TURN, TURN, TURN, ( Giri, Giri ,Giri ) week 8

TURN, TURN, TURN

( Giri, Giri, Giri )

Sunflowers on Appledore

James Aponovich

oil on canvas, 32" x 26"

In October, they shut Appledore Island down. Autumn drops heavy in New England. The scarlet flames of color in the trees are like the anguished scream of nature about to extinguish herself. Dreaded winter will come, long, dark and cold.

But now it is harvest time. The air is still warm and the sunflowers are at their peak. In Italy, they are called  Girasole. Girare is the verb 'to turn', and Sole means sun, so the name connotes motion, a turning towards the sun. Turn they do, I can attest that in painting them, they behave like an inexperienced model who constantly fidgets in a pose, never still.

A QUESTION OF BALANCE

Q.      Hey Jim!   Whats with the cloth......again? You paint flowers n' stuff wicked good but I keep seeing the yellow cloth. Its old fashion and kinda boring. I dunno, what gives?

A.     Huh?

THE MOVEMENT OF WATER

Hydrangeas on the Amoskeag ( detail)

James Aponovich

oil on canvas

The textile goods produced at the Amoskeag Mills in the 19th Century were world renown. Almost every field in rural New Hampshire had a flock of Merino sheep whose wool was destined for the mills, cotton flowed from the south.

In Italy, during the Medici's, Florence rose to her glory on two things, banking and wool. The Florence, Flanders route meant that amongst other thing, artists could see each others work and ideas were exchanged.

Thematically, the woven textile is a reference to the original Amoskeag Mills. Pandora was a well known textile manufacturer and a recognizable landmark for travelers heading north to the mountains of New Hampshire.

There is also a more subtle reference....to water. The cloth and flowers sit over the Amoskeag waterfalls, so the cloth cascades over the wall to counter the unseen falls behinds it.

About the cloth......

BUSATTI

I Tessuti di Anghiari

( The Textiles of Anghiari )

I first saw this particular cloth at a shop in Arezzo while in Tuscany hunting down the Piero della Francesca Trail. I immediately fell in love with it and often use it as my "go to" fabric in painting. During our last stay in Italy, Elizabeth and I, along with friends Jim and Debbie, made a pilgrimage to the Tuscan village of Anghiari to visit the flagship factory, Busatti.

For more information on our trip to Anghiari and Busatti factory click on:

APONOVICH and JOHANSSON At Home and Away