This split, between the front and back room of the gallery emphasizes the ascendence of the artist’s devotion to creative expression and aesthetics (the vessel). The dynamic between the two rooms in this show may well contain the notion that the woman-artist is an increasingly codified identity, and that the paternal man is her counterpart (at least in this case). I would also suspect that sometimes — with a specific sort of modern consciousness — this role may reverse and be shared mutually amongst the sexes; this may be true for Stiler herself, as her husband, Daniel Gordon, is also a working artist.

Author of “Goddesses in Everywoman,” Jean Shinoda Bolen writes about the various aspects of a given female psyche. Relevant to Stiler’s work, we can examine the “Aphrodite” type and the “Demeter” or “Hera” type; the first being the creative, expressive, artistically devoted and the latter two having maternal, family-oriented characteristics. Bolen’s chapter on the creative aspects of the “Aphrodite type” describes, “creativity as a ‘sensual’ process; an in-the-moment sensory experience involving touch and imagery. An artist engrossed in a creative process, like a lover, often finds that all her senses are heightened and that she receives perceptual impressions through many channels.” [5]

I can, within reason, identify Stiler in this typology based on an interview which appeared in Bomb Magazine. Speaking of her artistic practice, Stiler revealed: “I discovered that my brain is not as smart as my hands are. My intelligence comes through the process of making the object and that’s where I have the potential to learn something and create something unexpected. I don’t really even make sketches anymore. It’s futile for me because I can’t imagine how the thing should be before I work on it.” [6]

Bolen explains on an intrapsychic level, what Tan addresses as a cultural issue: “Aphrodite often threatens the priorities of the Hera and Demeter archetypes — monogamy or the maternal role — so the latter often have judgmental attitudes toward Aphrodite.” [7]



As long as the artist is conscious of such inner pulls, and can hold the tension and acts in a way to keep the dynamic in balance, this seeming conflict is ultimately resolved, and provides a rich, fulfilling and complex life.

Amplification of Ruby’s “Fathers” Imagery

As much as this external, cultural interpretation is compelling, we may further continue to explore Stiler’s work with an intrapsychic lens — viewing the imagery as reflective of aspects of her own personality. In this way, there is a difference nuance: We see a woman’s interest, fascination with the father-son relationship she is witnessing in her personal life evoking an intensity of feeling to particular archetypes active in her psyche, including the female artist, father and child.

Carl Jung states that, “Behind every individual father there stands the primordial image of the Father.” [8]