Serena Banks

Happy Birthday to the love of my life! @richardwc68.bsky.social

"Meditations 1", Carbon, Charcoal and Graphite on Rag Paper", the first in a series of works based upon images manifested to me through meditation within esoteric Masonic bodies. This shows a wise little person woman on a lakeside beach at sunrise holding an unknown object while visited by an ibis.

This is what I came home to today. They were all napping without me!

"Leda", Charcoal and Graphite on Paper.

"Constraint"- Mixed Media Painting.

The Buffalo No Kings Protest had a huge turnout yesterday with no issues or any need for police intervention:

An oil painting on canvas, "The Head of John the Baptist and a Spring of Acacia."

A mixed media piece that I titled, "Polyphemus", named after the cyclops in The Odyssey, as it looked a bit to me like a grinning one eyed monster. Channeling Jasper Johns' "The Critic Smiles" a bit in that way.

Proud to have marched again in this year's Pride Parade in Buffalo, NY. A great day, as always. This event showcases love, empathy and positive energy in a time when those aspects of humanity are desperately needed.

Had a great time at PRIDE today with family and friends! Such a fun event full of love and kindness.

A difficult subject: "Incel" addresses the obvious foolishness and self-destructive bigotry found in Alt-Right Incel culture, but with implicit advice that we should not condemn, cancel and shut down communication. Call it out- always, but also offer advice and a chance to come back to the light.

"Displacement", a carbon and charcoal drawing on rag paper.

My oil painting, "Enoch Instructing Hiram Abiff", published just recently as an interior illustration in Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski's new book: "Masonic Research Lodges, Bodies, and Societies."

A recently completed sculpture at Saint Mary's High School in Lancaster, NY. My students developed spirit animal totems, which were abstracted, then by collaboration with Mark Griffis & his studio; the students plasma cut the forms in sheet steel & painted. He then put it together and installed it.

This drawing on rag paper is titled, "Worship". Rather than describe my own process and content for this picture, I will leave room for the viewers to apply their own narrative.

"Nimrod", named after the biblical king who built the Tower of Babel, an oil on canvas painting from 2022, addresses the unfortunate lack of communication during the COVID epidemic. Given the open process of its making, it is not a simple one for one symbolism, and is much more ambiguous in meaning.

This oil painting is titled "Gnosis", which speaks to the abstract, innate spiritual knowledge which is inherently feminine in all of us. Men, in general, would do well to embrace this aspect of wisdom (Sophia) in ourselves through our evolution as fully rounded human beings.

Being new to Bluesky, I just wanted to share a few of my art pieces over time and perhaps talk a bit about what motivates me as an artist and art educator. This one is called Saint Stephen, though it is not meant as a literal depiction of the saint, but rather, one standing alone against the crowd.

This drawing on rag paper is "Nehushtan" or brazen thing- it alludes to the destruction of the serpent staff Moses was ordered by God to create, which was destroyed generations later by the iconoclastic King Hezekiah. It symbolizes a move from formal high art to a literal, word based obviousness.

This is a mixed media painting from that series which used paint shirts as a substrate for components using surreal, Jungian automatism. "Contrition" is an antipode to the other works too critical of my upbringing, & shows, through a hidden drawing in the pocket, what a kind and loving father I had.

This mixed media painting, Kronus, speaks to how children invariably carry the choices made by their parents, in this case; drinking. This was part of a series of works I made years ago where the content developed by the layering of automatic formal choices- very deliberately Jungian in its process.

I think so, Brain but where are we going to get rubber pants in our size?

This… so much!

Empathy is not a flower that grows in Republicans gardens. They are very literal and very self-centered.

Ever since I was a child, I likened capitalism to fire. It is neither good nor evil; it heats your home and provides your food. It must be regulated, though, or it will burn down your house. Trump has essentially lit a fire on your living room floor and went out to play golf. He did this.

Absolutely fantastic turnout of protesters at the Chicago Hands Off! protest!

I love my city!

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Proud to stand with thousands in 🦬 NY saying #HandsOff. Thank you @nysut.bsky.social @neatoday.bsky.social Director @doraleland.bsky.social Thank you @reptimkennedy.bsky.social for standing with us. @aftunion.bsky.social @melindajperson.bsky.social @mrgriz.bsky.social @nysaflcio.bsky.social

@meidastouch.com Close to 10,000 in Buffalo, NY. Great job by the organizers. @wnycosh.bsky.social @louisaa1.bsky.social

Happy to have taken part in the Hands Off rally today in Buffalo, NY. Democracy needs careful and constant tending, lest it go out forever.