Melting Clocks and Sweet Sweat continues my art story describing how youthful exposure to certain paintings and hearing one particular poem and poet helped to open my eyes. Later, but early during my graduate art education, painting was part of a grief process that involved the “politics of birthing”. Once again read how painting, poetry, process and politics have all intertwined making me the artist I am today. I hope you enjoy reading about these threads.

Greek myths are preposterous narratives yet they speak truth about human nature. My artistic journey to redirect visualizations of rape myths began with Leda and the Angry Swan. The viewer is captivated by Leda’s staring eye. Her gaze follows the viewer who can’t escape her defiant soul. Although she is overpowered she is not subdued. Since the Supreme Court overturned a women right to choose with its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 attacks against pregnant women have been on overdrive. In fact, a Pandora’s box of unintended consequences has opened since then leaving pregnant women as isolated and vulnerable as ever.

The Greenbelt News Review's writer, Nicole DeWald, introduces Damen's "sliver" pieces saying that they function like core samples, revealing the intermingling of different layers of matter and realms of experience. Each work is a response to a poem or a poet’s remem-
brance, linked to https://visionsversesvoices.com/ site.
*Damen’s works are lavishly painted, from the cheek of a human figure to the flesh of a strawberry dropped on the
kitchen floor.*