Profile

Another sort there be, that will
Be talking of the Fairies still;
Nor never can they have their fill,
As they were wedded to them.
- Drayton

Von den Elben
Wird Mancher mann bezaubert.
Mich entzünden ihre hellen Augen,
Ihre Schönheit, ihre Würde,
So daß mein ganzer Körper
vor wonne Zergeht.
{Some are spellbound by elves.
I myself am inflamed by their bright eyes,
their magnificence, their dignity,
so much so that my whole body
melts in delight}
- Heinrich von Morungen

"Only in the artist is this duplicity more or less acceptable, perhaps because beauty is one attribute shared in common by God and the Devil, because devotion to the beautiful, as distinct from the good and the true, seems to make one a human being who is not altogether serious - neither man nor devil but some kind of elf consigned in the Day of Judgement neither to heaven nor hell but to the limbo of souls"
- Alan Watts

sphinxmuse

phee_adornments

· Artist Statement ·

Desirée Isphording a twenty-four year old artist who resides in the woodlands of eastern Pennsylvania among Sassafras and Tulip Poplars, near the shores of a lake frequented by Great Blue Herons, White-tailed Deer, and Muskrats.

Her lifelong interest in folklore, mythology, symbolism, and Nature have greatly influenced both the style and subjects of her work as well as providing a deeper context for her art practice. She has a particular passion for mythopoetic portraiture wherein she seeks to capture the muses of Faery, often translating their presence into theriomorphic figures. Interfacing between man and Nature, the creatures often appear to her as if on some intermediary point on that fluid mythic continuum between human and animal {fauna}, human and plant {flora}, human and representative pattern {persona}. Endeavoring to capture elusive, prismatic likenesses of equally elusive figures, she seeks traces of their presence in mythology, legend, poetry, her own intuition, and in the very landscape itself, hoping to discover some iridescent residue or threadbare tapestry with which to make contact.

Desirée's artwork also possesses something of its own dark aesthetic - there are threads of melancholy, sorrow, and subtle traces of a morbid fascination to be found by the observant throughout her work. The chthonic, arcane, and mysterious have long been inspirational companions, stirring her imagination and leading her to explore certain aspects of myth and symbolism through art.

To date her work has been featured on the Endicott Studio of Mythic Arts Blog, in the online poetry journal Goblin Fruit, within Epilogue’s New Masters of Fantasy volume III collection, in SageWoman and Pentacle magazines. Desiree’s pieces have also graced the covers of If...A Journal of Spiritual Exploration, PaganNet News, and the GypsyRose catalogue. Her artwork also appears on the cover of Harp, Pipe, and Symphony, a book by Paul DiFilippo.