Earth, Fire, Women
Dorrie-Joy
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A series of eight large paintings marking the changing seasons of the pagan year are the work of young artist, Dorrie-Joy. They are imbued with earthy passion, gentle and stirring energies, joy, calm, and colour. Three appealed to me in particular.
Spring
The figure of a prone woman, as green as the hills, slumbers on the flat land surrounding Glastonbury. Her hip and thighs double as Tor Hill with its famous tower. Her shoulder is Wearyall Hill where Jesus’ uncle Joseph of Aramathea is said to have stuck his staff in the ground, creating the first holy thorn tree. Her belly and breasts rest on the fields.
It is the view from Dorrie-Joy’s garden; the idea for it came as she was cycling really fast back towards her home. "The landscape looked just like that. It is a union between earth and sky".
This Glastonbury Tor Goddess represents peace, rest and balance, within and without. She sleeps beneath the love of the sun and the moon as they meet with equal strength of night and day.’ It is a powerful picture for the Spring Equinox (19th March), both the woman and the land she rises out of being abundant in fertility and readiness to flower.
Summer Solstice
A group of naked women sit in a circle, their bodies gleaming white against the shadowed grass and darkened hills beyond. The highlighted curve of their backs suggest reflected moonlight lingering there still, though the celebration is for sunrise.
The women are also a stone circle. Dorrie-Joy notes ‘The Kogi Mamas say, "If you are to live, you must see that even the rocks are alive" I feel these stones as ancient beings, and through softened eyes it is easy to see them as such.’
This series of paintings is rich with references to other cultures and traditional wisdom. I enjoy these connections, and echoes from my own experiences are compelling. An Australian Aborginal man once pointed out of a window at the edge of the desert and told me: ‘You see him rock? Him me.’ That was all he said, but it changed my understanding of relationship to land.
Dorrie’s painting, she says, is ‘a calling from the land to all women to share truth and love together'.
Autumn
In this painting for the Autumn Equinox, the last of the green leaves swirl around the head and shoulders of a tall brown woman. Her dancing arms are gently upraised to echo the flow of flames, the leaves that have become red and orange are also the fire that consumes the remains of summer. The woman’s legs merge with the tree trunk, her feet rest among its roots.
This energetic image celebrates letting go of what is no longer needed, and welcomes change with warmth and passion. I’d like it on my wall for those few weeks each year when the shortening days are tinged with sadness. It contains a promise of warmth, comfort and inward preparation for a coming season.
Other paintings in the series are for Imbolc (2 February), Beltane (1 May), Lammas (31 July), Samhain (31 October), and Winter Solstice (21 December).