About My Mother
HISTORICAL Background
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
The Ramakein is the Thai adaptation of the Hindu epic poem, the Ramayana. It tells the saga of the Dharma King, his bride who is kidnapped by the Demon King, and the war that ensues.
While Thailand is a Buddhist country, the legend of kings perseveres, with a Hindu strain of myths about the just king. These motifs appear in much of the an
The Ramakein is the Thai adaptation of the Hindu epic poem, the Ramayana. It tells the saga of the Dharma King, his bride who is kidnapped by the Demon King, and the war that ensues.
While Thailand is a Buddhist country, the legend of kings perseveres, with a Hindu strain of myths about the just king. These motifs appear in much of the ancient mural art of the classical Thai temples, themselves inspired by the 12th century temple at Angkor Wat, when the regional empires, Siamese, Khmer, and Annamese, vied for power and survival.
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
My mother is Taiwanese, of Buddhist upbringing and a converted Catholic. She met my father at the Air Force base in Taipei, where she worked as a telephone operator. My father spent a great deal of time in Thailand, due to the war efforts. He also started a boutique trading business, specializing in jewelry, art, and later, shellac.
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My mother is Taiwanese, of Buddhist upbringing and a converted Catholic. She met my father at the Air Force base in Taipei, where she worked as a telephone operator. My father spent a great deal of time in Thailand, due to the war efforts. He also started a boutique trading business, specializing in jewelry, art, and later, shellac.
During the 1970s, my mother began creating copper art based on etchings from the famed Thai temples, which friends and local dealers sold, for some extra family income by my mother.
We immigrated to Long Island, in New York, in 1976, after which my mother stopped, as life took over and she focused on raising the family, and hustling up jobs for extra income - eventually becoming a lab assistant at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.
Four decades later, since retired, she has been making copper art again. These photos are to showcase some of her art.
My Mother's ART
My MOTHER, JUNE BLANCHFORD
My Mother's ART
These mural are completely hand-made and etched in copper.
Copper is a very unforgiving medium, and so my mother made multiple drafts of the same images, correcting for small imperfections, and also to give away or sell some of these reproductions.
Much of what can be achieved is imperfect, and yet the hidden image persists, beyond the v
These mural are completely hand-made and etched in copper.
Copper is a very unforgiving medium, and so my mother made multiple drafts of the same images, correcting for small imperfections, and also to give away or sell some of these reproductions.
Much of what can be achieved is imperfect, and yet the hidden image persists, beyond the veil, of which my mother restlessly sought to set down into copper as faithfully as she can.