With a woman's body and an artist's mind, I look at myself in the mirror. My paint brush moves across the canvas to find myself in the state of metamorphosis called menopause. How do I get through the hot flashes, mood swings, fatigue and intensity of it all? Can I examine and welcome the wrinkles and texture of aging? Can I expel the fear of mortality and move towards the upstairs of my life?

50 million U.S. women are over the age of 50, and another 10 million will reach that milestone in the next decade just in this country alone.  World-wide we are the largest and healthiest population of mature women in history. As we begin our journey to old age, most of us encounter predominantly negative cultural images of age and the aging process.

 Yet as I moved into the landscape of female aging, I discovered that this era of a woman’s life can be a time of rich creativity and powerful action. It is the symbolic time of the crone, the wise woman, the truth teller, the healer. Instead of fearing or medicalizing menopause, I chose to birth my crone and to birth the archetype back into society.

How we translate the profound biological and psychological shifts that occur in menopause influences the quality of our aging and the quality of the wisdom we have to share in this world.  We need to reclaim the concept of "Crone" just as we need to explore and re-frame issues of age and aging. I'm an artist who believes that aesthetics and social responsibility are compatible. Seeing the personal as political from the perspective of the women's movement helped me claim the subject of the aging female body as a theme worthy of art. Early on I realized that if hiding age was the norm, I had to put mine out there, both in my art and in my person.

When I began this series of self portraits (in 1992), it was solely to explore the menopausal changes occurring in my own body. But soon my art, reading and research expanded to issues of ageism, sexism, health and creativity -- so relevant for me as a woman and an artist. As I exhibited the work at universities and community centers, I gave presentations -- speaking out on the subject whenever I could and listening to what women of all ages had to say. The need for public discourse on this subject is so great that my work grew into an interactive community project that now includes exhibitions, workshops, slide lectures (with my own and other artists' work) and a website (www.birthingthecrone.com).

At the historical root of art-making is the shaman’s quest to understand body and soul, to look into the mysteries of existence. This is done by entering the cycles of birth, life, death and rebirth, and then coming back into community to share the findings of self-discovery.  I offer my art in this spirit and encourage you to listen to your body and psyche, to follow your creative instincts and to use them to fully live all the seasons of your life.

http://www.birthingthecrone.com