Inner Seasons
The Mythic Art of Virginia Lee

Virginia works in a variety of media: pencil, charcoal, pastel, oil paints, clay, plaster, fimo, and other materials. Her sculptures, like her paintings and drawings, are magical, surrealistic, and unique, revealing a sly humor as the artist presents familiar folklore figures in unexpected new forms: a mermaid eyes a frog with frank suspicion; a swan cranes her feathered neck to examine her plump human derriere; an old woman's head opens to reveal the memories inside; mythic fossils line a faux–Victorian specimen box; fat fairies float blissfully overhead on tiny wings. In whatever medium she chooses to work in, Virginia's art is always enchanting and witty.

"We are filled with a longing for the wild," says Clarisa Pinkola Estés in Women Who Run With the Wolves, a book about women's myth that Virginia found particularly inspiring. "There are few culturally sanctioned antidotes for this yearning. We are taught to feel shame for such a desire. We grew our hair long and used it to hide our feelings. But the shadow of Wild Woman still lurks behind us during our days and in our nights. No matter where we are, the shadow that trots behind us is definitely four–footed."

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