Category Archives: Concepts

My Bag Lady Bags

My Bag Lady Bags

When I left home at a young age I ended up in some seedy places.  In San Francisco and New York I experienced the plight of the homeless, and even felt the possibility that if I wasn’t careful and lucky I too could face that hardship.

For some it has become a lifestyle choice. I appreciate the candor and pluck of those who call themselves the “Home-free” and I’ve learned that “all who wander are not lost”. Yet the concept of home is so essential to me after settling down, working in public housing, as a realtor, and as an artist, activist and observer of our culture, it gives me pleasure to help create opportunities for those who wants to become “stakeholders” and connect to a place.

In Ashland I have seen, through kindness of community, many people transform their lives, make friends, find meaning and gain a sense of belonging. I have been fortunate to develop my art career here and for a long time, I have used old paper sacks for my warm-up poses at life drawing.  Now I can share that work and put it to good use by selling my “bag lady bags” as a contribution to our area’s work for shelter program.   Thanks for your support.

Sincerely,
Catie Faryl

Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee has a subtitle: “Greed Exploitation and Perversion with Innocence Unsupervised”. It was painted in 1999 following my frustration and observations in trying to improve school safety following the school shootings in the new, and the World Trade Organization incidents in Seattle where the media painted a very inaccurate picture. The painting shows three characters (Greed, an ugly man with a cranial motem, Exploitation, a Camel with an eyepatch, and Perversion, an alligator in fishnet stockings. They are cutting up a baked Alaska Earth Cake upon a cage table where helpless and rare animals are imprisoned. In the same room, where evidence of pollution and misuse of natural resources is apparent, three impish children watch a pornographic cartoon. Separated from this indoor scene, one child looks out a window to see the natural world looking beautiful, faraway and vulnerable. This painting speaks directly to overuse and misuse of our planet by big business and the wasteland created by excessive consumerism. It was created as an illustrative reminder that we should appreciate the beauty and gifts of our planet and look closer at how excessive lifestyles are having a negative impact everywhere in the world.

Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee

 

Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee

Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee

Rude Guests at the Divine Matinee has a subtitle: “Greed Exploitation and Perversion with Innocence Unsupervised”.  It was painted in 1999 following my frustration and observations in trying to improve school safety following the school shootings in the new, and the World Trade Organization incidents in Seattle where the media painted a very inaccurate picture.  The painting shows three characters (Greed, an ugly man with a cranial motem, Exploitation, a Camel with an eyepatch, and Perversion, an alligator in fishnet stockings.  They are cutting up a baked Alaska Earth Cake upon a cage table where helpless and rare animals are imprisoned. In the same room, where evidence of pollution and misuse of natural resources is apparent, three impish children watch a pornographic cartoon.  Separated from this indoor scene, one child looks out a window to see the natural world looking beautiful, faraway and vulnerable.  This painting speaks directly to overuse and misuse of our planet by big business and the wasteland created by excessive consumerism.  It was created as an illustrative reminder that we should appreciate the beauty and gifts of our planet and look closely at how excessive lifestyles are having a negative impact everywhere in the world.