Candace Compton Pappas
Landing

September 9 – October 18, 2014

Opening Reception:
Friday, September 12, 7 – 9 pm

Artist Statement :

The painting of 300 birds representing 300+ school girls kidnapped in Nigeria is a way I try to make sense of something both far away and up close at the same time.  Living in a new home and setting up a new studio in a place that is surrounded by sky and trees, shimmering water, and a myriad of  creatures, I wonder how to integrate such beauty with such suffering.
 
The paintings and constructions presented in this show represent this search, as well as my means of landing in a place that includes all experience; a home that embraces a wholeness made of infinite sadness as well as infinite beauty.

I have painted these birds, each one a representation of one of the kidnapped schoolgirls. They have been painted over the course of 3 months. I have created a blog documenting each bird as it lands in the painting.

— Candace Compton Pappas