Bamboo Hula c. 1941

Cornelia MacIntyre Foley made this print titled Bamboo Hula, and well, isn't it something? The artist has carved away at the block to leave behind these powerful shapes, it feels like a dance in itself. Look how the marks create contrasts and depth. Notice the dancer’s skirt, and the way the radiating lines give it volume, almost like the petals of a flower, or a bursting firework. Then consider the way the marks are laid down, so decisive, so planned. Each groove is a commitment. The textures are tactile, almost begging to be touched. I can imagine Foley making this, it looks like a conversation, a back and forth between the artist and the block, the artist and the hula. The flatness of the print reminds me of Gauguin’s woodcuts. But where he was all about exoticism, Foley has a real intimacy with her subject, and really brings the aliveness, the movement, to the fore. Art isn’t about answers; it’s about conversations.