Email from Anne Minich
(I emailed Anne Minich (see post) a few questions–how did her show at The Cathedral come to be? and what are the titles of some of the paintings? Here are her answers.)
I am a member of the Cathedral Community for the past 3 years. …I started coming to services at the Cathedral with the intention of becoming a member there. I was struck by the design which is intended to promote the sense of being on a journey. For years, I have been designing and executing my HEAD pieces and fanaticizing that they would someday hang is such a space. I proposed such a show to the Dean and he agreed to the project. The rest is history!
It was a gamble as I would’t know until the work was hung if it was going to be a good balance between the work and the architecture; I believe the gamble paid off.
My motives for showing at the Cathedral space are twofold; As a member of the Community, I have a need to “give back” and as an artist , I want to show my work in the best light possible.
The piece with the shell and thorny objects is “Our Lady of the Ancient Secrets” The objects are seed pods of some kind that I found along the Hudson River. They remind me of ancient gargoyle flowers (top, “Our Lady of the Ancient Secrets”)!
The piece with the interlocking crosses backdrop is “Jaune Brillant” named for the color. Occasionally I’ll be so taken with the color that it becomes the name of the piece. Linda Alter of the Leeway Foundation owns a wonderful Head piece; “Vermillion” (she doesn’t loan) (image, “Jaune Brillant”).
I’m not sure which grill piece you are refering to; I think it is “Blood Bride” It has a grille with a shawdow head behind it and fleur-de-lis on the framing area? The color red I use in the piece is Scheveningen Purple Brown, an expensive color that I love and use a lot . It looks like blood to me. It is a transparent color and best suited to glazing to build up the intensity of the color. In all my work , there are many layers of meaning as there is in “Blood Bride” It is one of my favorite pieces that I have ever done (image, “Blood Bride”).
These pieces on view are a selection from a larger series. The image come from a photograph that was taken of me after I shaved my head in the mid 70’s. Each head is in part , self referential. The imagery employs Christian iconography and thought because that is what I know and understand; they are not to be considered as “religious art” but rather painting/constructs that make use of Xian thought and iconography.
–Anne Minich is an artist from Philadelphia
minich, anne
