“Pirate Beginnings”
If you know me, you know about my thing for pirates. You may think it started with my “Pirate Queens; Piracy is a Feminist Act” exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2018, or possibly in 2014 when I self-published “Ghost pirate; the Legend of Juana La Loca” and dropped it at Comikaze in Los Angeles wearing a kick-ass Pirate Queens outfit (of which I have many). Or that it began in 2009 after my Key West 5-day retreat when the brethren of the Black Swan initiated itself and signed articles under Captain Morgan La Fey. That’s certainly when I began flying the black flag publicly, but my pirate beginnings go back to my midwestern childhood.
I grew up in Evanston, first city North of Chicago, along the shores of Lake Michigan, and every summer my father would send me and my siblings to stay with his sister in Orange, California for a month. I am grateful for Aunt Patty as she was a very loving person and when we stayed with her, we were taken care of. I was 7 years old; she did our laundry, cooked meals for us, made our beds, supervised us when we swam in the pool. My parents, who never should have had children, were absent from our upbringing. Aunt Patty was very patient and took us to visit Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, the Queen Mary, Movieland Wax Museum, the mission San Juan Capistrano, the beaches, and SeaWorld, but my favorite place was Disneyland. I had a fantasy that I would sneak off the boat ride of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and hide there. I wanted to live inside their world. During those early years, being safe and pirates became entangled for me.
My teenager’s bedroom was in the attic. I had a very large poster on the wall that was a cartoon of two pirate ships broadsiding. I studied it thoroughly; there was so much to see. Hundreds of characters all up to some kind of no-good pirate business, swinging on ropes, climbing the ratlines, yielding swords and blunderbusses in a variety of costumes. It was something that took up a lot of space in my imagination. As a budding artist, I copied many of those pirate characters and practiced drawing ships. With my parents’ divorce, it was a safe place I could disappear to.
In 1992, based on my expression as an artist, I developed Visual Journaling as a tool for self-expression. In the late 90’s to 2000’s I taught at Paper Craft Conventions around the country such as Art Continuum, Journalfest and Artwerx in Canada. I based most of my all-day workshops on themes to unify the assignments. They may be organized by place or time of year, such as a book of enchantments or a Grimoire for Fall. In the early 2000’s I began presenting retreats that were 2- 5 days long. In 2005 I was invited to teach in Gainesville, Florida. To create a theme, I immediately thought of pirates and treasure off the coast of Florida! And that workshop became the foundation for a longer, more intimate and intense workshop, “School of the Sea; the Pirate’s Code“ presented in 2009 at Key West’s Southernmost House organized and made possible by the late Lou Ann Granger of Destiny Voyages.
My house and my studio reflect this connection to pirates. My office where I sit typing this is the “Captains Quarters” where pirate flags cover the windows and a children’s lamp with a pirate ship and sails lights my progress. Friends send me pirate décor and skull and crossbones hang over archways. In the living room is a floor to ceiling bookshelf of books and articles relating to piracy which now is overfilling. Pirate paintings hang on the wall with my favorite, the “Battle at Sea,” with the Pirate Queens timeline that lists the women pirates, over 58, that I have discovered. Above the painting hangs a vintage roll up map of the Caribbean, my current focus. I had an entire armoire filled with pirate costumes and my closet houses pirate daily wear. Most days I wear my pirate earrings- black skulls with crystal eye sockets. I am easy to shop for; ships, shells and anything seaful soulful on plates, mugs, sheets, pillows, T-shirts, bedroom slippers. In winter, I put up a Pirate Christmas tree with pirate ornaments such as sharks dressed as pirates, Hallmark Johnny Depp, fish, crabs, plenty of ships in all sizes, a pirate polar bear with an eye patch, and a pirate hat tree topper.
Raise the Black!
What I’m trying to say is that I’ve been interested in pirates all my life and for most of my life, I’ve kept it quiet and on the down low because I wanted to be taken seriously as an artist and serious artists don’t paint pirates, though the older I get, it seems the more I let my pirate flag or Jolly Roger fly. And based on this interest, I’ve known about the usual suspects of women pirates; Grace O’Malley, Anne Bonney, Mary Read. It wasn’t until I went to an Artist Residency at Green Olive Arts in Tetouan, Morocco in 2016 that I was introduced to a female pirate I had never heard of, and that introduction made me curious about the possibility of other women pirates who have been neglected from history. Sayyida al Hurra, corsair/privateer, abandoned home & comforts to pursue freedom beyond society’s confines. This 16th century ruler and pirate dared to take advantage of the rights, privileges, and liberties exclusive to men, becoming one of the most successful pirates of all time you’ve never heard of. In times of injustice the pirate takes her place in history. No fucking quarter.
There’s no turning back now; unfurl the canvas!
In pursuit of the pirate Queens!