Deaf Coffee Curly Lady/Flower Vase

Painting is Inspired from a mini trip to New Mexico. learned highlights on Georgia O’Keeffe’s life.

Can you find the Hidden word D E A F in this painting? Deaf Swimmer and Goldfish painting has one!

This painting is about being happily identified as Deaf woman. Having lived in a gray world with limited language for so long, this painting is filled with vibrant, bright colors to represent the beauty of communication, identity, and community.

The strong colors and energy of this artwork shows my happiness at being Deaf, and celebrating my Deaf identity with drinking coffee, the setting is like Southwest color along with artist's trademark of window: The yellow and motif-colored sunray represents a fence. The fence motif communicates barriers and obstacles that Deaf people need to overcome during our walks through life to achieve our hopes and dreams. The yellow sunray communicates the emotions of delight, hope, pride and joy of a Deaf life. The mosaic-colored parts of the sunray allude to the stained glass windows in Gallaudet’s Chapel Hall and represent the Deaf spaces in our lives.

There is a hidden word of DEAF in this painting, can you find it?

Ellen Mansfield

Deaf Coffee Curly Lady/Flower Vase

2017

Oil on canvas

Abstract art of a human-like figure in primary colors, sitting at a blue topped table with purple legs and chair. The figure is holding a mug of coffee and looking out the window, which has a yellow triangular sunray against a stained-glass type background. The wallpaper is decorated with shell-like spirals. The person has curly shell-like brown hair, and the face is a mix of colors including red, pink, yellow, and white. The neck is blue and purple. The body is red with yellow and orange balls across the chest. Next to the person's head are several flowers in orange and yellow with green stems. The letters D E A F are hidden in the artwork: D on the mug handle, E on the neck, A as a table leg, and F as the back of the chair.