This evening I am performing solo at InEugene Realty (100 East Broadway). There will be snacks, drinks, football photography (how I wish I'd taken the time to learn the Duck's fight song), and me on my ukulele, crooning and strumming. The act of making music is astoundingly satisfying. While my visual art making is all slow tinkering and subtle quiet unfoldings, music making is electric. I am a conduit for energy, energy that holds memories and creates new ones, energy that travels through us and connects us. When I create a piece of visual art, there it is, looking for a home, pleasing me or haunting me. When I finish singing a song, the song dissipates leaving space for another...
proud mama
My 13 year old daughter recently competed in the Springfield Chalk Art Festival. She drew this amazing image (6'x6') of elephants, free hand. She won second place in the youth division. What impressed me most was how gracefully she took on the challenge. Six full hours in the hot sun, squatting on dusty concrete. No complaining or renegotiating. She made a decision to do this and she stuck by it. I was so proud of her.
Heads will roll!
Ironically, while building these ceramic heads I listened to a podcast (Criminal) about people stealing petrified wood from Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park. Despite warning signs and ranger talks, tourists stick the petrified wood down pant legs and in their cleavage to smuggle it from the park. Even stranger, they often mail the rather heavy wood back to Petrified Forest along with elaborate apology letters. I collected (stole?) these bits of wooden antler on our recent backpacking trip. We walked through acre upon acre of burned out forest. We clambered over countless snags and massive piles of dry blackened branches. We were traversing tree graveyards, scattered with brittle white bones and pocked with gargantuan crumbling heaps of deteriorating stumps. There were vivid green saplings peeking out of dead root systems and growing along the wide white backs of downed snags. I was a crow in that world, every twist of sun bleached branch seemed like a treasure. I filled both arms then came to my senses. I couldn't carry that fragile bundle of sticks for the next two days of hiking. I chose these four pieces. Twisted, charred, riddled with hairline cracks, they are a glimpse into that hot crackling landscape we visited.
command C, command V
Our new Mac no longer supports the website builder I used to build and update my old website. After many hours of mind numbing pasting and copying, hunting through files for old photos, and grumbling curses at Mac, I have a new shinier Squarespace website eager for visitors. Same virtual location at marilivie.com, new virtual paint, furniture, windows, and attitude!
Other worlds here on earth
These are part of a massive art installation by glass artist, Dale Chaholi. My mother, sister and I got to view this incredible work in Miami, at the Fairchild Gardens. There is something profoundly exciting about artwork that interacts with and even sometimes enhances an outdoor setting. Chaholi’s work turned the tropical gardens into a magical sci fi movie set. In amongst the giant rustling leaves of jungle plants we’d encounter these impossible, glowing, seemingly living forms. Other worlds, here on earth!
Did you hear what happened on the ship last night?
This is the stock photo for my blogging application. It represents a taste of what I am heading for over the next two weeks, though I won’t look this tan and my flotation device will be much much larger. I am cruising the Caribbean with my mother and sister.
Between the flood of shows and sales I participated in, time spent completing a graduate school application, and holiday visits with family, my studio work life has nearly vanished over this last month. I am incredibly excited for this tropical get away, but I predict I will begin having serious creative withdrawals sometime here soon. I am concerned about waking from a frenzied state, having hoisted, snipped, and stitched the garments of some terrified tourists. I am packing a muzzle and a pair of mittens in case my mom and sister are forced to restrain me.