This piece was partial made during an exhibition where visitors to the gallery could participate by adding beads with pins. Meltzer designed the piece and made a great deal of it but participants had some decision making in their additions. This was the first of many collaborative projects.

Bonnie Meltzer created this artwork with inspiration from "Idaho Toccata" by composer Cynthia Gerdes. Both were shown/heard at the performance of women of Cascadia Composers (local chapter of NACUSA). The music is a portrait of the sounds Gerdes heard as a child in Idaho.

See more pix here

One of the cut out series made by cutting a void in the wood exposing a deeper layer or letting us see through a transparent veil. This one is about gaining insight through the melding of intellect and emotions.

The color of the wall behind the heart shows through becoming part of the design as do the shadows of the beads and the lacy crochet if the lighting makes shadows.

Commissioned for an outside patio to hang on a retaining wall. There are plants growing on the gardening bed at the top of the wall and many pots of plants at the base. The sunglasses and some shapes on the skirt are reflectors which shine at night.

Hello
all 4 sides
phone receivers, phone cords, switchboard lights.
62 x 12 x 12

Hello was made for Pavelcomm, a phone and networking company, as part of "Corporate Waste Into Art. Each artist made an artwork from a company's waste stream. All the artworks were exhibited at Portland City Hall before they went into the offices and lobbies. The client wanted a free standing work rather than a wall piece. It sits in the lobby between two chairs in front of a window When visitors are seated they are at eye level with the "operators" in the sculpture.

The photographs have been scanned from family albums then edited. The photos are heat transferred onto the wood. The outline format of the images lets the paint and wood grain shine through.

We inherit more than just a tangible piece of jewelry.