PEARLE: Just a piece of Road on a lifelong journey

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, February 12, 2011

Just a piece of Road on a lifelong journey

Sometimes the road is hard to travel. The terrain gets steep and rocky and every once in a while my feet slip out from beneath me. My palms are sore and raw, my nails are cracked and bleeding as I grasp onto anything so that I don't lose too much ground.
I am making changes and I don't know about you but for me, suffering from the Human condition, change never comes easy. I want change but something inside me resists. It's like a battle within myself and sometimes, most times, there are no winners but inner peace sacrifices and compromises with rivers of tears mixed with all my struggles and woes.
I have been going down this one road for a while now. My child on my back. I don't want her feet touching too much of this terrain for I fear that it could wear heavy on her young innocent spirit. So, I carry her even if at times the weight is challenging and demanding. I don't mind because it is the burden I chose to bear. She is the love of my life and I adore her more than words could ever express.
I have been dreaming recently....dreaming of making this life less difficult and more joyous.
I am a single mother and I have been single for many years.

I decided a day or two ago to take a step off the road I was traveling on....take a right or a left...it didn't matter. I needed to make a decision to live this life as well as survive it.
In my art I lose myself....

In my art I escape into a world where everything is lovely.
I feel this need to rescue...and I find myself rescuing furniture and giving it a new sense of beauty!
I find myself rescuing many things and trying to make them more beautiful than they have ever been and show the world that everything, no matter how long it has been discarded, can return, can change and can be worth more than you can imagine!
My art to me is a symbol....a symbol of how the human condition can be redeemed and doesn't have to always be so tragic!
Life doesn't have to always be so black & White and fit into the boundaries of what "society" thinks they will accept. I step a little over the line from time to time...just to know for sure that nobody is really watching that line anyway!

Truth is I was discarded years ago...I have accepted this. I have survived every day because I believe that there is a HP that Loves me. He gave to me a gift or two. I want to share my gift with you!
If I were a piece of furniture I would be a chair. Because although I don't have much...I'd really like to give you a place to rest your body. A place to sit and chat. A place to sit when you gather w/ your family. A chair...everything about a chair screams Let me hold you when you can not do it yourself! Let the arms of my chair embrace you. Let The back of my chair support you.....My legs strong and steady will hold you up! If I were a piece of furniture...i'd be a chair for sure!

I get to share with you a bit of me, my struggle, my success, my joy, my love....MY HEART! By owning a bit of Pearle you own a bit of a dream...a bit of Hope...and you are helping guide me down the road I travel...a guiding light of sorts! ♥

Just a piece of Road on a lifelong journey