Gregory Grenon - Moth Girl "Her Fingers Reach for the Keyboard"

Moth Girl seems compelled to play the piano, much like a moth must fly to lights at night. Playing the piano is such a gift and for some it was a gift that came from much hard work. Today's poem by Diane Wakoski can be read in its entirety at Poetry Foundation.

Thanking My Mother for Piano Lessons

BY DIANE WAKOSKI

The relief of putting your fingers on the keyboard, 

as if you were walking on the beach 

and found a diamond 

as big as a shoe; 

as if 

you had just built a wooden table 

and the smell of sawdust was in the air, 

your hands dry and woody; 

as if 

you had eluded 

the man in the dark hat who had been following you 

all week; 

the relief 

of putting your fingers on the keyboard, 

playing the chords of 

Beethoven, 

Bach, 

Chopin

...

More of the poem at Poetry Foundation.

Gregory Grenon - Moth Girl the One Who Must Play

Moth Girl, the woman with the wings not of an angel or a butterfly but of a moth. The blue/green background enhances those wings as her fingers dance at the piano keys. She flutters in her yellow dress, not seated but hovering. Like a light bulb, the piano draws her to it. She cannot help herself. She must play that piano, much like Gregory Grenon must paint and paint in color. Grenon is a local Portland artist who came here from his hometown Detroit, Michigan via Chicago, Illinois. Laura Russo Gallery has shown his work and in the video below he talks about himself and his work.

Moth Girl, by Gregory Grenon

Moth Girl, by Gregory Grenon, hangs in the Northwest Gallery. It is made of oil on plexiglass, and is one of a number of pieces he's made of women, to me they all look like they could be related. As if they are one type, like a family of prehistoric girls, almost neanderthals, in the way they are crudely primitive. The reverse glass painting method he uses isn't new, it is revived from the Bavarian technique from the 15th century. Always interested in painting women, Grenon says he has moved from the face, to the figure to the hands. He also says he paints women because they have a beauty and power that men do not have...I have to agree with him there.