Remixing the ancient goddess
Office of the Dean
April 20, 2017
UCI alumna Lydia Ringwald '72 brings ancient goddesses to life in mixed-media paintings
For decades, University of California, Irvine alumna Lydia E. Ringwald ’72 has been on a quest to discover and interpret transitions of the goddess image through time. Her fascination started as an undergraduate at Scripps College with studies in mythology, comparative literature, and ancient history, and evolved further as a graduate student in comparative literature at UCI.
The quest would continue over her lifetime and would inspire her to write articles, essays and poetry, produce documentary presentations and find expression and insight in visual art.
Fusing together the disparate fragments of women’s cultural heritage, Ringwald has traveled worldwide photographing ancient goddess and multi-deity archaeological sites in Egypt, India, China, Greece and Turkey and documenting goddess effigies in museum collections from Paris to St. Petersburg; X’ian to Varanasi.
In her exploration and documentation of the transition of the goddess image through time, Ringwald reveals insights into the feminine psyche and women’s position in society. The feminine image revered in ancient civilizations is thousands of years later, demonized as a witch, only to later reemerge in the Romantic era as the "femme fatale." In our time and cultural context, she resurfaces as the popular comix image of Superwoman.
Ringwald’s exploration of often conflicting images of the feminine in the trajectory of women’s collective history is energized by the belief that by unraveling the past and extricating the image of women from the matrix of conflicting identities, women will have a chance to shape their destiny and future.
For Ringwald, painting and mixed media art is a conduit for projecting the past into the context of the present and future. In her exhibition, “Evocation of the Ancients,” images of ancient goddess are suspended in a surrealistic mixed media montage, where fragments of tile and glass, juxtaposed with computer board innards and cuneiform script etched into plaster, merge in a context of simultaneous time.
Ringwald credits her mother Eva M. Mack, an early woman attorney who passed the California State Bar in 1938, as an important influence that energizes her life work. During her mother’s career, she would serve as an advocate for marginalized communities, winning a case against racially restrictive housing covenants and serve as editor of the Women Lawyer’s Journal.
“My mother's unique legacy has always inspired me,” said Ringwald, “and encouraged me to travel, explore the history of women and to express my insights in articles, presentations, photography and art.”
Ringwald’s series of paintings and mixed media artworks “Evocation of the Ancients” is currently exhibited at the Aliso Viejo Library. She has exhibited her artwork at UCI and at museums, art galleries and libraries in Southern California and abroad.
To learn more about Ringwald, visit her alumni spotlight here, or her website here.
A few of Ringwald's paintings, courtesy of the artist:
"Ecovation"
"Evocation of the Ancients"
"Ancient Cylinder Seal"
"Ancient Future"
"Double Gold Goddess"
"Spectral breath"