Pearle Northrop

Artist Statement
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I started taking what I do seriously and it took even longer to consider myself an artist. I love to paint whatever I can get my hands on from things as small as a Scrabble® piece to as big as a dresser and hopefully even bigger someday. Whatever it is I will paint it. I love transforming trash into treasure literally. Imagine that a chair that came from a dumpster (2006) made it into a museum (2009). It blows me away to think that something I did creates a sense of awe in a viewer’s eye.
I was talking to a friend a few years back about my love for furniture, my relationship with chairs in particular. There was a chair that I found discarded and ultimately forgotten. I came upon this chair accidentally. I wasn't looking for a relationship. Anyway, the chair was a very handsome chair with so many things to look at. His back was decorative; his arms were long and lean. His legs...I have never seen such beautiful legs. But he was beaten down. His self-esteem had long been worn out. His seat, which was repeatedly upholstered over years, was torn and faded. His stuffing was busting out revealing his age and loss of pride. Me, being a care taker and rescuer of sorts....picked up the chair and brought it home. He sat at the top of the stairs for a few weeks in a corner. My friends however saw this chair and commented on how ugly he was. They wondered why I had him in my home commenting on how dirty he was and how unattractive he was due to the years of neglect. I ignored them and kept him around. Finally one day I decided to put him on my coffee table and take the layers of cloth and wool stuffing off of his seat. Then I cleaned him, primed him and painted him black. Three months later I sat back and looked at him and this is what I saw.....A chair, a man restored...but not only restored but given a whole new purpose. He was beautiful again. He was unique and wonderful....The same chair that my friends were grossed out by....is now a chair that they ask permission to touch. Amazing.....One thing is for certain...NOTHING STAYS THE SAME! Change is inevitable and what is ugly or dirty or discarded as trash can be saved, can be rescued and can be made shinier than new!
Taking discarded forgotten pieces and giving them their self-esteem back is a passion for me. Living in a world where we discard things so easily I’d like to think I am making an itty bitty difference.
Pearle Northrop

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Thanking God that this is behind us!

Just another bump in the road.....

by Pearle Northrop on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 10:12am
Wasting tears on a man riddled with demons. His mind not his own. The only thing I could do was sit there steering the car and listen to him go on about how his battles, his inner war is my fault. If only throughout the years I was kinder to him. If only I didn't push him so much. If only I was a sweet china doll that he kept in the closet and took out only when he wanted a splash of pretty.

I have never been closed lipped. I have never witnessed an injustice and sat back in oblivious ignorance. I tend to speak up even if what I have to say is unwelcome and poorly received. I am not the type to sit back and allow some man with a hollow heart and tweaked mind to walk all over me. Yet, seven years split and here I am sitting in the car driving his beaten worn down body to a place I thought I would never go again.

Truth is I love him dearly and wish him the best. I hope that he will get better but not in any ordinary way. I want great things for him. I want his soul to mend and heal and then eventually I want him to explode into a man I know he can be. At this point all I can do is hope all that is groovy for him.
I didn't realize that this whole situation was affecting me so until I had to drive back to the detoxification unit to retrieve my keys. Sadly I had taken Reagan w/ me and when we went into the facility.....there he was. I couldn't turn and walk away. I could only stand there as he walked over and embraced my shocked little girl in his arms. We stayed only a minute and in that time my child's eyes saw the love of her life in a moment of disgrace that she may never forget.

In the car my daughter displayed the most amazing of human emotions. Her 9 year old lips voicing her feelings in a way that I have never heard. Her eyes filled with tears that drowned her beautiful face. Why? Why is my Daddy who he is?
I didn't cry about this whole situation until I looked over in the passenger seat and saw the love of my life exploding with emotion. Her anger, her frustration, her sadness and her fear.....I felt every ounce, every bit of it. I cannot shelter her from everything. I cannot candy coat this....it is what it is. Her Daddy is the best Daddy he can be right now. There is one thing for certain and that is She is almost everything to him. Right after his addiction she has a place.
Reagan squeezes my hand three times, looks at me with tear filled eyes and says thank you.
She then turns up the radio to listen to Coldplay. Her chin resting on the door staring out at the brightly lit strip malls and shopping plazas that line both sides of RT. 9.
 It has been over a year since this terrible day. My daughter and I survived what would prove to be one of the most difficult years of our life. I have not been incredibly productive but I do plan on getting back in the groove for my child's sake. 
Her father is clean and sober. Although we are not together in a romantic relationship we are however forever together as Reagan's Mother and Father. I think he will be fine. 
I stop my life always to help the ones I love because well, w/out them I would have no true purpose. I do hope to be back in the creative flow soon. I am adjusting to a calmer existence and I do plan on taking batter care of me. xoxox Pearle

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