Artist from Japan
My mother, 82 years old, has lived in Japan, doing housework for her family for 60 years.
No retirement, no weekend. That’s very common for Japanese women of that generation. Her family feels at ease thanks to her contribution. She is like a comfortable sofa for her family but she doesn’t have her own chair.
I would like to offer her a comfortable cushion, hoping she can take a rest sometimes.
I decorated it in pink because she loves to go out dressing herself up.
Artist from USA
I am an ABC, an American Born Chinese; one woman with two cultures and three words that hold my life together: Faith, Hope and Love. The secret that holds my life together is in the box… and that is the radiance of Christ.
Faith – in Christ
Hope – in His future for me and my family
Love – in my heart for my family
my friends
my two countries
and my life in Him
Under His love, I have “new life.” The butterfly represents my life in Him. I’ve chosen this fabric, not just because it was left over from my dining room chairs (up-cycling) but also, because fabrics and interiors have been a big part of my life and career here in Taiwan for over 36 years.
My deepest truth is: Faith, hope and love in the Lord has guided and blessed my life in ways I could never have imagined or dreamt of.
Artist from USA
A cozy and happy place, this Love Seat. Challenging the traditional appearance of your typical living room chair, fireworks and “power red” fabric make for a bold, yet celebratory, place to sit.
The inconsistent pattern mimics the reality of our own inconsistent lives – as women and people – but appearing upon a strong piece of furniture reminds us we are still safe and stable. Individual black and white buttons remind us that everyone, regardless of color, is invited and welcome, while a single ruffle-edged pillow adds a touch of “feminine”.
Thank You!
A Mother’s Everlasting Love
From that very first breath we take
That first moment when we awake
We feel the warmth of her embrace
See the wondrous smile on her face
Through the years of joy and sadness too
She’s always there to comfort you
When time then comes to leave the nest
She’ll miss us knowing it’s for the best.
When her turn comes, her job now done
She’s cared for you and everyone
Within that treasured family
Her love continues for you and me.
Since time began, mothers have nurtured, loved, taught, protected, cherished and raised their babies, then watched them grow to be killed in war or by war. This inevitable cycle will repeat itself for untold generations unless our mothers’ universal plea to Stop The Killing results in WAR NO MORE!
When I received the box I thought, “Why me? I’m not an artist”, but the box itself intrigued me. I loved its fragrance, its smooth lines and the fact that it could hold my secrets or be open with the story I wanted to tell. Almost immediately, the box became a train for me.
Growing up in Denmark I was very familiar with fairy tales, and I thought the train would become part of my own fairy tale. But as I worked on the train, it took on the intensity of the American children’s book, The Little Engine That Could.
I came to the United States when I was twenty-one years old with the dream in my heart that I could start my life over again. And I could. And I did. I am a wife to a wonderful husband, I have two beautiful grown children who love me. After years as a psychotherapist and consultant, I decided to become a toffee maker. It gives me great joy to create something sweet that brings joy to so many people.
After the train was finished I was on board as The Queen of Toffee, waving to the crowd. I was right back in my Danish fairy tale where I had started out, and I think I’ll stay there.
jumbled, preserved
leaving, changing, growing
blown away, chaotic, frightened, shattered
exhilarated, hopeful, remembering, loved
shaping, moving, forming
fragile, strong
nest
It is commonly known that in order to survive, blossom and continue the course of nature, it is necessary to intervene with our surrounding habitats. This lid symbolizes the ever lasting sky and its thousands and thousands of living species that are endangered by daily air pollution. The bottom represents our earth, life and death, the moments of glory, agonies of defeat, and on going war and peace.
Between this conjugation, we define sacred love for human beings and nature, our dreams and desires to fulfill a glorious and promising future.
In the end, conjugations of any type: earth and sky, man and nature or man and its kind must be cared for and preserved. The lack of attention to this contributes to the heavy consequences that we face today: the holes in our ozone, the wars and its death toll, last but not least the AIDS epidemic.
The central focus is a very special stone heart found on the Pacific coast at the equator. It has an uncommon green color. a heart with many scars. Once it was split, but love was able to hold it together and unify what had been separated.
Sorrow leaves wounds; joy brings peace.
This heart has found its peace.
Its wounds have healed.
The purpose of life was fulfilled; the eternal cycle of birth to life and death to a new life.
This heart has been embalmed; first if has been cleaned from all perishables.
The nucleus remained, one with the nature.
For women all over the world and over all times it might be a symbol for love;
isn’t the woman love’s keeper?
Love is immortal.
Faith and hope in the victory of love might be the symbol of humankind in the next millennium.
NOTE: This embalmed heart has been wrapped with golden ribbons, placed on a plate of slate from the Andes, and bedded in a stone sarcophagus. The feather of a white swan symbolizes the purity of the heart. As grave goods, there are two sealed papyrus rolls perpetuating the heart’s qualities. This project contains symbols from four different continents (America, Asia, Europe, Africa).
To all the silent angels
Who support and nourish us,
That we may soar!
My aim was to transform the cold sterile box, by covering it and filling it with love.
On the outside: What could be richer and warmer than a mothers love for her new baby?
On the inside: What could be lighter and brighter than the spiritual love awakened at time of birth?
Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.
Yvonne Banks, Owner of Art Consulting Services and Marie Hassett, artist.
Yvonne Banks is passionate about art! She has been instrumental in bridging the art world with the rest of our community for over 20 years as an art consultant and former gallery owner. Art Box is a tribute to her contributions. Her own vision and tireless energy strengthens her advice to young women, “You can do anything if you’re willing to work to get there.”
It was my pleasure to spend time with Yvonne sharing stories from our lives, finding commonality in our experiences as mothers, gardeners and lovers of art.
I have attempted to interpret the fragility of human nature, the openness and the trust which gradually closes from fear and self preservation. “Remember The Day Someone Gave You A Chance” is from a non violence poster, in it a lid had lifted from a jar and a butterfly flew free, free from fear, free to dream, to imagine, to love and to be loved.
Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.
LEASA MAYERS, PRESIDENT, CRG EVENTS
In talking to Leasa Mayers about her life – her family, and her work promoting others in their ventures, the powerful Rainer Maria Rilke poem, “Growing Orbits” came to mind. It inspired me to transform the plain wooden box into a cradle holding a bird’s nest with eggs to honor Leasa’s endeavors; her creative spirit, her effective nurturing which helps others to take flight.
This box is about joy and renewal. Everything begins and ends, lives and dies in circles. There is such power in each little thought, small gestures and tiny boxes. The heart is a sure image of love, feeling and strength. It has infinite capacity for both great joy and great sorrow, even after the ache and grief of loss:
The core remains intact.
Pink budded, protected
with swathes of leaf,
and occasional thorn.
Teen Box. Culver City Highschool. Grade 11.
My box was based on the book of I Corinthians 13 in the Bible. Love is not something that is jealous, boastful, and impatient. I used the last verse:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.” But the greatest of these is love. The box represents love itself, with in it are the mustard seeds which represent faith because God said “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you could move mountains.” The stars represent hope. The leaves in front of the box symbolize the growth of love, that it never stops getting better.
A Mother’s Treasure was created to depict an experience that women share in common– the love and nurturing of our children. The symbol that came to my mind was baby teeth. Every child in every culture sheds its first teeth, and everywhere mothers soothe and celebrate this rite of passage from babyhood to childhood. Just as my two sons grew up and moved into their own adult lives, I give up my treasure – their saved baby teeth – to make a rattle to distract and amuse other babies in other places. Loving greetings to all the mothers and their young.
Idee Levitan, an artist and patron of the arts, world traveler, lifelong philosophy student, adventure seeker, mountain climber, wife, friend, and proud member of a most independent sisterhood of polio survivors, died before she had the opportunity to work on the Women Beyond Borders project. The virgin box was among the mementos Idee’s husband sent to me. My dearest soulmate, Elena Mary Siff, invited me to create a tribute to Idee’s spirit so that Idee might be a part of an intriguing and profound exhibition she would have heartily embraced. The Wheel Chair could not contain her Dreams of Dancing…
As I contemplated my involvement in this project I was immediately drawn to the reverent simplicity of the tiny redwood box. As I held the box and pondered its humble strength and quiet stability I was instantly reminded of the strength, perseverance and poise-under-pressure that often signifies women in general. This strength of endurance caused me to then think of the many burdens we all carry around with us, and how much lighter the burden can be when we know someone is helping to carry the load. The Bible reminds us to share in each other’s trials. By helping to bear the load brought on by death, illness, heartbreak, loneliness or other oppressions, we offer comfort and hope.
In creating this visual testimony I attached the lid to the box and produced a stable and strong vessel. The vessel houses the strength, perseverance and love that together can lift, carry and support the great weight of the burden that is placed upon it. The burden, a complex aggregate rock, is both rugged and smooth in its makeup. Beneath the rock is a cushion, a sheet of gold, intended to soften the burden. The rock is bound to the box with a tightly wrapped and intertwined cord. The cord is the weakest element. It can be cut, and at any time the burden can be lifted. The cord reminds us of our obligation.
It is my intent that this box stand as a reminder to all of us to humbly bear one another’s burdens, to encourage and strengthen one another, to love, honor and pray for one another. By helping to bear the burdens, we find joy in knowing that we have contributed to the needs of others. By bearing one another’s burdens there are blessings to be found in the midst of tribulation; there are victories to be found in hidden places.
The love that a man
feels for a woman
and a woman’s love
for a man
is the true longing
that in all hearts
yearns for union with God.
I worked on this box right after my dad had open heart surgery and so I felt like I had no thick skin protecting my love.
I am attracted to the fine color of the dawn, sunbeams flickering through the leaves, broad colorful sunsets, stars shining in the sky…the mysterious harmony of all these things, so this is what I try to make.
I love both light and darkness, and wish to celebrate the splendid harmony of their meeting. I hope opening this ‘box’ will lead you to see the harmony of light and darkness… and the meeting of you and me, or anyone.
“Love’s over brimming mystery joins life and death.” Tagore
In former times, Romeo and Juliet could not remain together, and were willing to die side by side. In recent days, the modern Romeo and Juliet ran from the Bosnian siege, also dying side by side. How many such unhappy love stories are there over the world?
I believe in destiny. I make this box as a coffin, with the wish that it is the house of girls and boys, women and men who love one another, yet are not able to become man and wife. This box is a love coffin for Permanent Love.
Men and women in love, whether old or young, may die, but their love still remains, it never dies. They will lie in the same coffin, and pray to live together in many future lives.
When two do not recognize their internal forces they remain prisoners of their facade and they add this facade to the other. Thus inevitably they will be attached to each other by an intricate chain, forgetting their own space, staying knotted and desperately isolated.
Loves Me – Loves Me Not
To be loved by the person one loves is everyone’s dream. It is a simple and obvious feeling, yet often pregnant with anxiety. Am I really loved by the one I love? To answer this question many people – or at least young girls – have picked daisies in the summer and plucked the petals to get an intimation of fate’s understanding of the other’s feelings.
That love is not a simple matter is, perhaps, one of our earliest lessons. We must hope that the daisy petals have not been disruptive of health or future. But in former times it was common to try to influence one’s love-life with various herbs. In his anthology Om Folkmedicinens Lakeorter. (Medicinal Herbs in Popular Medicine- 1981), Matts Bergmark has listed plants that are aphrodisiacs, as well as otherwise beneficial. The Valerian root has, for many centuries, been connected with many properties. Its French name is guerit tout, cure all, and in Egyptian mythology it was connected with the cat family and the subject of special worship. In Norse mythology Valerian was connected with Freja. It was an ingredient in aphrodisiacs and, with Mistletoe, was considered to further fertility.
But if fertility has been sought, the fear of giving birth to an unwanted child has been all the stronger. Juniperus Sabina, a relation of the Juniper, is filled with volatile oil in its branches and has gained its name, Sabina, from the Sabine people who lived near to Rome. A decoction of Juniperus Sabina was widely used as an abortifacient. But if the fetus died the mother frequently followed it into the realm of death. For a mere six drops of the ether sufficed for an overdose leading to a painfully slow death.
Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. My flower gardens bring much pleasure to myself as well as many others. Through gardening and art, I have made many friends who enrich my life. Friends in far-reaching places oftentimes come to mind. I like to think of them as flowers given to me in my garden of life. True blessings.
It is my hope that my box will convey to others how important friends are. May my little traveling garden bring a smile to the viewer, along with a reminder of someone special—a flower placed in their garden of life.
The reason of having this kind of picture of a hen on this box is that I like eating it or seeing its appearance.
The flower makes me happy and excited. I feel like offering it to the person I love.
My pictures express to me the love you’ve shown us, the courage and zeal.
I have appreciated the training, especially the relaxation therapy, it helped me a lot. I thank God who put us together in his own way. It was not by our own will.
We take care of things that are important to us. The females of most species are considered to be nurturers and keepers of the “nest”.
Being and artist has allowed me the opportunity to nurture the things that are most important to me – represented by the golden eggs in the nest of brushes. I care about many things and to limit myself to representing just four became a daunting task – I thought about Peace, Love, Compassion and Creativity, but upon reflection each day, the list grew. How could I not mention family, good health, rich soil and clean water, friendships and the miracle of simply being whole?
So without putting words to the golden eggs, I’ll leave it for those who view the art to ponder…How and what will you “nurture” in your life? We must take care of what is most precious to us.
This piece of art represents a woman with a steadfast and proud posture. She sits and carries in her lap the continuity of life: her own children. Her face reads of dignity. She carries on her head a pot with a dove: the symbol of love and peace. She creates and conveys life, pride and peace.
Medium: clay mixed with copper oxide, cobalt oxide, magnesium oxide, iron oxide and some kaolin as well as a wooden box
Clothe your body,
Adorn your soul.
Love oneself like
You would another.
Step out from the shadows
Be unashamed of what you are,
Pull back those curtains
and feel complete…
My box is a small square world, and part of my world is in the box. On opening My World and looking closer one sees part of my individual history. A mirrored reflection of my wedding day. It represents love, culture, and intimacy. The bottom of the box is a coffin.
Is there no greater suffering than “An American Girl, Shopping For A Husband”? In her single days, she would cry and cry over lost loves, covet the sacred purchases of keepsakes in hope for love, and dream endlessly for the one– a final purchase of the dream guy and live happily ever after.
Medium: The box, Ukranian egg dyes, silver and gold spray paint, floral wire, embroidery thread, wood ball, buttons and dominos, netting, yarn, plastic shopping bags, things girls buy, one groomsman cut in half, newspaper clipping, wire, crotchet needle, Modge Podge and Tacky glue.
My recent work is focused on issues of identity, sexuality and language. I am also interested in women’s history and in women’s roles throughout different cultures.
To address these issues, I explore a variety of media, whatever I feel most appropriate to convey a specific feeling or experience. Confirmation And Discovery Of Witchcraft is an homage to witches and their wisdom and to their power to combine magic, mystery and wisdom.
The box is smoked; the top of the lid shows a young witch casting a love spell. Inside the box are burned matches, inscribed with the names of real women who were burned because of witchcraft accusations. In the mirror is a scroll, in the shape of an uterus where oral language reads: ‘ar yu squerd of mai tiars an mai blod?
This altar is dedicated to my boys, Shawn and Josh, two beautiful people who I cherish. Between the little dots in the photos are images of them surfing in Mexico. The inside of the box and the top of the box have surf “sex wax” melted, hardened and enclosed in resin. The wax will turn to liquid when it gets hot and change its shape when it dries. I like that.
All is metaphor, even that which we may take as fact. Human logic is fragile. The box may represent a construct of human logic. Boxes do not occur in nature. It contains wax with the translucency of human skin, threads, a needle and blood. The needle under the “skin” is a metaphor for the grief of women all over the world in their efforts to keep love and the grace of human relationships and community whole, despite a world which seems eternally based on war and conflict. The needle is used for healing. The box is a prayer for continued courage and creativity.
Journey of Love is about the relationship between my mother and me. It explores the all-consuming physical and psychoanalytical paradoxes seen in this relationship between mother and daughter, and the problem-solving exercises that may inform one’s point of view about relationships, change, and seeing oneself among others. This exploration leads to the use of the needle and thread, and the act of weaving which symbolizes the journey in mending of a relationship. My mother is my best friend and she is loving, intelligent, patient and reasonable. To weave is to tighten the ties between us. Each act of weaving symbolizes my efforts to mend my relationship with my mother. The use of gold thread constantly reminds me of my mother’s skin because she seems to glow with such warmth and health. The needle attached in-between the weaves with some of the thread wrapped around it symbolizes the act of weaving or repairing which does not end but continues on a more emotional level. The experience in working on the box was illuminating and therapeutic, offering me not only an opportunity to reflect on my life, but also it gave me the strength to be closer to my mother.
The figures on the top represent her husband and four children who were all murdered during the genocide. She had to (forced) watch, as her husband was hacked into four or five pieces. Overwhelmed with tears, she could not go any further.
Note the small red heart on the side.
The box contains notes with words which were never said to her mother.
Dear Mother,
When I was eighteen, I bought you, with my first salary, a wooden jewelry box. You still keep it, treasuring it. Now, twenty-five years later, I’m giving you this box which treasures words. These are all the words I could have told you during our lives together, but wasn’t able to. These are words I should have told you, dear mother.
Here are all the missing words, just for you. It’s a wonderful opportunity to write them down, to feel their sound within my heart. To prepare a special gift for a special woman: my mother.
Your loving daughter,
Shuli Nachshon
The Women's Voices: Shuli Nachshon, Israel from WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS on Vimeo.
Polina Fedorova worked with her 96 year-old grandmother to create this box.
