Easter Basket from Hell

Though we are now in our sixty's, Anne and I have continued to give one another Easter baskets for over 40 years. Maybe it is because we didn't have kids. Maybe it is because we were senile at an early age. Most probably, it is because we needed an excuse to buy lots of sweets and candy.

Nevertheless, I shall not waste your time trying to justify we I do certain things. I will say, however,  that over the years, I have tried to provide Easter baskets for Anne that are a bit more unique. Some years it was odd items in the basket ... anything from dried navy beans to chocolate covered ants. One year, I made a barbed wire basket. I rather "pointed" statement I would say.

More recently, the basket theme was "demented". I thought about demons emerging from our past to inset themselves into our holiday festivities. All it took was a few props to set the scene.






I used on of Anne's mom's old 40's feathered hats (red of course) as a symbol of emergence from the past.


The basket was filled with a variety of candies and small gifts. However, astride it all was the demon doll.


















My friend Nancy gave me this doll  a few years ago. It is the most disturbing doll I have ever seen. The hair is frazzled and the eyes are piercing and sinister. I can't imagine what kind of mother would give this doll to her child. It looks like something Baby Jane's sister might have given her. Whatever happened to her anyway?





It was  a simply task to fashion some bunny ears, a cotton tail and a cigarette for the doll for effect. I posed the naked doll astride a box of Reese's pieces. I liked the play on words that it brought to mind. I threw a couple of doll faces and stray arms and legs into the basket and it was done.

Happy Easter Anne!

Artists' Expressions - Windsor VT Show

 August 2012

                         

We were on a retirement adventure in Windsor, VT and decided to check out the Nuance Gallery there.    We met the gallery owner, Nancy Silliman, and found out that she knew our neighbor Paul. Nancy told me that a new show was opening soon and invited me to submit an application to have pieces juried into the show. I sent in an application and emailed pictures of my work the next day. Unfortunately, there was a mixup in the mail and email and my application was misplaced. About two weeks after the show opened , Nancy called to tell me that she had just found the application and to apologize. She offered to let me bring in my pieces late and to participate in a 2nd opening later in the month. I jumped at the chance. I got to be in the show and to be the feature artist at the 2nd opening. It was a great deal for me.  At the conclusion of the show, I moved my pieces over to another section of the gallery so they could remain up for the duration of the next show as well.



Nancy Silliman at the 2nd opening. The rain was steady ... the crowd was small ... but I met some other artists and got a good lead for a potential show in Cornish. Not to mention getting to do my dog & pony show at  a new gallery.
















                          Rock River Bounty

Precipice














                                 Ancient Voyager















Untitled















                                                             Untitled

"UnBound" - Woodstock, VT Show

July 29, 2011

In conjunction with the annual Bookfest in Woodstock, the Artistree Gallery held a juried art show called,  "UnBound".  Artists submitted entries in a variety of mediums using the book as a focal point of their work.

                               

My application included three entries. I had done a series of birdhouses based on different books. The roof of the birdhouse was created from the book itself. The birdhouse was decorated with excerpts and pictures from the book that summarized the theme of the book. One entry was accepted for the show ... the Toulouse Lautrec Birdhouse.  On each birdhouse I used a special perch based on birdhouse theme. In the case of the Lautrec, I used a Barbie leg in a fishnet stocking and bright pick stiletto high heel as a metaphor for the dancers at the Moulon Rouge.

I particularly enjoyed the diversity of the entries. Very original ideas. Very pleased to have my work included in the company of the other artists juried in the show.  Was able to attend the opening for the show ... much larger crowd that I expected.

                                        

Fish Sculpture Installation

November 8, 2005

My neighbor, Paul, gave me a preserved tuna tail and I decided to use it in a whimsical piece. I used a large iron hoop for a fish body and suspended floating bones inside formed from flattened copper tubing. I made a pair of cartoon-like eyes from some smaller tubing and attached them slightly ahead of the body form. Inside the fish body I added a tiny fish figure representing food that had been eaten. The sculpture was supported on a large spring. That allowed the piece to slightly bounce and turn in the breeze to simulate swimming. Lee Ann and David liked the piece and bought it.




David and I loaded up the piece in my truck, secured it and headed to Brookline.






I unpacked and headed for the site they had selected. They had chosen an overhanging tree limb on the hillside above the pond.








Some things you don't realize until you see them for yourself. The tree was tall ... plus in was on the hillside ... and the ladder leaned out over the abyss!








Nothing to do but hang on to the ladder and pull it up ... and hope the wires hold it!


















One final adjustment and let it swing!










                         

Voila! Overlooking the pond and the Brookline hillsides ... 

I couldn't have asked for a better spot for my sculpture to be!

On Hanging Stones and Stackings

Liz,



I would like nothing more than to talk about my stones. Unfortunately for you, it may seem more like a manifesto than a chat. Feel free to flee!

Pack It In … Pack It Out
Leave No Trace Behind



I hang rocks. That is what I do. I leave a trace. I scream at the top of by lungs, “I too have been here.” Leave No Stone Unturned is a much better fit.
















My intent is not to change anything. The rock remains a rock unless it decides to be dust. The wire remains wire unless it decides to be rust. The bead remains a bead unless it decides to be a kaleidoscope of crushed glass on the ground. The bell remains a bell unless it decides to be mute.

















My stones change nothing save perception or association. I hang a stone and a hundred questions and scenarios rebound within my skull. My realities. Possibly yours. A found stone is on its own. Reality ... to be determined.












Here is what I do for myself. (Redheaded Sisters)





I do hanging stone groupings.




The groupings may be symbolic (family), about the stone (Rock River stones), or about the components (contrast and contradiction of stone and found objects). Sorry, could not find my pix of the one a traded the other day.

I leave what I call Hanging Stones when I travel.



Whether it is in a city or on a trail, the intent is the same. Hidden treasures. What would the finders think when they discovered the stone? When they turned a corner and happened upon a stone, would it be ….ahhh, Bruce was here … wow! … or what the crap?

I stack stones. I love to do them and I love to find them. (Marginal Way, Ogunquit - 37th anniversary 38 stones)I have always thought the appeal was about the vertical. (Flood recovery Williamsville)



When I find one while hiking, I must add a stone. That stone makes it mine … at least until another stone claims it for someone else. Visitors to the Jewish cemetery in Prague would leave small stones on the gravestones. These miniature stackings intrigued me. The stones were like an exchange of messages. Do they speak to you? No? Maybe they were whisphering. Finding stacked stones is often the highlight of a hike … even more, I love leaving them for others ... especially deciding just the right place to leave them.

So …. you still there? Think about what you are looking for. Grouping in a special place on your property … with local stones or Rock Rover ones. Or, a single stone or multiple stones tucked away along a special walkway. Or a cairn … or a stacking. Whatever. Think about it … Spring is probably best. Take a look at these pix to decide if the idea and the actual object are a good match for what you are thinking about. If so, just let me know and we will work something out.

bruce

Donner Party

About a year ago, I visited a studio in central Vermont and saw some work based on Peruvian mummies. The pieces were wrapped in colorful cloth and earthy tones and hung in shadow boxes. I wanted to use the idea in some way in pieces that I do. I did a piece for the porch based on what I had seen but envisioned the parcels as something wrapped by a black widow spider. I wrapped arms and legs from my Barbie doll parts with tattered strips of colorful clothe and wound that with monofilament line to simulate a spider’s silk thread.

I expanded the idea to a series of five shadowboxes on barn board containing similar wrapped body parts. Each box also contained bone circles as contrasting background inside the box. As a header for the piece, I used a piece of driftwood that ran the width of the barn board. The driftwood had a small indentation about midway. The idea that I was playing with was a black widow spider nest egg for a rainy day or some kind of automated delicatessen with preserved body parts for man-eating spiders. I don’t know where this idea came from, but I have it and have to live with it.

Meanwhile, I found a piece of melted glassed (the bottom of a bottle) that had been in a fire. It caught my eye because it was shaped just like a mouth and lips. I hollowed out the indentation in the barn board and glued in the glass with lots of gorilla glue. It foamed up great when it dried so it looked like a mouth foaming and frothing. I got another idea for the piece. I inserted a small hand so it protruded from the lips. Hanging from the end of the barn board, I attached an old, rusted serving fork. From my pantry, I got a can of Manwich Sandwich in order to get the label. I cut out two pieces to glue inside of the two shadowboxes. One said “Manwich Sandwich” and the other said “Joe’s special meat sauce”.

I decided to call the piece The Donner Party.

In August, after the flooding, I did a sale in order to donate all proceeds to disaster relief locally. I was delighted when my friend Ginny came by an indicated that she wished to buy The Donner Party ... only if I would change the name!


For some strange reason, I do not expect this piece to sell.

November 2011 - I stand corrected. I sold this to my friend Ginny!

For a Rainy Day

Sometimes the holidays give me the blues. That combined with officially handing in my retirement letter and semi-dwelling on dad's nursing home situation, sent me to the barn.



I had been pondering a piece based on some work I saw on a visit to a studio on the Walpole Open Studio Tour. The essence was a fabric wrapped bundle(not sure that I am satisfied with it - don't like the crook in the elbow and it is not hanging just right), reminiscent of the Peruvian mummies but hanging like from a spider's thread. I tried a first effort at the image with modifications on the idea using a bone slice, some wire spider web, background bolder painting inside the box and the bundle containing an arm with a hand extending. My idea was about storing necessities for a rainy day. The larger idea that I may want to extend this to is a wall of similar storage boxes, all black and dark, like our self-storage units.