Carla Goldberg

Murderous intentions in the darkness by river’s edge, the May Night Maidens seek vengeance. Spurned by their lovers, they died violently or committed suicide by plunging into the river to drown their sorrow.

 

  Call them what you will, water ghosts, water spirits, succubus, mermaid demons, nymphs or sprites, by day these sisters of the river dwell at the bottom of the river and walk the banks by moonlight. Upon seeing handsome young men, they fascinate them with songs and dancing in the meadows, mesmerizing them and leading their doomed lovers away to the river bottom to live with them forever.

 

But is it loneliness or vengeance that drives these women who were once so beautiful and innocent?

 

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In her latest series, “The May Night Maidens”, artist Carla Goldberg continues her use of the fluidity of line, which she is known for. Her body of work travels in a sister path to rivers and other flowing waters which she began in “Soundings” and “Bodice of the Goddess” which focused mainly on the Hudson River and the lore of female river spirits.

“The May Night Maidens” goes further afield and explores Russian myth and the darker realm of the tragic and violent female spirits called the “Rusalki” or Drowned Maidens, which haunt the rivers throughout the world and across all cultures.

Inspired by the writings of Pushkin and Gogol about the Drowned Maidens which closely echo her own method of creating myth from local landscapes, Carla Goldberg has found that resin lets her capture a three dimensional snapshot of the essence of flowing water in what has been described as a “liquid rhythm which flows and coils through her imagery”. Through this, we get a glimpse of the last thing many an unwary traveler would see on a moonlit night.