While the bold colors and use of interesting accents from a fluorescent pink feather boa to a Slinky might remind someone more of tropical inspirations, Going, who lived in the Interior for 20 years, said she draws inspiration from the light of Alaska.
"Most of my work is inspired by life in Interior Alaska," Going said, "by the shapes, forms and colors that I find in landforms and by the light in Alaska, the way it reflects and refracts."
Going's works are large, some more than 6 feet high, and most are circled or draped with thin strands of new-age lights. Going said her fascination with lights is multileveled.
"On one level, they are just electric lights, which make me happy," she said. "But on another level, they are the energy currents connecting the different levels of experience. They trigger an association into a person's inner sense of light" in the same way a sunset draws out emotion.
Going said although the works may seem whimsical, there are deeper messages within her work.
Going, like so many artists, says she has been an artist her whole life, and considers it more a vocation than a profession.
"It's always been there, just like my blue eyes," she said.
Going has graduated from watercolors to thin oils. Her work continues to explore the same theme, she said, but it has become more precise over time. She said she continues to study art, most recently graduating with a masters of visual arts from the University of California, San Diego, in 1989. The last five years, she has traveled the globe, with artist-in-residence positions in Canada, Ireland and Iceland.
Going said she's hoping next to go to Norway.
The Homer show contains a dedication to Going's late brother, and a message to him illuminates Going's ability to look positively on life.
"Seriousness does not imply solemnity," she said. "All of my work is serious, but not solemn."
Going's work will be on display at the Homer Council on the Arts building through December.
Carey James can be reached at cjames@homer-news.com.
"My work is a celebration, that is obvious. At the core of that celebration is a deep spirituality," she said. "It's always been that way. I feel a very strong joy in being, and that has been the prime motivator" for making art.
Story last updated at
1:26 p.m.
Thursday, November 28, 2002
'Light-hearted' Art
by Carey James
Staff Writer
