Existential Hope series #2 Watercolor 2002
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work probes the mystery and wonder of what it means to be human by exploring that which makes us most human; our capacity to love and feel compassion and our will and desire to create meaning and purpose for our life. I want to give visual expression to the human capacity to "soar beyond" limits, where immediate circumstances of life such as gender, race, or social status do not define who you are.
Hope, which I examine from a spiritual and philosophical perspective, is the paramount theme in my artwork. My current work focuses on the relational aspect of hope and the belief that we have purpose much greater than our own individuality where "humanness", self and purpose is celebrated as boundless and to be human means loving lavishly and joyously in the relational web of all life.
My work is installed in public spaces in the Midwestern United States and in several private collections. My work "Muses of Freedom" is published in the Syracuse Cultural Workers" year 2000 Women Artists Date book and "Existential Hope" will be published in the year 2004 Women Artist's Date book. I have had several solo exhibits as well as exhibiting in regional and national juried art exhibits including most recently. Expressions in Diversity, a juried show in Shoreview, MN where "Web of Life" won the First Place Deluxe Foundation Award, and the 91st Annual Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, 2002, where "Existential Hope" received an Honorable Mention Award. In Arts in Harmony 2000", a national juried art exhibit. Elk River, MN, "Hope From Community #15" received a Merit Award, and in 2003, "Existential Hope Series #2" also won a Merit Award Currently my work can be viewed on an ongoing basis at Agora Gallery in Minneapolis, MN.
VERSEA BOURDAGHS