Exhibit Dates: August 6 – October 25, 2024
Artist: Dona Lantz
Location: Quincy Medical Group, 1118 Hampshire St., Second Floor

Artist Statement:

Death can’t be undone. Brokenness can’t be undone. However, we can embrace what has been broken and create a sense of renewal by filling the absence with beauty. The initial intent for making these images was to honor my mother’s memory and her passion for arrowheading. Second, I wanted to acknowledge that arrowheading with her while I was growing up and as an adult was when I developed a deeper relationship with her. The other way that my mother and I bonded was through gardening. If she couldn’t be out arrowheading her next favorite activity was tending her roses. My mother surface-hunted for arrowheads for over six decades primarily in six Illinois counties, Hancock, Schuyler, Pike, McDonough, Brown and Adams and she was proud that she only looked on private property where she had permission. The majority of her collection was found in Schuyler County and many were found on family property. She recorded where and when she found artifacts by noting the date and the property owner and she occasionally numbered and catalogued broken arrowheads. After her death we thought all of the unrecorded broken arrowheads were sold at her estate sale, however, in the months after the sale I kept finding more of her uncatalogued arrowheads in boxes, bags, coffee cans and flower pots in places where i had never thought to look. Every time I “discovered” more arrowheads I found myself laughing. Not only did it feel like my mother was still with me which softened my grief but I again marveled at the miles and miles she walked looking for arrows. Not wishing to sell these arrowheads, I chose to visually combine her two passions into new images and float them larger than life on top of a sky. The missing shape has been drawn in as accurately as possible based on printed and online resources. Images are titled based on the type of arrowhead. Whenever I see incredible cloud formations I stop what I am doing and take pictures. These moments fill me with profound joy. Watching the clouds change in terms of light, colors, layers, and formations reminds me how temporary and fragile our lives are here on earth. The intense and fleeting beauty in these moments comfort me as I feel like I have been given a gift, a glimpse of the divine. The act of joining an arrowhead and a rose lead me to consider the Japanese practice and philosophy of Kintsugi where breakage is embraced and repairs are illuminated. These images have been assembled with reverence. The stone artifacts are survivors. Even broken, their permanence anchors the ephemeral bloom of a rose and the fleeting beauty of a sunset into a monumental moment. Creating these images has transcended my initial desire to honor my mother’s memory and our relationship that was built upon our two shared passions. These images are about renewal that can come when what is broken is embraced and the absence caused by grief is replaced with something beautiful. I hope that these images evoke feelings of reverence and renewal.