Kouros and Koroi: Oils / Poems
My Private Garden
oil on canvas
62 x 28"
2000
The girl in “My Private Garden” is strong and beautiful even without coiffed hair. Wearing a contemporary richly textured swimsuit she exposes her muscular legs but her expression is private and enigmatic demonstrating that interiority that Daniel Garrison describes. The painting’s title also references Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, “My Private Garden” recognizing its theme of transition and growth through trauma. It was a favorite novel I shared with my children.
Daniel H. Garrison. Sexual Culture in Ancient Greece. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. 2000. P 196.