“The Call” (A Heroine’s Journey)
25”x12”x1” (diptych)
Mixed Media on Panel
In comparative mythology, the call to adventure is a deep intuitive impulse, when the hero or heroine of a story must leave home and family to go out into the unknown. Though I didn’t recognize it as such at the time, that’s what moving to Hawaii was for me. The impulse was so strong that when I heard the call, I answered, selling everything and moving from Charleston, SC to Maui. It wasn’t a rational decision, but I knew I had to do it.
In the diptych I wanted to convey a sense of time passing, the distance traveled from day to night, EST to HST. I grew up near the sea, in an area we call the lowcountry, rich with salt marshes, networks of deep creeks and rivers, dramatic tides and live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. The tree and the houses sheltered beneath represent the home of several generations of family and ancestors, the blue curving lines double as waterways within the green marshes as well as the tree’s roots, and of course, my roots. The woman, caressed by the leaves, is encircled by all that she has known and loved, but she is listening deeply to a new voice within. So… she answers the call and flies to a new land far, far away. Her history flies with her, giving her wings as she crosses the sea, in the light of the setting sun. The mystery and majesty of the islands beckon, their fire as beacons to light the way in the darkness and ultimately to burn away all that is non-essential or inauthentic.
