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sculpture and two-dimensional paintings by making wall constructions using painted traditional Thai mulberry bark paper embellished with objects. “I decided to do things for the wall when I was in Bangkok; it’s something that I had never done before. It’s really the construction that I enjoy. I’m not into the illusion of depth; I have to actually make the depth. That is the core to what I do,” she said.
What is equally notable is the conceptualized aspect to the pieces that makes a powerful statement about her impressions of this distant foreign land and its culture. “You always know you are in Asia. Life is in the street. The sidewalks are not for pedestrians. People operating treadle sewing machines and food vendors work in the streets with skyscrapers. Everyone has his or her own spot, sometimes dug into the sidewalk. Buses even let passengers out three lanes from the curb. It’s wild. I’m glad to be back,” Drevas said.
The Oriental use of color is universal and loud. Red and gold mean prosperity and so it is used extensively in Thai culture. Drevas effectively adopted a regal palette of pale to deep teal, indigo, gold and red. She acknowledges that she juxtaposes complementary colors, but the shading and blending on textured paper achieves a quality suggesting eternity or infinity.
One of the constructions, “Buddha I,” expresses the essence of the Orient both symbolically and in reality. Drevas shows us the mental scent of the area where she lived with these highly significant objects from the markets and fields. A Buddha-shaped silhouette is filled with hundreds of shimmering golden silk cocoons and the figure’s head is surrounded with a gold-leaf halo. Unique to Thailand the silkworm chrysalis and the Buddhist monk’s robes are both the same light golden colors, she explained. While working as a volunteer for a group that sells Thai crafts made by displaced people, she collected the chrysalises from a village weaver. The mosaic-like background is comprised of copper amulets, which she distressed,
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