I Feel Everything In My Heart

Today's Poppies II, Monica Joy, 2013

Adventures in papercutting continues. I have been committing to some studio time, and some goals to establish the business aspects of being an artist. Thank you again to all who have given me feedback in my recent work and even purchased a piece or two. 

My love of puppetry has not waned, and this song inspired ideas for my next endeavor while I was running yesterday. If you are listening to it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 

It will be some time before I create my next show. For now, it's a papercutting frenzy at my desk. 

You can view some of my work at my Etsy store, Open Heart Papercuts. There are only handful of pieces there, thankfully because some work has sold and a few more are being prepared for exhibition. I plan to create an online portfolio and website by the end of March.

So why did I call it Open Heart Papercuts? Well, I recently created my artist statement, which explains a lot about my papercutting and the re-occurrence of the heart. 

Artist Statement

Have you ever done something or gone somewhere or met someone and thought, “Wow, this just feels right?” That is how I feel when I papercut and make shadow puppets. For me, every papercut and puppet is labor of love and a journey of learning to let go of control. It involves vision, planning, risk, adventure, and an unrelenting optimism that everything will work out as it needs to. If the results are not as I intended, I have no choice but to take the process as a learning experience. Unlike my dabbling work with clay or oil painting, I cannot repaint over or fix mistakes. Once a piece of paper is cut, it is cut. I can choose to proceed and let go of my expectations or vision, or I can choose to be frustrated. I choose to let go because I love the learning and creation process too much.

The choice to love and remain optimistic in the papercutting process reflects the way I choose to be in life. It is a struggle, but it lets light in dark moments and I know I inspire others to reflect on their choices to stay in a positive or negative space. I find this mirrored in my papercuts. I try to let the light in, while preserving the integrity and structure that the darkness brings to the story or shape. I cannot have the light without the dark.

I am learning how these concepts affect objects as well as figures and stories that I cut. Figures and people are and have always been prominent in my work. Human expression and form is an inherent passion. I pay homage to my influences (e.g. Modigliani, Matisse, and Frida Kahlo). I strive for my creative experience to be one of gratitude, as well as an opportunity for me to learn about an artist, anatomy, and concepts.

Always in My Heart, Monica Joy, 2012

The human heart has particular significance to me. Many experience butterflies in their stomach when nervous or emotional. I experience butterflies in my heart. Whether I experience the lighthearted or heavy, I feel a physical sensation in my heart region. It feels light in loving moments and heavy and painful in more difficult moments. I feel everything in my heart: the rejection of friends or lovers, the moments I choose to forgive, falling in love and being smitten, and when I need to make difficult choices. I feel everything in my heart. One might say that exhibiting a nude or being naked is a vulnerable experience, but to me, exposing my heart is the most vulnerable experience.

I open my heart to share these ideas with you in dialogue and in my papercuts. It is my hope that my work inspires you to consider the relationship of the positive and negative, and the choices one has to create light from darkness.

Monica Joy
February 2013