Ariacne
Catherine Roseberry
enamel paint on wood
42¾" x 36" x 18¾"
The old story:
The weaver Arachne and the goddess Athena dueled at their looms to see who was best. Some wrote Athena won, but most report it was Arachne, who awed the goddess with her prowess. In vexation Athena turned Arachne into a spider, so she would weave all her days.
This story:
Unhappy with the results of the 2016 election, I wanted to show my dissatisfaction in my work, but most people don’t want to live with angry furniture. Somehow I had to turn a negative into a positive. So I thought of my friend’s story.
Ariacne is a gifted composer and pianist, touted in her homeland of Cuba as a prodigy who performed for the Pope. But she chafed under governmental restrictions and fled her native country for the United States, to live in the murky world of an illegal immigrant. In the years since she has worked hard, honing her talents, playing her music, eventually being nominated for a Grammy. And she has her green card.
This work celebrates our friend Ariacne, a woman of fire and passion, in the persona of Arachne, the weaver of such brilliance that she confounded authority. Stylistically, the work is inspired by the Swiss painter and printmaker Hans Erni, with the pattern on the top and sides a tribute to the German master weaver Gunta Stölzl. The owl (here an owl of Ariacne’s homeland) is an attribute of the goddess Athena.
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