Gephyrophobia

Excited to share that my artwork, “Approaching Fear Head-On,” received 3rd Place in the 14th Annual Juried Exhibition hosted Aug. 5 through 31 by River City Art Association in First Financial Bank in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana.

This piece also will be featured in the exhibition’s Winners Show throughout September in First Financial’s Springhill branch.

Each high gloss 8 by 10 image is printed on aluminum and float mounted as a triptych on brushed aluminum background.

Initially the lines of the bridge over the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, into Indiana, grabbed my attention for a future photography show, but then I did what I like to do best and that’s to turn one of my traditional photographs into photography-based abstract art.

After contorting the lines using a few photo editing techniques the road and bridge in the second image took on scary movement which then sparked the third image of the gloom and doom, fear and anxiety experienced by someone with the fear of crossing a bridge, and maybe intensified by the fear of heights and/or fear of water.

Myself, I’m OK with bridges, but I do not like heights or swimming in deep water (thalassophobia, defined on Wikipedia as the persistent fear of vast, deep, and often dark bodies of water that feel dangerous).

I looked up the phobia for the fear of crossing a bridge and up popped gephyrophobia, but as represented in my triptych, I preferred my title as a more courageous and positive outcome.

According to Wikipedia: Gephyrophobia is the anxiety disorder or specific phobia characterized by the fear of bridges and tunnels. As a result, sufferers of gephyrophobia may avoid routes that will take them over bridges, or if they are a passenger, will act very apprehensively when passing over a bridge. The term gephyrophobia comes from the Greek γέφυρα (gephura), meaning “bridge”, and φόβος (phobos), meaning “fear”.

Some possible manifestations of gephyrophobia may be fear of driving off the bridge, fear of a gust of wind blowing one off the bridge, or fear that the bridge will collapse when crossing it (e.g., fear that the bridge lacks structural integrity). The fear overlaps with acrophobia (the fear of heights) as gephyrophobia tends to be exacerbated in taller bridges as compared to those closer to the water or ground beneath.

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Abstractions in solo show at Country Club of Terre Haute have forever homes

2018 CBAA Associate Members Show-a rose Blossoming Madly

I am honored to announce that two of my photography-based digital art abstractions featured in my solo show in the Country Club of Terre Haute have forever homes.

In April, a rose “Blossoming Madly” caught the eye of a young mother dining with family at the Country Club in the Allendale area of Terre Haute.

Abstract of wildflowers in May

And on Mother’s Day, I was surprised by daughters of a Terre Haute woman wanting to honor their mother with her favorite among all the artwork, “(Lavender Blue) Dilly Dilly.” (By coincidence, I must note that the original for this abstraction was an image I made of wildflowers in May a few years ago.)

Both images  and their titles spoke to these daughters’ and mothers’ hearts in a special way and that makes my heart sing!

You see, both of these images and titles are unique to me and hold special meaning for me. Growing up, my mother’s nickname was “Rosebud” and in later year’s “Rose.” I also grew up with a love for one of my Dad’s favorite folk singers, Burl Ives, and the original version of “Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly).”

Several other abstractions are featured through mid-June in Arts Illiana’s Community Outreach Gallery space in the Country Club of Terre Haute.

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