August, 2004

Eyes and Heart

pastels by Carol Ast

August 5 - 29, 2004
Reception: Friday, August 6, 5:00-8:00 pm

This exhibit is funded in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program.

"Tribute Mandala" -- You could say that the whole mandala shape is a breast. Fixation? Of course. It's gone. The inner circle is a nipple surrounded by an area depicting the interior of the breast with glands and ducts. That is enclosed by a dark band followed by a ring of paired breasts in profile, encircled by a dark band. These and the images on the next band are what have been lost. Third is a ring of round frontal breasts encircled by a another dark band. The last ring design is made of torsos of women with scars from various types of mastectomies. They are holding on to each other, showing a kind of sisterhood and support for each other at the same time. The outer area has four "guardians" -- victims who didn't make it. The dark bands have the names of victims lightly written on them. The colors of the rings are the colors of the rainbow for renewal. The torsos are in the green band for hope, and the final area with the 4 guardians is in blue for peace.

more images by Carol Ast