Jeanette Luchese
The courage to forge new paths forward beyond the frame.
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UNTITLED, 2025? Mixed Media: Paper with dogwood branches ?”x ?”
Biography
Jeanette Luchese is a first generation Italian-Canadian creating in the disciplines of drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture, poetry and when so moved, transcribing results to sound. A graduate of School of Design and Visual Art, Georgian College and Sheridan College School of Design, Luchese is an award-winning artist residing in Innisfil Ontario who exhibits internationally.
Luchese creates intuitively with no preconceived intentions allowing one mark to lead to another in a fluid meandering. “I invite you to walk where I have walked and feel all that is me.”
Statement
Round Four ... It begins!
I met with Hillary, who proposed using a light box and switch so people could turn on the light as a symbol of inspiration.
My takeaway ....
To be inspired through an action?'
I explored the Call 83 Medicine Bundle and found a wonderful gift from Senator Yvonne Boyer, who made Ceremonial Semah (Tobacco) ties and then gave them to Senator Boniface, for the artists, and as a bonus, Mary Lou Meyers supplied another tie I found out later that she touched each tie to the remains of Miracle, the White Buffalo.
I was moved by the gifts and wanted to use the semah in a special way. I am fortunate to be surrounded by trees and elected to thank the Creator by placing the tobacco at the base of key trees around my house. Finishing the circle, the final tree was surrounded by Dogwood. the red branches coming up from the snow were a wonderful, contrasting deep rusty red. I knew I was to use them. I gathered branches, picking them randomly, not knowing how many or what I would be doing with them. As I lay them down on the table, moving them around, the phrase 'beyond the frame' came to mind, which inspired the result you see before you.
A simple act of faith, giving back to the Earth, thanking the Creator, led me to the dogwood. Arranging the branches allowed me to dive deeper: I thought of a path through the trees, getting lost in the forest, the dogwood representing life. I thought, so much of our history is still all around us holding us back, making it difficult to go forward past the structures and obstacles in place. We need to find new paths forward, beyond the life that has been framed for us. This piece is about breaking free - like the flowering dogwood, which is associated with rebirth and resurrection, its tiered structure and unique branches symbolize stages of life and the interconnectedness of different levels of existence: durability and reliability, strength and resistance. It is a piece about trusting the Creator, about being connected, and about the courage to forge new paths forward beyond the frame.