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What can I say about my work? It is a ritual that connects me to something larger... but how to describe the end product? Or really, should I even try? Somebody once told me they dreamed only in black and white... A world without color...?I can't even imagine it. Trying to describe a picture with words is like trying to know an ocean without getting your feet wet. ~ Art is a mirrorpool, look into it and you will see yourself... and quite a bit more.
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Mainly self-taught, and displaying an intuitive ability in her early years, Mendenhall's fine art work is an exploration of many mediums. In all expressions, Ragen seems to exude an ethereal feminine quality. Her elaborately detailed paintings often celebrate a contemporary Art Nouveau style and she reveals her subjects with a sensitivity to emotion and luminous use of color. Ragen's medium of expression continues to expand, only recently evolving into living works of art. Her bodypaint piece feauturing a firebird soaring through the cosmos was recognized with the fifth place award at the North American Body Painting Championship. The celebrated event, which usually takes place in Florida, came to Las Vegas in 2010 - Mendenhall is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. Ragen attended the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, magnet high school and in 1996 attended the Art Institue of Seattle on a full tuition scholarship. Her work was included in the most recent publication of the revered art annual, Spectrum 16: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. |
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In Ragen's oil painting, "The Mask of Psyche", a beautiful woman peers from behind a butterfly mask. 'Psyche', the Greek word for 'soul', is associated with the butterfly because the Greeks believed after death, the spirit, or the "breath of life" escaped from the body in the form of a bird or butterfly. The painting personifies the idea of a greater soul donning the 'mask' of the natural physical world, in order to experience what it is to be human. |
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