Leaf and Roses

Ok, every woman loves them, the little folded ribbon roses. They are usually made in pink and sometimes even have the little green leaf at the base. You'll see them as adornments for sweaters and kids clothes, or even used in topiary standards for the fireplace mantels. I like them too, but I really like them made from tar paper. Why? I don't know exactly, except that the texture is wonderful, and I like the contrast between the tar paper, roofing felt, construction material and the feminine identification with adornment.

The piece on the right uses teeny roses to enhance the bark dress form, which is placed on a monoprint of a leaf image. Just to give you an idea of how to use roses to elevate the mundane to a new level. Shown at Concord Art Association 2006 Members Juried II show.

Anyway, after I had to listen to various people tell me how they didn't understand what I was trying to do, I went and did some research on various meanings for black roses. It turns out there is a famous song "Little Black Rose" the Irish sang back in the 1600s during their battles with the British. Often a woman would give her soldier lover, heading into a doomed battle, a single black rose as an indication of undying love. Many people still consider the black rose a symbol of death or vengenence towards an enemy. But, black roses are also potent symbols of anarchy, dissent and defiance, and are used as tattoos and on flags. And of course they could be used as a symbol for the death of old ideas and habits, especially those that hold one in a rut. C'est moi!

Do black roses really exist? Of course not, despite the extensive effort to breed one. To date, black roses are just very dark blood red, so dark that the shadows appear black.