Many Moons by Kimmy Quillin follows the cycle of the moon from full to new and back to full. The series traces a visual pathway of decreasing then increasing light, encouraging us to identify in ourselves the phases we are knowingly or unknowingly going through. “Black Mary” is a passage through time without light. “Three Quarters” fills up with white radiance. 

Many Moons mirrors our own phases and shifts in energy. It also represents larger life cycles whose beginnings or endings are yet unknown to us. Blood red and blackest brown brood through the first six paintings of the series. ‘Tears to Rivers’  looms with its dark background presenting a moon full of itself but also full of sorrow. It holds something that needs to be shed, some sadness which runs over and off of its edges. In “Half Moon 2,” the white of light begins to increase and fill the canvas, growing towards the final radiance of “Maria.” 

The moons are passage, breadth of experience and rebuilding. They are hurricanes and mass shootings but also the coming together of humanity in the aftermath They are the repair and rebraiding of relationships. Whether one believes in the forces the moon exerts on humanity, following and finding ways to relate to the cycles of the moon offers a way to connect with the rhythms of nature no matter where one is. Despite the bright lights of the city, the moon is visible to urbanites any night the clouds allow it. As we reflect on Many Moons, “the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb,” we are more able to recognize our own phases in turn.

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Artwork below photographed by Christian Nguyen.