Mama, a rainbow

Original art, Titled, initialed and dated on front, signed on back

Monotype with colored pencil, 2023, 1/1 on archival Arches Rives BFK paper, 15”x12”

Story of Mama, a rainbow

August sang Mama, a Rainbow in the 1980s summer theater Best of Broadway production my sister and I were part of as kids. These bears are for that summer we sang our hearts out, and for the young men from that production who lost their lives to AIDS. These bears are also, as always, for the bear mamas and cubs who visited our PA country roads and woods and were a part of our childhood. (Mama, a rainbow was included in Bears in the Library!, an exhibition of monotypes inspired in part by notes, photos and clippings that have come to me in the mail over the years from my mom, who keeps me posted on black bear visits and happenings in my hometown.)

A monotype is a one-of-a-kind work on paper; in this case made from a plate which I cut out, painted with intaglio inks and oil paint, and then transferred to paper using an etching press.