April Contemplating May

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  Kay WalkingStick, April Contemplating May, 1972

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  Kay WalkingStick: April Contemplating May es una pintura de dos mujeres en un espacio definido por el color. Además, ellas aparecen en color. No son blancas.

  Mi intención era crear espacio, principalmente a través del color. Y es indudable que la ubicación de los pies lleva al espectador hacia el espacio, hacia una suerte de espacio. Luego, la pintura azul detrás de la cabeza de la mujer empuja al espectador incluso más atrás.

  Además, sucede en un espacio donde hay una pintura detrás llamada Pieces of Sky.

  Al contemplar la pintura, el cielo se transforma de un azul brillante encantador en unos tonos grises, blancos y azules tiznados.

  En mi opinión, esto sugiere la importancia de cuidar del medio ambiente. De que este es nuestro país, un lugar hermoso que debemos atesorar y cuidar.

  Creo que en este punto me sentía muy feliz. Pienso que mi vida era placentera y que me planteaba por entonces cuestiones acerca del Movimiento Indígena Estadounidense, del movimiento feminista y de la llamada revolución sexual.

  Crecí con la idea de que era cheroqui. Párate erguida, Kay, eres una cheroquí (Cherokee). Pero no estaba involucrada intelectualmente con eso. Por tanto, eso también significaba interpretar un papel.

  Y amo ese verde oruga. Simplemente me encanta [ríe] ese color. Y es primavera, por supuesto, porque abril contempla a mayo.

  Kay WalkingStick, April Contemplating May, 1972

  In Spilling Over (Spanish)

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  Kay WalkingStick, April Contemplating May, 1972

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  Play Transcript

  Kay WalkingStick: April Contemplating May is a, is a picture of two women in a space defined by color. And they are in color. Not white girls. 

  As I said, I was trying to create space, primarily through color. And certainly the placement of the feet pulls you back into a space, a kind of space. And then having the big blue painting behind her head pushes you a little bit further back. 

  And it’s in a space with a painting in the back called Pieces of Sky.

  When you look at the painting, the sky changes from these bright lovely blues to these sort of gray, smoggy, sooty, whites, and blues.

  This also has, for me at least, a suggestion of the importance of, taking care of our environment. That this is our country, this beautiful place is ours to treasure and to take care of. 

  I think I was very happy at this point. I think I had a nice life, and I did have these questions going on in my mind about the American Indian Movement, and the feminist movement, and the so-called sexual revolution.

  I was certainly raised with the idea that I was a Cherokee. Stand up straight, Kay, you’re a Cherokee. But I hadn’t really been involved in it, intellectually. So, that was playing a part too. 

  And that, inchworm green, I love. I just love [laughs] that color. And it's spring, which is, of course, because it's April contemplating May. 

  Kay WalkingStick, April Contemplating May, 1972

  In Spilling Over