Todd Lyon's Still Life with Mortality. Ruby Szekeres Photos.
A single orange candle stands beside two clocks and a golden statue in front of a backdrop of pictures. Roses, poppies, daisies and other flowers bloom in every corner. A sketch of a rat darts under a pile of books. A little woman stands in the center of it all. This is her universe.
For artist Todd Lyon, the careful mind behind the canvas, it is a chance to reflect on her own relationship with mortality. For others, like Guilford Art Center (GAC) Education Coordinator Ashley Seneco, it's a reminder of her nonna’s bedroom, an offering full of various keepsakes representing the life she lived.
That painting was just one of many that delighted, surprised, and moved visitors at the GAC last Saturday, as the organization opened its exhibition Remember You Must Live: On Life, Loss and Impermanence. Curated by Seneco with work from dozens of Connecticut and New England artists, the work presents multiple approaches to death and dying, from still life paintings that vibrate with color to more macabre scenes and multi-media installations that feel on time for Halloween.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 30 at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St. in Guilford.
“I’m thrilled to see how many people this theme resonated with. A theme that is so universal.” Seneco said. “We should focus on what we do in life.”
Seneco was inspired by her studies of the Dutch Renaissance during her time at the University of Albany, and the Latin phrase "memento mori," meaning, “remember you must die.”
As a child, she had little experience with loss, but growing up as a young adult, she was forced to cope with it. “I looked to not grieving in a way that made me sad, but celebration of life,” she said. “Death is something that isn’t bad or good.”
She does that now by making new traditions. On All Souls’ Day, for instance, she holds a gathering with friends, during which each brings a photo of a loved one and talks about the good in their lives.
Around the gallery, that concept took flight in as many different ways and mediums as there were artists. For Bethany Ballou, who has worked as a funeral director for over a decade, the exhibition represented an opportunity to branch into artmaking for the first time—a pastime that she now knows she loves. In particular, making work for this exhibition has given her space to both decompress from her job and delve into the subject matter that surrounds her at work.
When she first saw the open call for artists several months ago, Ballou got to work on creating two prints, starting off with sketches and then turning them onto prints through the process of linocut. Before the first hour could even go by, she had sold her print “Thine Own Red String of Fate,” which featured a red string that ran between a body and skeleton.
Inspired by the red string of fate theory, she said she sought to show the viewer that it isn’t specifically a soulmate people are connected to, but their inner selves.
On the other side of the room was her second piece, “Death’s Last Stitch,” in which the Grim Reaper looked mournfully on as he finished a quilt.
“He’s stitching this quilt which is a life,” Ballou said. “He’s been there every moment, watching us grow. When he comes to the last stitch, even he regrets cutting the thread.”
“Is it morbid?” Guilford-based artist Bruce Tolman asked as he walked over to his work, and began to describe it. “It’s the process of going through loss, grief and recovery.”
Despite what some might find as a grim topic, Tolman saw it as refreshing. “It’s very joyful.” He gestured around him. The room was not dark and somber, but bright and bubbling with conversation. He was drawn to the theme of the show as his art emanated that idea.
A lifelong artist, Tolman grew up in Guilford right next to the water. As an adult, he lived in Miami. In retirement, he decided to return to his hometown. Soon he felt stuck in a seemingly endless darkness of recovery from various health problems.
Despite not painting for a while, he convinced himself to pick up a paint brush again and live. He always painted the same thing though: two dark trees and between them, light.
“I realized it was a metaphor for a rough patch, darkness on both sides, but heading into the light.”
“Theres a lot of variety of mediums,” New Haven-based artist Rebekah Fraser chimed in. “But also in tone. Some of the works are very clearly aligned with the theme, but some, you really need to think about. We all are born. We all die. We all deal with grief in different ways.”
Her own piece, Cycle (kal akall) was an acrylic painting on a scroll she did two years ago. An eye in the top right corner shed what appeared to be flower petals. Death cannot be controlled, it seemed to say. This was no macabre depiction of fearing death, but another stage of life.
“I think (the show) it’s beautiful,” GAC Executive Director Maureen Belden said. “It’s a real affirmation of life."
Remember You Must Live: On Life, Loss and Impermanence runs through Oct. 30 at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St. in Guilford. Click here for more information about the Guilford Art Center.