSTERY.
 
Dream Scape Room of 2020, on Pop’s vintage drafting table, a small 5’x7’ alcove upstairs room, with an outside door that leads to nowhere …this I believed to be a portal for the spirits. I had conjured folks and artists, séance style most of 2020 production, while in total Isolation. For this Production, I drafted in a simple sketch book and collected images, whilst pouring over the vast library here, channeling specific artists, inspirations from the great beyond: MARISOL, Basquiat, Kahlo, Haitian Art, VooDoo, Clemente, Picasso, Banksy (still with us), Van Gogh, Mexican, Brancusi, Turner, Nikki de Saint Phalle, etc. The Sails were in Realtime, Right to Left, Spray Paint Graffiti approach first layer, as the catalyst within storyline, Next, I refer to the Acrylic Layer, as “Skeleton Tango”, (day-o-dead homage), select pallet to celebrate the black & white cultural blend, with a Final Layer of OILS, representing the spirit world ‘Astral Plane” flowing in and around each Sail/Canvas. In direct contrast to last year’s production …this work is: Joyous, Beautiful, Mysterious, Autonomous, Poetry, … a Soothsayer reflecting to me, like a Magic Mirror, recording Our Story …
 
REATIME became paramount, all too precious, I would read no more romance novels, tabloids on my phone, masterpiece theatre, public TV, entertainment became only a distraction, virtual the enemy, for me to HEAL …I Longed to: touch, see, explore, taste, smell, feel, hear, speak, kiss, even as my spirit, mind, heart Broken upon BROKEN. The WOMAN in me, was long lost at Sea, years gone by, Myself on a Shelf …for as long as I could remember, within pockets of amnesia via grief. Somehow, MAGIC Powers rescued me, I had prayed in my deepest soul, … “I can heal your mind, body, soul, …certified”, through this one mortal MAN, with ancient gifts, from a distant land, found its way through, the corridors, Art Park Project, clearing within the bedroom, cleansing, healing, peeling away layers, to mind, body, soul. *ON THE FENCE & ON FIRE is not ART it is the personal Expression of a MIRACLE.
 
Our World as We Knew it, for ALL, will never be the SAME, there will be a form of Grief for Everyone, post COVID. From casualties to illnesses, economy to properties, vocations to business, social and community disconnectedness, and even more distressing, mental and emotional health. For those that were already road weary, life of hard knocks, lessons to shape us, trials, tribulations, fires, …folks like myself survivors of great loss, inevitable pain, that may shut us down and test our faith …we must remember to meditate, express gratitude, exercise our prayers to MANIFEST, from our heart of hearts …Coupled with next AVAM www.avam.org mega exhibit prophetic and timely as ever, Lady Rebecca shared is, “HEALING and the Art of Compassion”. This Message for ALL to Lean In, that our Spiritual practices, become dedicated to Healing, Ourselves, Others, and Our World; We are All Being Called Up to Do So. Art Park Project: “Ambassadors of SMILE” Legacy, with a Bohemian Manifesto, “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love” as important as ever, 2021 adding “there’s MAGIC HERE”  ...within healing hands, a mended kintsugi heart, soul sharing, through exchanges of powerful energy and sparking new life, keeping the faith, I BELIEVE Magic~Mystery~Miracle

* This "Shoot from the Hip Producions" was developed and painted from January-July, 2021, from snow on the ground through the summer heat way; in tandem with the blossoming relationship, again "Our Story". This life's work, my most recent and powerful painting, was violated by theft of finale paintng "The KISS". Raw Vision Magazine had posted out inteneded "On The FENCE & ON FIRE" (TBA) Drive through exhbit and Grill offering, and listed me as an "Outsider Artist", this Exhibit & Event was shut down and future plans for Exhibition of the Series, PLEASE IF ANYONE Knows ANYTHING About the Wearabouts of this Finale Painting "The KISS" Contact Me, Thank You!
(note: there is a reward being offered by my editor & myself as a contant educator of the arts, professional artist & preservationist, etc. this is unfathomable, and ill fated for those who were involved; for those of us within the arts, I know you would share in my devistation, respectfully, Always in Art, Alison)