Blended Beings

After I published Raven in Black Lace, I started thinking of ways to promote my book, and “get it out there”. Involving other artists seemed like a fun idea.

Branna, the heroine of Raven in Black lace, is half human, half witch. She calls herself a “half-breed”. What if I could involve other artists with similar subject matter on this theme?

I contacted my friend and fellow artist Janet Morgan, suggesting a show that would be about these hybrid creatures, also suggesting blends of cultures, races, and genders, as well as the more traditional hybrids such as satyrs and mermaids.

The term “half-breed” is offensive, so we thought of “hybrid”. No, too scientific-sounding. Then I thought of the phrase ”blended beings”, which worked!

We approached Susan O’Rourke from Artfront Galleries in Newark, where Janet is on the Board, and she liked our idea, and we had a show in the works!

Our selection process was fun, although we didn’t get as many explorations of culture, race and gender as we had hoped. Also, too many mermaid images! But we did end up with a glorious, surprising and varied group of artworks to show.

A special and wonderful collaboration ensued when my friend Joanna Powell, a modern dancer, suggested dancing the part of Raven at the opening! The attached video shows how wonderfully she created the “space between worlds” which all witches inhabit.