The Edge (again)

"The Edge (again)"●

"This piece makes me think and it makes me smile. 

The words make me think, and the frog makes me smile."

That is what a customer said to me when he first saw this piece.
I have to grin, because that is the same effect it has on me.

Tissue papers and vintage maps are over-layered with sewing pattern tissues to cover the wooden game board that is the substrate that holds the words to this piece. Mahogany chop sticks frame the quote. A 'shelf sitter' hand carved wooden frog sits on a vintage child's wooden block finish the piece.

"Come to the edge he said. 

They said, we are afraid. 

Come to the edge he said. 

They came. 

He pushed them, and they flew."

I absolutely love this quote, which is widely attributed to Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), a French poet/writer.  I have made other pieces using this same quote, and I am pleased that other people really like it too.  I got a call today from the Sebastopol Gallery telling me the piece was sold.

A Fish's Life

"A Fish's Life"
Ah, the fish stories these lures could tell . . .

A multi-photo, collage picture frame holds 7 vintage  fishing lures, and a vintage wooden hanger from the McDougall and Cassou Company - Men's Outfitters Phoenix Ariz.

In doing my research for this piece I was not able to find much about the McDougall and Cassou Company, except for this short except about the company's founder in the Arizona-Who's Who from 1913  (don't you just love the Internet?)

The glass is held in place by 2 blue knitting needles, found at the flea market recently. The piece is ready to hang.

The Girls, The Twins and The Sistas

"The Garcia Girls" ●
Three sweet girls, "Naomi", "Yolanda" and "Laura", from an unlikely source: all 3 made from one of these pictured above, right. You can tell they are sisters because of their eyes . . . (apparently this photo was taken early in the process, because I do not have one of their eyes)

Made from a Japanese toy called a 'kendama", similar to our 'cup-and-ball' game, consisting of a wooden cup with a handle and a ball attached to a cup by a string.

 "The Twins" ● are 'Glen" and "Glenda", one in the same. Stylish and fashion forward, both cut from the same cloth . . .errrr I mean foot roller.
Made from a wooden 'foot roller' like the one pictured above left.


"The Sistas"
Three singing nuns came into my studio as a broken ceramic music box (similar to the one pictured below on right). I cleaned and cut and dolled them up and they became the Singin' Sistas.

Left to right the Sistas are:  
"Sista Sam" The 2nd of the Singing Trio of Sistas.  Sam is indeed a musical wonder. Reminiscent of Debbie Reynolds's 1966 movie "The Singing Nun".

"Sista Delores Heart"●  Delores Hart, a beautiful film actress in the 50’s, often compared to Grace Kelly, playing opposite Elvis in several movies.  In the early 60’s Delores at 24, decided to leave Hollywood to become a nun, taking her final vows in 1970.  The Documentary “God Is the Bigger Elvis” is a 2011 film about Sister Hart. When the film was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Sister Hart was in attendance. 

"Sista Shay"● first appeared on this blog last November. A patent leather belt, vintage metal hair pins for arms, and buttons for hands.  Coins (with hole) make up her shoulders.

Wine Tasting

"Wine Tasting"
The inspiration for this simple piece comes from living in beautiful Sonoma County California, also know as 'wine country', and often called 'God's Country'.

Although it is structurally simple in design, this piece is complex on many levels, and it 'speaks to people in different ways.

• Most find it humorous. 
• Some find it deep with meaning and symbolism. 
• A few, 'gasp' when they get it . . .
• A couple have simply asked, " is that a clothes hanger?"

The scrabble tiles spell out the sentiment "Wine Tasting  Everyone Welcome" . . . . begging the question: Are they really? 

A couple of years ago, I made a similar, smaller piece also titled "Wine Tasting".  It was so much fun to make, I wanted to do it again.

A resin plaque featuring the last supper has been cut to fit inside a game box lid. Vintage wooden hangers and rulers frame the scene. The lid box is covered inside and out in vintage decorator papers. The piece is signed, dated and ready to hang.

A Little More Than A Foot

 

 

"A Little More Than A Foot"
This piece has been on my work table (and in my head) for a year or more.  But for some reason, I was not able to finish the piece.
Several weeks ago I read an online article titled A Soleful Life, about a shoe repair shop owner named Guiseppe (Joe) Campieri. I was so touched after reading this story that my motivation to finish this piece was renewed.

  Photo by Adam Williams

This piece itself, is simple, yet complex on many levels. I love the idea of containing things in boxes. I almost always like to cover the boxes with in glass. But for some reason, this one stumped me. The shoe form is full of age earned patina, and surface scratches that come from a lifetime of useful service as a cobbler's shoe form or perhaps even as a shoe stretcher.
I really like the idea of allowing the viewer the ability to touch the nicks and 'scars' the piece has earned in it's lifetime. So I opted for no glass.
The shoe form is contained in a single bottle wine box from the now defunct Quail Ridge Winery. This was another reason I struggled so much with this piece (the Quail Ridge brand is owned by the same guy that makes 2-Buck Chuck wine and in the past few years the company has been involved in some pretty creepy labor and legal issues.)

The vintage shoe form is a G.E. BELCHER STOUGHTON industrial shoe form is made of wood and iron. On the top of the foot form, you can read the words "Oil All Moving Parts".
The inside and back of the box is covered in text from a vintage encyclopedia. I overlaid the back side of the box with pattern tissue. The back is embellished with a found metal roof nail cap, used to hold the shoe form in place. A skirt marker frames and finishes the front of the piece.

I love the richness of the wood in this vintage shoe form, and the stories it can tell.

Music In My Heart

 

"Music In My Heart" ●
This is a sweet new piece I finished mid-November and hung it in the Sebastopol Gallery where I am the featured artist this month.

When I first came across this piece, I thought I had found a child's xylophone.  It was pretty well used, nicked scratched but I knew it could tell a great story, and that it would make a great wall assemblage.

Today, while researching the history of 'xylophones' I discovered that this is not a xylophone at all, but rather this is a glockenspiel (glocken:bells and spiel:play)

A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned metal bars arranged like the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates. The glockenspiel, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. A pair of hard, unwrapped mallets, generally with heads made of plastic or metal, are used to strike the bars, mallet heads can also be made of rubber. 

The next image was taken when I started working on the piece.  The wooden base was painted red, and the bars were white and black.  I decided to cover the wooden base in vintage sheet music, and to freshen up the overall look of the metal bars, I spray painted them.  

To add interest, I added embellishments consisting of a clock face, a tiny wheel, a level and a red heart hangs on the side. On the top side are 2 vintage brass drawer pulls. The piece is ready to hang.
 

For Emily . . .

"For Emily"●
A year so so ago, a friend asked me to make a memory mirror for her. She loved it!

A couple of months ago, she asked me to make a second memory mirror for her niece 'Emily', who is 10 years old.  She collected a few bits and baubles to include on the mirror, little mementos that are meaningful to little Emily.  There were sea shells, origami figures, a valentine note from her 'papa', and of course a little picture of Emily, herself. . . to these I added other fun treasures for Emily to enjoy, fishes, buttons, butterflies, a tiny Snoopy, keys, stars, hearts and even a frog.

Emily will see her new mirror on Christmas morning.  I hope she loves it. I hope, too, that it brings her joy for many, many years to come.

The Book of Awesome

“The Book of Awesome"

This piece begins with a vintage 'Black Mission California Fig’ box found at a barn sale last year. The box, more recently served a long and useful second life as an organizer for nuts and bolts or nails and screws.   

Today the box has again been altered slightly to hold disparate found objects. Things seemingly dissimilar, with little basis for comparison, that have come together to tell a story in this assemblage. 

Elegant in it's simplicity, the nicked wood, the rusty nails and the patina earned after years of service, combined with the shiny reflectiveness of stainless steel, remind us of the importance of balance in life.

A plumb bob is suspended within the box, a porcelain doll’s hand holds the string, and the hard cover of ‘The Book of Awesome’ by Neil Pasricha, are the parts to begin the story.  You, the viewer, are prompted to fill in the details.

Chair People and the Trees

"Chair People and the Trees"

This is the 3rd batch of these sweet little dolls made from re-purposed chair parts and in this case, tree limbs.  Some are fancy, some are silly, but they are all full of personality and expression.   

Are you ready to meet them?

* * * 

First up is   “Grace”●  Gracie has it all. Part party-girl, part sensible. Never a hot-head and always glam. She wears a meat thermometer hat, a beaded shawl, and a Copenhagen tin lid for her dress. Her arms and legs are tiny keys to finish and embellish this woodsy girl.

 

“Lola”                                    “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there

She would meringue and do the cha-cha

And while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar

Across a crowded floor, they worked from 8 till 4

They were young and they had each other

Who could ask for more?”

Flowers, bead, keys and scissor legs to die for. Lola remembers.

* * *

“Barry” ●  A barrel themed
wine cork head, box wrenches for arms and legs and a blue marble heart.  Straight from the cellar, Barry’s head is full of ‘barrel talk’.  He works hard all day, and party’s hard all night.

* * * 

“Suzie” ●

Suzie because she is ‘slinky’ and fun.  A tree limb is embellished with a flattened spoon, keys for arms, bits for legs and a whisk head.  She is lovely.

“Wolfgang”●

A music man from head to toe.  A wooden leather softening tool of some sort, some washers, and jiggly springs. A music themed wine cork expresses what’s on his mind.