Self Portraits

I did some simple entries in my visual journal.
One was me standing tall and Kung Fuin' invisible forces that trouble me. The other side was of me agonizing over some of my thoughts and actions.

On the page beside the wire sculpture I wrote, "Sometimes my concerns make me feel like I am made of thin flexible material. I feel unprepared to stand firm against negative forces." Then I wrote, "I bend, I am flexible."

My Memory Project

We shared a memory in class. Some of my classmates had sad and profound memories, my memory was weird and quirky.
My grandma had a cute pink bunny in her living room that she kept in a bag. If I wanted to play with it I had to keep it in the bag. When my grandma died my mom gave me the bunny. I released it from the bag and gave it to my two older boys who proceeded to beat the hell out of the bunny. Although the bunny got roughed up I think he had a lot of fun. You'll notice that he is not smiiling inside the bag, but he is outside. The string of a "safety" (although the play was not so safe) is stuck to his ear. The the background of the bag side is dark and depressing while the beat up side is light and illuminated with gold.
I LOVE this piece. It cracks me up. My classmate Amanda helped with the concept, "It was a rough party, but it was worth it."
I titled it, "Don't Do This." I might change the title to reference the book "Pat the Bunny" I am open to suggestions.

My Visual Journal

Sirens Rockin'

While at Northern Michigan College I visited the college's art museum. It holds a beautiful collection of Inuit art made by contemporary Inuit artists and a children's interactive art room. In the room are the strings of an old piano that visitors may strum. When I saw the strings I thought, "Man I wish we would have saved and demolished Kadie's piano so I could have put the strings in the garden."

I decided to call my friend Mikie to tell her about a man I met in class that I think she would have fun going to dinner and drinks with. Originally I was going to ride my bike to Mikie's, but Mikie said, "Bikes are dangerous." This statement made me laugh. I decided to drive because I wanted to get a movie from the library, it looked like rain, and I don't have a bike lock.
After getting the movie "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou," (we talked about it in class because it is based on Homer's Odyssey and we did a myth project) I headed out of the parking lot. As I went by the dumpster there lay the guts of a piano on the ground. WHAT!??
I stopped and inspected the remains (the keys and hammers were gone) I realized I was looking at what was left of Kadie's old piano. Obviously whoever had it thought it was beyond repair. I dashed over to Mikie's and asked, "Are you up for an adventure?" I am a siren distracting people from their journey. Of course Mikie was and without giving the whole story/plan away we grabbed a big screw driver and took off.

We are girls, weak girls and we needed the help of men. I called my friend Mike and eventually Randy, long story short, the piano guts are sitting in my garden waiting to play the song of Sirens.

My plan is to hang pool balls (credit goes to Mike for that idea)and other balls above the strings so they will tamp out a song when the wind blows.
ROCKIN!
Stay turn for links on video of Mikie and me banging out a memory.
Mikie is so hilarious! She said, "We are in the middle of fifty stories! You know we're never going to finish them."
HA! HA! HA! Great times.

Talking Rocks

My teacher took the class to Mission Point. She wanted us to either create a visual journal there or journal later. I decided to do a performance piece. I had several works going on at once. My favorite was going into the water and writing on the rocks with a brush and water or a charred stick. Although I genrally don't like words in art I had fun creating phrases. Originally I thought I was going to draw original symbols, but the words began flowing.
A classmate wrote "Life is Good" on a rock. I'm not trying to be a kill-joy but life isn't always good and there was a pooping rock sooooooo . . . .

Sweetness at Leelanau Peninsula.

There are wild roses that grow along the shores of the Leelanau Peninsula. And there is plenty of sweet smelling Joe Pye weed. This place has plenty of relaxing sounds.
Mostly there is the sound of Lake Michigan which makes me feel like I'm rocking in the womb.
One of the most exciting things I saw was a "U-pick Flowers," sign. I love the concept.

007 and Me

I'm in Traverse City for my Visual Journal I class through EMU at Northern Michigan College. It is beautiful up here. I have a funny story.
First some background information.
1. Before we left I saw an episode of Seinfeld where George decides to do everything he would ordinarily not do. I get in my head I should try this. I make a few attempts, but quickly fall into my old way of reacting to things. Also, did you know I saw no celebrities in NYC?
2. For my first class we had a listening activity. We went to three different locations and listened carefully to the sounds in the environments. While we listed what we were hearing I wrote a few impressions like: "I can't hear that ant down there," and "I take very little time to consider what I sound like."
My teacher tells the class that is we have a chance we should check out the wineries in the area. There is even one owned by Madonna's father and one year some of her students saw Madonna at the winery with her daughter.
3. Day two of my class includes photo-transfer. One of my classmates does a transfer of a photo she brought of her and the band No Doubt. I tell her, "I'm not a star struck person but I would be excited to meet Gwen Stefani."
4. Later Randy and I (yes Randy is with me)took a long drive looking for a drink. We went all the way up to the Leelanau peninsula and then back to town. i was driving downtown and I told Randy, "This is a bad idea. this requires that I parallel park which I can do but there are a lot of people down here and . . ."
Then we saw a celebrity standing in the road. "Son of a bitch!" I yelled "Get the camera." "I don't know where it is," he shot back. I drove around the corner found an easy parking place and we switched seats. I found the camera and when we came up to the celebrity Randy said, "Get out and take a picture." "Get out?" I asked and did what he said. I took a picture of him signing an autograph and then I gave my camera to a lady to take a picture with the celebrity. I turned to him and said "Have a wonderful summer and thank you for the story Roger." "Roger he chuckled in disgust. The lady who took the picture ran after me and said, "His name is Micheal." Like maybe he was offended, but my mistake.
It was Michael not Roger Moore (007). Like how could I make that mistake?
Moral: I can get star struck, and I am in denial about my own ridiculousness.
FYI I'm not really a fan, but what a great story.

Cruser

I hope you like the new picture of me on my dashboard. The blue Huffy was my mother's. She bought it at an auction many years ago. The purchase upset my father who thought she spent too much money. I don't think she spent too much, but she got into a bidding war and ended up winning. I was there and thought it was funny that she won. Rock on Ma!
My mother never road the bike as much as she wanted, a few other complicated emotions and the bike ended up being neglected. She said she felt bad that she had "let it go" and the pain of seeing its rust and flat tires motivated her to give it to me. I don't know exactly when it was that she gave it to me, but it was two or more years.
It has been hanging in my garage and last week I got the idea to assess the damage and work toward repairing it. Randy took it down and removed the tires. He pumped up the tubes and I checked them for leaks. The tubes were good, but the tires were rotted and rust had covered the rims.
The cruser got a good wash and a scrub to remove the dirt and rust, new tires and a European market basket.
I love her. She doesn't have a name yet. I thought about calling her Heidi2.
She's been around the block a few times, but she is still fun to ride:)

Tied Knots Lose Unexpectedly in Surprise Blow

It is no joke, (but we laugh about it anyway) that drama (the quirky, absurd, and shocking kind) occurs in our neighborhood. Well, pretty much just at our house. It is like our home is a powerful magnet attracting the "strange."

For those who regularly read my blog you will note that on August 25, 2007 I made complaint about the shoes hanging in front of my house. During my recent trip to NYC I snapped a photo of shoes hanging in Manhattan, and then discovered on July 4th that we had acquired the history behind the shoes. Consequently, I had an emotional turn around and became nostalgic about the shoes. I expected them to fall to the ground someday during a windy snowstorm (blow down).

Well! Yesterday some crazy dude came flying down the road, lost control and crossed to the other side of the street and jumped the curb, ran over our young tree, smacked into the telephone pole, which vaulted the tail end of his truck up and over my picket fence (only three were damaged), and landing perpendicular to the original direction of travel. NO ONE WAS KILLED. People could have died. There are always people on my corner walking by. Anyway, the truck was totaled. The dude got out of his truck with only a few scratches and said, "What happened?" I really think he had a weird spiritual experience. (This reminds me, I felt the earth move on Sunday - really it was strange like some great shift had occurred). It was a near death experience.

Today the pole was replaced. A funny experience happened with one of the workers. He came to inform me of something (power might go out, move my car), but I wouldn't let him talk. I eventually explained that I was having a problem with this screw in one of my yard chairs. He knelt down and took care of it (like a sweet heart) so I ran inside and paid him with some white chocolate, cherry, macadamia nut cookies I made yesterday.

And then it occurred to me that some people will truly work for food. If I could provide a man with meals I could get some things done around hear. Wait! Shit! Isn't that supposed to be my husband? I was happy to relay the story of the kind man, (who came with a new strong pole), to Randy who fixed my bike and helped put up the door today:)

OH! The hanging shoes are gone.

Presenting . . .

Light Year, 2009
Mixed-Media Door
by Heidi (with Randy, and Kadie)

This work is full of symbolism and secret desires. I was so grateful to have Randy's help, although there were a few frustrating moments for both of us. I really didn't want to be so dependent on him, and I know he didn't always want me to be dependent on him. But now it is complete and displayed and I feel so joyful and satisfied.

The mystery and science of stars and galaxies found it's way into my teaching and art this past year. The order and chaos of the universe became a metaphor for my experiences over the past year. The way that things seem written or unwritten in the stars, and how the stars shine brightest during the darkest moments of a day, were also metaphors for my life over the past year. Sometimes I wonder . . . Which is more consuming? The fiery stars or the dark expanse of heaven?

There is so much to say and explain regarding my motivation for this work, but my words do no justice to the energy that brought forth this piece.
However, from the perspective of construction it was challenging and gratifying, and I am happy to give a new life and beauty to objects that were other people's refuse. I want God to transform the worn, broken, ignored, and discarded parts of my life into something beautiful.

A Delightful Time

I couldn't help talking like a fancy pants WASP when MP came over for brunch. Maripat brought fruit, I made blueberry oatmeal muffins and souffle made with Havarti cheese. It's nice to use my vintage table linen. It was all quite lovely darhhhling.

Finally!

Last summer I read the book Everything is Illuminated. the story is about discovering yourself through your ancestors and their experiences. The book reveals the history of an Ukrainian shetel. Eventually the story takes place during WWII. I hate stories with Nazis, but the writing was so exciting that I didn't need to force myself to read it.
I knew there was movie Everything is Illuminated before I knew there was a book. When I discovered the movie was based on a book I set out to read it before seeing the movie. I got a good recommendation about the book from a librarian. Everyone should know I'm a snob when it comes to literature, I haven't time for a bad book. Everything is Illuminated was the one novel I read last summer and it was worth every bit of my time.
When I was in NYC at the MoMA and saw the Project 90: Song Dong exhibit I mentioned to J that it reminded me of Everything is Illuminated, some collected objects don't seem to make sense. Anyway . . .
I was a Big Lots the other day, in the hair accessory department, when I saw the DVD of Everything is Illuminated laying among the hair clips. The cost was $3.00 so I bought it. The movie was different from the book, but the film interpretation was excellent. The film not only preserved, but enhanced the spirit of the book.
Still, I recommend reading the book for the colorful and exciting historical tales. And, really, you can read it anytime before or after seeing the movie.

Yummies at the MoMA

J and I split a lunch at the MoMA. We had Tuna fish packed in olive oil mixed with lemon juice, minced kalamata olives, and a bit of mayo. For dessert we had strawberry rhubarb crisp with vanilla mascarpone cheese.

Last week I was watching American Masters on PBS. This episode was about Garrison Keillor who happens to love rhubarb. He talked quite a bit about rhubarb and was even filmed attending a rhubarb festival. An English teacher who made it on the show impressed Keillor by saying that she thought rhubarb was a metaphor for life. She said Rhubarb is like "finding joy in your own backyard."

I made strawberry rhubarb crisp for fourth of July. I put ground walnuts in the crisp which was a very nice touch.

As I have said before that I am grateful to God for eyes and a heart that make notice and appreciate subtle details and unique characteristics that many people make no notice of.

Fears, Tears, and Sweets

I giggled every time a I saw Mr. Softee. It reminded me of something else.


We love to discuss films when we get together. While candy shopping for Flower Candy (featured with King Kong)J and Htomi suggested I get the hard candy in the tin. They said it makes them feel sad though because it reminds them of the movie "The Grave of the Fireflies." Fortunately Adrian Collage had Grave of the Fireflies (based on a real experience) and the original King Kong (Fay Ray was real beauty). Randy rolled his eyes at the idea of watching a cartoon, but the story is so gripping story that one forgets that they are watching something animated.
Kong would have been a lot sweeter if he had flower candy.


FYI I saw a real African story vine at the Museum of Natural History.

I had nice adventures in NYC, but the best part was seeing my kids. I miss them.
They are all so funny and we laughed all the time.

Sunday in NYC

We went to the museum of Natural History. I saw my first totem pole, and dinosaur bones. Crazy how faulty the imagination is. As much as I love my imagination the real deal is much nicer.



Jenny, Joel and I went to an antique market at a school. At the market I met an artist who makes jewelry from old New York City traffic lights. A few years back the old lights were swapped out for new LCD with plastic lenses. The artist was able to acquire the old lenses which are red, yellow and blue (the blue appears green when the light shines through it). She breaks the lenses and places them in a rock tumbler for two weeks. The colored glass comes out looking like sea glass. To get a glossy appearance she tumbles them a second time using a fine grit sand. Holes are drilled with a diamond bit under water and then a finding is added. It was a no-brainer that I should own a pair. I bought a shiny glass pair.


Every time I saw graffiti I would ask, "What does it mean? Can you read it?" Finally Jenny was able to translate this one. It says, Life is like an onion.

Interesting Company

Dogs wear shoes in NYC. We saw this pup at Shake Shack. The Shack Shack is a famous NYC eatery. They have good beer there.
We went to Blue Smoke for Joel's birthday. Yummylicious. The mac and cheese is made with cream. The Bar-b-que ribs were so good. I couldn't eat it all. But to be fair Randy makes awesome Kansas City ribs that melt in your mouth.

We are the Art

Half way through the line and J says, "Yeah we can leave." I said, "Do not let your ADD kick in now we are going to do this!" How many people can say that they contributed to an art work that is in the MOMA? I can! What a great memory.

Part 2 Of An Art-filled Day

A special Exhibition at the MOMA is Project 90:Song Dong. Artist Song Dong's installation titled "Waste Not" displays the complete contents of his mother's home. The small frame of her home was in the middle of the exhibition room while around it lay the complete contents she amassed over fifty years. J and I couldn't help wondering how she fit all those objects in her home.

Installers brought alike items together. All the spoons, all the tools, pans, linen, etc. were arranged together. I kept thinking that this created order didn't exist in her real life.

Song Dong's mother fell into depression after the death of his father. As a way to deal with her grief he convinced his mother to participate in the installation. The exhibition is a commentary on consumerism that people around the world can relate to. In a way it relates to Jean-Francois Millet's "The Gleaners." Millet's painting is tidy and pastoral, while "Waste Not" is has a gritty reality.

A flood of conflicting thoughts swam through my mind . . . What was the message of this work?
It is important to not be wasteful.
Life should not be governed by your possessions.
Sentimental value means more than monetary value.
Needs can be clouded by want.
Neediness can promote greediness.
Objects have energy.
Objects create energy.
New does not mean better.
Reusing and repurposing is not always responsible.
Acquiring things can give us a sense of liberation.
Being in need can be heavy.

The show was liberating and heavy.

I know people who are so fastidious and that go through objects so quickly. At the first sign of wear the object is tossed aside without emotional attachment. These people truly use their belongings. Their only sentimental investment rests in the objects newness. I know other people who have so much stuff that their homes are are more than curious collections, they are temporary holdings for landfills. I know a lot of personal possession horror stories.

This blog could be devoted solely to my obsessive thoughts about owning things. Objects and ownership is an ongoing dialog in my mind that I never try to quiet.
I wonder. Are there any poor people who live in good style? How do poor people create good ambiance? Do poor people care about good ambiance?

Once I met a woman who had a lot of money but she lived like a pauper. On her windowsill she grew geraniums in tin cans. They plants flowered profusely in the dusty house. I loved the charm of those tin can planters.

Anyway, wait till you see what else I bought in New York!

Day 2 Art for the Heart

I love the subway station mosaics.

Saturday was a big day. I spent most of it with J. He took me to the floral district. I was surprised to see the plants were reasonably priced! There were many beautiful Jasmins and succulents. The succulents made me think of the dude at Adrian Farmer's Market who creates cement troughs and fills them with delicate plants. The fancy succulents would look nice in one of his troughs. Here is the trough I bought for $25.00. I love it because it has three colors. The iron Frog Prince was a gift from Maripat.

By chance we passed a Vietnamese immigrant parade. I have been reading Stealing Buddah's Dinner so it was fun to hear the announcer say "ao dai" and know what it means.

We then headed to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). Outside the museum there were artists selling their goods. One young lady was selling creatures made from woven palm leaves. She said she learned how to do it from her Chinese mother. I bought the cicada, of course.


On youtube there are several clips demonstrating how to fold palm leaves. The young lady (darn I wish I would have gotten my picture taken with her) said the cicada brings "good luck." I love thinking that her heart, soul, and good wishes are woven into the cicada.
I really was excited when I saw it because I have images I found on the web of bugs created in the same method, but made from brightly colored plastic drinking straws.