REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

De-Briefing an Art Workshop I Will Never Forget

This weekend I couldn't stop thinking about sacred ordinary and how it is a lifestyle many embrace. My weekend art buddies and their creations were classic examples of sacred ordinary. My art workshop is over this Sunday morning and I'm hanging in the commons where there is Internet until the witching hour when the stores in Port Townsend open. I have a favorite jewelry supply place I like to visit. In a few hours I'll head back to Tumwater to tell my sister about my adventures, which are a mystery to her. Why would anybody want to play in paint all weekend? 

Tracy Moore took this photo of me struggling at my workspace, but enjoying it all immensely. My hand-bound journal I made is 20 pages long and though I worked on nine pages, I never totally completed one. But, I learned dozens of techniques I had not learned before and can hardly wait to get home to continue creating. I longed for some of my own supplies which I do have in abundance at home. 

These are two of the pages that Teesha Moore, one of our teachers, worked on herself all weekend. She and her husband Tracy periodically gave brief technique presentations and then we would go back and practice. They provided all our supplies and we were able to experiment with all kinds of pencils, pens, oil pastels, air brushing, and photo altering supplies. 

Here is a close up of another work-shopper I took close up. She's got a style that is more akin to my own. On a workshop like this, the important thing, however, is to learn the techniques and style of the teacher and when you get home, you can adapt it to your own. 

And then there was the field trip into Port Townsend to the Akamai Art and Glass Supply where most of us bought a lot of supplies to take home. I live in a big city where you can buy almost anything, but this store was absolutely unique--and I got several referrals to places in L.A. to get "stuff"--should more be needed. My suitcase is going home considerably heavier than it was when I came to Port Townsend last Thursday. Yes, it was a sacred ordinary weekend and I'm praying for a safe journey to Tumwater in the rain. I wonder what movie my sis has picked out for us tonight?

Dirty Hands Signs of a Great Art Workshop

If dirty hands are a sign of a good art workshop, then my table mate, Kat, from Victoria,B.C., is having an incredibly creative time. I can't begin to recommend Teesha and Tracy Moore's Summer Play Art Journaling Workshop, with lots more workshops and artfests scheduled at Port Townsend, WA's Ft. Worden. 

SoulCollage: Death by Inquisition, Abuse, Excess and Rigidity

This is a SoulCollage card I made a few months ago and that I have not been able to name or really work with, but it haunts me. Without a title or a suit, I can't focus on what it means to me.

Two weeks ago I saw Angels and Demons and because I have this card laying out on my art table--and laying on my computer desktop--I have kept looking at it repeatedly. Angels and Demons was my favorite Dan Brown book of them all, although I had trouble with the film because of the violence. It's one thing to read it and quite another to see it. 

I am no longer a practicing Catholic, but I do go to an Epsicopal Church because I like the liturgy. I was a convert to Catholicism at 21 and in my heart of hearts, I suppose I will always be a Catholic on some level. 

Tonight I watched the PBS documentary "Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton" and I recalled so vividly how the Trappist monk Merton, another convert, had influenced me from the time he wrote "The Seven Storey Mountain." In the mid 1980s I wrote my master's thesis on "Dialogues With Thomas Merton." Merton's untimely death in 1968 has made all of us who he influenced wonder how he would have remained within the constraints of a Church that was having a hard time changing. 

This card reminds me of the inquisition, of child abuse, of clerical excess, of rigidity and morbidity. I almost want to name this corpse of a priest so I can personalize him and have a dialogue with him about all the things that trouble me about organized religion. 

And that's what SoulCollage is really all about. Our cards invite us to go beneath the surface. What would you name this card and what feelings does it evoke in you? 

Some Peopl Have Real Proble

Today I attended the 60 year reunion for graduates of the school I work for and it gave me a lot of food for thought. It was also a delightful experience. Part of today's festivities was a campus tour and the school is very different now than it was in 1948 and 1949. At the end we visited the old dining halls (still the cafeteria and a common meeting room) and the Upper School art show was still hanging. I've got a glare on this photo, but I studied it for a long time. If you click on it, the photo will embiggen so you can see some of the images the students placed.

If You Keep Your Eyes Open, You'll See Amazing Things

I take my camera(s) everywhere. I keep a small one in the trunk of my car, a medium-sized one in the office, and my Nikon D60 is usually with me, especially when I'm going to an "event." I wrote earlier in the week about going to a welcome baby party and the hostess gave me lots of leeway in photographing not only the people, but a few pieces of art--and even the buffet table. 

Here are three items I'd like to share--and I'm inviting you to write captions if you feel like it--even irreverent ones. Just click on the photos to embiggen them. (Thanks for this word, Kay D.)

I was mesmerized by what I called "The Goddess," who was on the patio in a gorgeous mosaic fountain and pool. That area of the house was not open to visitors, but when I spotted her, I asked permission to take my camera out to photograph her. 

The Goddess's owner said that the chemicals in the water in the past have damaged this Italian beauty, although when spring comes and the water is turned on, the new chemicals will not harm her anymore.

Personally, I liked the weather-worn look of this goddess; she reminded me of a lot of the antiquities I saw in Turkey and Greece last year. I sat staring at her a long time. By the way, she is about 4' high, if I were to guess. 

I just enlarged this photo when I placed it and the goddess takes my breath away. I may ultimately use her in a SoulCollage card. 

This beautiful painting hangs above the fireplace in the dining area. From where I was sitting, I could see this painting so clearly and the journal dialogue writer in me wanted to have a conversation with the two lovers and the woman looking on. 

When I first looked at it, I missed the woman in the foreground with her back to us. 

How long had these friends been hanging out together? What did it feel like to be so immortalized by an artist, who if not Italian, had an Italian heart? Is this a duplicate of a master that I do not recognize as famous? 

The painting seemed very erotic and very elegant to me. I would have liked to melt into the canvas just to see what was going on, but the Mediterranean buffet was so delicious I kept getting sidetracked. It also helped that the luncheon was all women (except for baby H.) and we were hooting, hollering and giggling. 

And then the finale: this dessert. 

It was all chocolatey, squishy and creamy with lots of fresh fruit inside. And next to it was a round platter filled with all kinds of fresh fruit including kumquats which brought my childhood back with a bang. We had lots of fruit trees growing on our acre of land: orange, blood orange,tangerine, pomegranate, loquat and kumquat. They bordered the beds of boysenberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and marionberries which my mom sold to the local grocery store. Ah, I so took all that yummy fresh fruit for granted when I was a kid; I was embarrassed my folks had to work so darned hard to earn a living. My parents told me I was a snob, or a wanna-be snob. Hmm. Am I still? 

From a spiritual point of view, my camera acts as a lens on being in the now. When my thousands of photos stored in iPhoto flash by as a slide show when I am in between writing documents on the computer, I am immediately transported back to wherever I was--and whoever I was with. 

Another Redondowriter addiction, but compared to some I could have, I guess photography is pretty benign. 

The Artfull Bras Project - and a Personal Challenge

This is not the first time I've seen artists use brassieres as an art form, but it's the first time I've seen such a comprehensive website showing so many bras. Thanks to my friends Vicki and Lynne in Portland, OR for sending the link to the Artfull Bras Project.

Members of Quilters of South Carolina have created one-of-a-kind bras for Breast Cancer Awareness. The exhibit consists of forty-nine original works of art which are unique, entertaining, humorous, and beautiful to make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors. 

This bra by Jean Mandeville is called "Boobs in Bloom."

This exhibit will tour SC until Oct '09 at which time individual Artfull Bras will be auctioned and the proceeds donated to the Best Chance Network, a program to provide care and treatment of uninsured women across the state who are diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer.

The bras come prepared for display on their own hangers and are available for exhibit across the state of South Carolina. The exhibit is available until October of 2009.

Now, I'd like to issue a challenge. As a two-time breast cancer survivor myself, I'm putting on my creative thinking cap about a bra that would be my expression of life. Are you willing to join me? I'll put photos of your works of art up at Sacred Ordinary, or link to your blog or website. Let's say the deadline is April 1. Let me know if you are participating.

Plastic Tape Figure Casting for Your Average Joe or Joanne

Personally, I have never seen clear plastic tape figure casting as an art project, but I’ve seen it now—and I’m utterly fascinated.

 On the wall in the main entrance to the library of my school, are four knock-your-socks off plastic figures on display this month. They were created in the Art I classes as group projects. The teacher explained the process to me but it seemed so easy I wondered why I had never seen this art form before. 

One student becomes the model in whatever posture the team decides upon and one layer of plastic wrap is adhered all around—leaving nostril hole space. The rest of the students quickly wrap the plastic tape several times around so the cast will keep its shape. Finally, the tape is carefully slit down the back so the model is free of the cast and the piece is retaped to cover the slit. 

Several Internet sites explain this art form, a site called Tape Sculpture has a four step tutorial with pictures, as well as a video of how it is done. Another site, the Incredible Art Department, lays out the art form as a lesson plan.

This much I know. My body is considerably larger than it was when I was a girl. Maybe if someone made a plastic figure cast of me and I saw it, I would finally “get it” and do what I have to do get smaller and healthier. Maybe is the operative word.

I currently have two mannequins and one life-size cardboard cutout of James Dean in my home. Maybe I'll make one of each family member. In a Steve Martin-ish move, I won't be a lonely gal anymore. 

 

 

The Advent Before Valentine's Day

There is a magical, untainted-with-cynicism child deep inside who finds Valentine's Day a mystical experience, but the adult in me has long loathed this holiday because it oozes artificiality and commercialism. But, that child me has a valentine's box (written about a few years ago) and now I've dressed my mannequin for the holiday. We are in the advent before valentine's day and I've agreed to table my cynicism and remember that love comes in three flavors--eros, filial and agape. The eros part long ago dropped by the wayside (but don't ever think I've forgotten the peaks and valleys of those experiences) but the filial and agape are alive and well. By the way, when I looked back at my valentines entry at this blog, I ragged on this holiday all five years--which I had totally forgotten.) 

So, here is Sophia dressed for valentine's day. (Both my car and my mannequin are named Sophia.)

She is wearing a really lovely deep red taffeta dress with a hem I adore. Those of you who sew or know fashion can fill me in on the hem. The bottom of the skirt is attached to the lining inside making the skirt hang in a poofy way. The dress was $5.99 at the Salvation Army. Her felt hat trimmed with velvet and netting is vintage, something I've owned since those good old days when we had to go to Mass covering our heads. 

Her top is gossamer, see-through black trimmed with rhinestones (Salvation Army, $3.99). Around her neck she wears a beautiful set of red beads that my aunt brought me from Hong Kong, probably 35 years ago at least. Each bead is etched. The red bracelet I purchased from Bead for Life. 

The heart around Sophia's neck is my creation, made in layers and dotted with emphemera. Have I ever told you that my very favorite clothing color combination is red and black? 

When my friend Kathy came to visit this morning, I made a disparaging remark about older women who feel compelled to dress mannequins, but she said it was a great idea. Though, at our age, we rarely "dress" anymore, we can continue to enjoy dress-up clothing if we display it. My close friends "get me," that me who creates something out of nothing on a daily basis.

Here is a close up scan of the heart I made. 

If you click it, you can see it larger. 

As I've been saying, though, wait until you see Sophia dressed for Mardi Gras in a few weeks. 

So, this was one of my Creative Every Day creations for this month. 

The Pink Victorian Child

This is a piece I finished a few weeks ago I've called the Pink Victorian Child. There are several collage layers and several mediums in an 8 x 10" format, popped into an 11 x 14" lattice frame. The original sepia card of the child was in a box of cards for 25 cents each at a garage sale. I've scanned it so I can work with her in different mediums. The frame was 75 cents at another garage sale, and some of the ephemera was from garage sales, too. This piece wouldn't fit into my own decor, so I've placed her lovingly into my "gift" box to give to someone later. Maybe I need to start an Etsy shop although I still don't think my stuff is good enough to sell. So, though I've done a creative project of some sort almost every day in January, thanks to Leah at Creative Every Day, I thought I would share this one. 

Art and the Japanese Internment Camps

Tonight was the opening of an art show at the Palos Verdes Art Center featuring the work of Japanese artist Chizuko Judy Sugita de Queiroz called Camp Days 1942-1945; the Henry Fukuhara Manzanar Workshop Group, and the Japanese Americans the Palos Verdes Peninsula, 1905-1945. The work is truly amazing and I will go back again to view all the paintings, photographs and memorabilia as the show will run to March 8, 2009. If any of you live in Southern California, I can’t recommend the exhibition enough—and to think it’s only six miles from home amazes me even more.

My friends Jenny and Adrian invited me as Chizuko is a friend of theirs and it was amazing to speak to her up close and personal. She taught art at Palos Verdes High School for a number of years but then she was introduced to the work of Henry Fukuhara who became her “mentor and guru.” Her book is at the link when you click her name in the first paragraph. Henry is well-known in Southern California artist circles and some of my artist friends go to paint each year with him at Manzanar Internment Camp. He was incarcerated at Manzanar as a young adult. Chizuko was interned at age nine at the Poston, AZ concentration camp and her art, which you can see at the PV Art Center link and running as a slide show above, recalls those incredibly hard days.

This is Chizuko, 92-year-old Henry who is blind now, and the man who is his assistant for the Manzanar workshops. It was so moving to hear Henry speak passionately about his art and workshops.

The “Forty Families” project at the Palos Verdes Library is curated by archivist Marjeanne Blinn and one gallery is devoted to the restored photos and memorabilia of the original families who farmed on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The library also prepared hand-outs on links to books and websites about life in the camps and art in the camps.

The internment, in my mind, was a huge blot on American history and I’m glad so many people are devoted to making sure the generations to come know about the internments during World War II. What amazes me is how most internees have moved on. They always knew they were Americans. 

Not only was the food really good, we were entertained by a great troupe of taiko Japanese drummers.

I spoke with several people tonight who had been interned during World War II and they highly recommend visiting the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles. I can't believe I have never been to that museum and will make it a point to do so. Who says there is no culture in Los Angeles? 

The City of Torrance also has a "Whose Story Now" Works in Progress series scheduled for the winter and spring at the Nakano Theatre in the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. It follows the internment stories from then until now. 

This was a very special evening for me and I had no idea I would enjoy it so much.