This distinguished gentleman was created by five middle schoolers in one of my current art classes. They each selected a body part to build and then collectively enhanced their sculpture with fetching details like the pipe and the bow tie.
Some part of me really relates to and sympathizes with these ramshackle characters when they emerge. Some mornings I wake up and rather painfully attempt to sort out the many assembled random parts of myself: the mother who’s immediate duties are preparing lunches and breakfast, the teacher who needs to fire the clay work sitting in the shed, the artist who has a show approaching and work to be finished, the daughter who probably should call her mother, the homemaker who’s toilet is overdue for a scrubbing, the musician who would love to sit and play the uke all day....
Our many assembled parts give us character and dimension. I wouldn’t get rid of any of them, but there are days when I am baffled at how to get them all functioning together smoothly.
assembled from random parts
yarn bombing
My mother in law took this photo somewhere in Prague. I love the idea of yarn bombing (makes me wish I knitted) and this bike has the particularly intriguing scannable knit element. I’ve seen a few yarned poles and benches around Eugene but this bike got me curious about what people have done. I looked up yarn bombing, WOW! Bridges, buses, fire hydrants, trees, entire buildings, turtles, statues, army tanks, and more...
I think of the patient people doing this simple repetitious act to show the rest of us a softer, more multicolored and whimsical version of reality. Now that’s a bomb I can get behind!
on death and laughter
Since I so recently wrote about my grandparents in this blog, it seems important to share the news of my grandfather’s recent passing. He died October 31st, 2013. My sister and I flew to Montana and sang (along with our cousins Bethany and Mary) at the funeral service. If you read my October 3rd entry, you know how appropriate it felt to honor his life with song.
What struck me most about our time in Montana was how laced with laughter it was. The 20 plus of us assembled family members ate together and laughed, told stories about my grandpa and laughed, watched his old home movies and laughed, looked at old photographs and laughed (by the way the above photo is of my grandpa scraping mud off my grandma’s shoe with a license plate), there were even a few practical jokes carried out, to much laughter. My grandpa would have loved it all.
sew fun!
Forgive the sub par punning, but I am completely enjoying making these new painted, stitched earrings. I am building up an inventory of them for our Nov 1 & 2 Art Chics sale. There is relief and satisfaction in doing such small scale work. I love dreaming up the images, painting in tiny brush strokes, sewing in the little detail work, cutting them out. I can’t stop making them. Let’s hope they sell!
on learning lessons late
I am approaching forty, and as many do for this particular leg of the journey, I find myself in an uncomfortably dense thicket of self investigation. I am constantly stumbling into the how-can-I-live-a-richer-life? shrub, or disentangling myself from the thorns of am-I-a-decent-human-being? The unclear answers I come up with often just leave my map an incomprehensible jumble of squiggles. So, there is delicious irony in the fact that my recent trip to Sunriver OR (I mean, is there a town with a more confusing layout, or a more ridiculously unreadable free tourist map?) served to clarify my journey.
Myself and 18 other wonderful women spent 3 days laughing with each other, complimenting and encouraging each other, hugging, braiding hair, laughing some more. My friend Iris had the idea and the will to organize this rainbow photo, (we persuaded a passing golfer to put down his club and take the shot). The picture is beautiful, gorgeous color, happy faces... but what strikes me is that in order for this photo to come about we all had to believe in Iris’s idea. We had to pack our assigned color, put it on, all get outdoors together (trust me that was no small feat), mill around in the cold, line up in order, and smile despite our freezing feet.
I am hard pressed to think of a better path toward a rich and decent life. When I practice believing in other people’s ideas I am part of the emotional food that feeds them, I am part of the human web that holds us, and inevitably I am swept into something bigger, more exciting, and unpredictably joyful than I could have generated alone. Here’s to believing in other people’s ideas!
If you are out at Lane...
“Farm to Table 2013-14 / Farm”
The David Joyce Gallery presents the first of three exhibits in the series of “Farm to Table.” The current and first exhibit is “FARM.” Each exhibit features a step in a process - growing food, how products get to us and the preparation and the joy of consuming food. We are honored with a delightful spectrum of artwork and art mediums. The exhibit shows art created by artists from Oregon and Europe; adults, teachers, students, children and staff. We are also thrilled to have “Crop” the “Farm” show within a show.
David Joyce Gallery carries on the tradition of David Joyce, artist and teacher. The gallery supports art in its many forms and sources, teaching, inspiring and providing visual pleasure. The gallery creates a fresh thematic series of three exhibits each year. We specialize in work exhibiting the glory and wonder of food, growing plants, culinary arts, hospitality, food markets, travel and the people who learn, work and live in these worlds.
Artists featured in “Farm” are Roka Walsh, Janice LaVerne Baker, Rich Bergeman, Stefani Thompson, Jason Rydquist, Bonnie Powell, Tamara Pinkas, Tylar Merrill, Merideth Ferrell, Margaret Plumb, Lynn Ihsen Peterson, Jo Warren Jill Ledet. Robin Bachtler Cushman, Rosie Huntley, Jim Bailey, Terry Maddox, Gladys Bacon, Andrei Engelman, Mari Livie, Susie Morrill, LCC Children’s Center Artists, “Crop Show” Bruce Bittle, Keith Munson, Tom Elder.
This exhibit also provides a tribute wall, showcasing a collection of eclectic, photographic cutout fragments by artist David Joyce (1946-2003) for whom the gallery is named. David was an art instructor at Lane for 25 years and recongnizably known for his monumental flying people mural “Flight Patterns” at the Eugene Airport.
Join our Facebook page and our event on Eugene AGoGo!
https://www.facebook.com/TheDavidJoyceGallery
http://www.eugeneagogo.com/Opening-Farm-Exhibit/e/UQBUJ6T/
For directions to the Center for Meeting and Learning: http://www2.lanecc.edu/center/main-campus
Please join us at our reception Monday, October 14, 4:30-6:00pm with hors d’oeuvres and prepared and served by Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management program students and the Center for Meeting and Learning banquet staff.
A special addition will be music by Infamous.
“Farm” will open with the Reception on October 14 and run through December 15, 2013.
The David Joyce Gallery is open M-F, 8-5 and during special events at the Center for Meeting and Learning in Building #19.
If you wish to know more about the artists, purchase work or have questions,
contact Susan Detroy, Gallery Director : detroys@lanecc.edu .