I’m heading back out to South Dakota next week. My longing for the prairie now is unprecedented in my adult life. Artist Elizabeth Bunsen and I have been talking a lot about the nature of how much the landscape of our childhoods affects our adult lives. This pull is now greatly affecting my need for spaciousness, quiet, connection, being available to aging parents and looking at a few years down the road with children in college and an empty nest.
I’ve layered my photos of South Dakota with some of my paintings. These images serve as a bridge between my 26 year creative life in Vermont and my South Dakota roots. You can take the girl out of West River, but you can’t take the West River out of the girl.
I would love to hear how the landscape of your childhood has had an affect on your life. I’m really curious about this concept and hope to be doing some interviews and writing on the topic.
P.S. For you Burke area residents. I would love to shoot some abandoned farmhouses while I’m home the 20th-22nd. If you have some locations please email me or let my family know locations. Thank you. Maybe I’ll see you around town or in Stella’s.
Lovely work Lisa-especially the top image. This post really spoke to me and touched on many things I have been thinking about for some time. I grew up in Nebraska–and more and more I find myself being drawn back to the geography of my childhood. After school in Vermont and working in the South, I think more and more about returning to the Midwest. I miss the geography–the ongoing horizon, the open skies, the endless fields and the amazing thunderstorms. I will be interested to hear how this develops for you-
I appreciate your reading and response. Where in Nebraska did you grow up?
GREAT <3
loved it 🙂
if you don't mine check out my blog too 🙂
hi lisa. love the images -the layers. so cool. and interesting, i was also thinking of doing a show of my childhood memories and the images. We lived in a project in the north end of hartford CT. the rusty tricycle my dad pulled from the neighbors trash, the open fire hydrants on hot days, the clotheslines, the cement steps, it’s all kind of emblazoned in my mind and I was only 3 and 4 when I lived there. thanks lisa, hope to see you at the Moran on June 9th…a Thursday? otherwise on Sat the 11th! kath