Chestee Harrington

Featured Work

 

Rebirth of The Nation – drawing

This work began with a dream around 2007 with what appeared to be about the four ages of women. In the dream first appeared an innocent child holding a gold ball; a young woman with a swollen womb wearing my favorite icon, the garde soleil; next, a middle-aged woman with an American flag draped over her right arm, her left hand extended, finger gesturing toward the obviously pregnant younger woman; and last, the old crone paying off Mardi Gras with many gold coins that filled the deep crack in the earth.

First came the drawing. Then a template was made and wrapped around the huge wood block.The work revealed itself a little at a time. First, the extra carving of a fetus. Soon the white garde soleil began to glow with shafts of light, the entire spectrum. After months of working on the sculpture, it continued to reveal itself as I carved and painted. One day I paused, brush in hand, thinking about the symbolism of the fifty five-pointed stars, the red stripes in the flag, and yes, the blood, how much had been shed for our democracy. With my brush loaded with red paint, I let it drip onto the ground, where it began flowing into the deep hole filled with gold. Several months passed, and summertime was near.

After noticing the flag on the front porch had faded, I asked Cle’lie if she would help me change it. She said yes, got a ladder, and we went out to the porch. She climbed up to replace the flag and noticed the eagle was missing. I said, “I’m sure it fell down here in the flower bed behind the rose bush.” The house was a couple of feet off the ground. I went down the steps and into the flower bed under the Madame Bourbon rose bush, and there I found the eagle. I carried it back up to the porch, and as I held it up for Cle’lie, she and I both simultaneously said, “It belongs on top of the sculpture.” As soon as the new flag was hanging, I took the eagle into the studio, cleaned it, gave it a coat of gold paint, and carved a nesting place for it on top.



Rebirth of The Nation – sculpture

36", polychrome wood printing blocks sculpture, 2007
from the 1842 Café du Monde roasting house, New Orleans, LA



Gallery

Chestee Harrington Gallery

 To see other Original and Reproduction editions, visit the Chestee Harrington Gallery website.