On occasion of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND at STONELEAF RETREAT on Friday, July 22, 2022 at 4.30pm Liz Collins will activated her permanent installation CRONEY with a special Croning Ceremony with Elizabeth Insogna and Kay Turner. Images taken by BFA can be found here.
STONELEAF is proud to present Liz Collins’ CRONEY and we are excited to witness its evolution over the years. The text below is written by Liz Collins.
Crone:
Wise woman,
Witch, elder
Woman past menopause
Crone is historically a word with negative connotations - ugly old woman- as well as a reclaimed word that describes a elder wise woman.
I learned this word in lesbian circles defined as the latter, and later looked it up and discovered what a negative definition it has. I was surprised but not surprised.
Once menopause started, I was hungry to learn about my new state of being because it was in someways all consuming: From memory loss to disrupted sleep to feelings of alienation and invisibility to downright discomfort and grumpiness, it suddenly seem to be the reason for everything that was hard.
It is a major passage most female bodied humans go through in life, yet is a stigmatized experience that is not talked about much unless one is in it.
No one wants to hear about it. We don’t learn about it when were young in the same way that we learn about childbirth and becoming mothers and all of the other female rituals and milestones that happen.
After the body is no longer useful for reproduction it becomes biologically irrelevant. This is no longer true but still true. A woman in midlife starts to become invisible, fading into the background. As she ages as her hair turns white; her body changes ; she becomes more independent- less in need of others- more ready for a solitary journey. The CRONE appears and takes root.
I am a wise woman. I am a new being. I have moved through life into a chapter that allows me to be completely solid and fierce and independent.
This sculpture this intervention this installation is meant to evolve over time.
Every year I will add or change some thing. The piece is meant to live on the land and evolve with the land and to become whatever nature wants it to be. We will see some kind of wear some kind of aging but the vibrancy and volume of the material will always be there.
This piece becomes a manifesto for me about middle-age. As my hair turns white and my perspective of the world shifts into something radically different… I am the same human being I have always been yet I am calm and centered.
Liquid hair fire water life death light darkness truth deception strength fragility time space color blind awake asleep dormant alive refreshed wondering looking learning seeking yelling loving asking praying hoping believing believing
As I labor I meditate on new growth and decay, and turning the corner into the chapter that leads to eternal sleep.
Liz Collins was a STONELEAF artist-in-residence first in 2018 and returned in 2021 for a family residency.
