"One thing I think about is the way decoration presents, often in spite of itself, a cultural truth," artist Jane Irish muses. "It's what the culture believes right now that the messages should be. If I assume that the truth is different and start from there, I do it in the hope that we can let go of these horrible histories and start in a new place."
Irish's painting "Sông Hương" is on display at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville as part of the "Tempera" focus exhibition through Oct. 14. Egg tempera painting is an ancient form of the medium that involves mixing egg yolk with color pigments. The medium is fast-drying and is sometimes thought of as very strict because of the methodical approach required.
FAQ
Jane Irish:
Artist-Led Workshop
WHEN — 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville
COST — $80; $72/members
INFO — 657-2335, crystalbridges.org, janeirish.com
Irish will lead an adult workshop at the museum dedicated to a sense of freedom and color as she walks students through step-by-step demonstrations on varying grounds and approaches. In her own work, Irish is drawn to the translucent opacity and organic quality of the form.
"My early work has affinity to Paul Cadmus, which I see as having three layers, the first, a color wash (in order to work a kind of Josef Albers interaction of color theory). The second layer has little lines that vibrate -- light blue or light orange on a violet ground, for example. And then continuing for a third layer in response to develop a three-dimensional character.
"When I recently wrote to Raoul Middleman (born 1935)," she adds, "he wrote back with this lovely quote:"
"What I discovered, to my amazement, about egg tempera was the way mediocre colors like terra verde and yellow ochre came alive in that medium."
Irish aims to share as much of her knowledge of the process as possible at the workshop. During her time in Northwest Arkansas, she also hopes to connect with the Vietnamese community of the area.
"One of my mentors, the poet Linh Dinh, spent his first years in the U.S. in the mid-'70s at Fort Smith [in the Indochinese] Resettlement Program," she shares. "I hope many parishioners at the Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Barling and descendants can see the tempera show."
The subject of 2013's "Sông Hương," her first large-scale tempera painting, shows indigenous fishermen before colonization, and specific temples and tombs in the Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. It was inspired by the depictions Irish saw during her time in France of the mercantile relationship of French Indochina in 18th century French works -- a colonization the Vietnamese people overcame.
As she set out to redress that portrayal, the potential of correcting the paternalism of decoration and tapestry design became a central theme in her work.
"Though it is a decor, it is a political statement, honoring the specific culture and beautiful landscape in Huế, our country destroyed during the Vietnam War," Irish explains of the piece. "Where do the roots of war begin? Through acceptance of a European-based world view? As artists, can we correct this?"
NAN What's Up on 05/17/2019