DRAW A BED AND CLIMB IN IT

AS A CHILD I loved to draw.  I would come often to my mother with the same question: “What can I draw?”  Her response was always the same, “Draw a bed and climb in it.”    When I think of these words now I am struck with the profundity and power they can hold if cared for properly.  I believe that we literally have the ability to pull from the invisible and shape the visible.  Imagination and creativity have power to “bring into being”. To incarnate.  Painting has allowed me to conceive of a thing and watch it grow flesh.  The sketchbook and the easel have become for me an altar for prayer and meditation, for confession and struggle and a place for ugliness to be confronted by grace and beauty.  It has become a place to make my bed and lay in it.

After getting a degree in illustration I ventured into fine art.  (www.ChrisShreve.com)  All the while my sketchbooks were filled with illustrated critters and creatures of whimsey and horror, among other things.  After years of pushing them aside and into the margins, Normiehead is a space to give this work a little attention and intention.