antinomia

The Wiz

2011-12-11T11:31:00.008-05:00

While I was doing City Wide, I also rebuilt the giant sea spirit puppet to be used as the wizard for Sacred Heart Academy's The Wiz, at the formidable Shubert Theater in New Haven. This required a new head, which I built out of cardboard so it would be lighter then the massive chicken wire torture devise I originally made. Here it is not quite finished, and then filling up the back of my car in transit.

Here's a video I took during their first half hour working with the wizard, (while it's still unfinished- excuse the drooping fabric and unfinished hemline and all). You can hear how giddy I get when I get a group of great kids playing with puppets like this. It is crazy fun. And they came up with their first choreography like pros by the end of just 30 minutes.

I again wasn't able to be at the show and didn't get photos!

tent of pants

2011-12-08T20:52:00.007-05:00

Right after the float came City Wide Open Studios. I didn't know the float was going to happen right before when I signed up for CWOS, nor did I know India was going to happen right after. So this little installation of a tent made of blue jeans was squeezed as tightly into the weekend as it was in the tiny downtown office mail room I was assigned to. (Also for some reason, all this fall I failed to get decent pictures of anything. Luckily ElizaB took these for me.)

In my head were tents, horse skeletons, eyes, and the Vermont floods. At hand was an mountainous surplus of blue jeans and a new skill for jigsawing plywood. I made another pavilion for an exoskeleton structure, and sew-sculpted a tent of jeans right into it. And with all the extra jeans I made a rippled flood of denim flowing out of the tent to fill the rest of the room. I'd originally planned to be a living sculpture within, but with the soundtrack of rain, dim blue lighting, and the bizarre halloween weekend blizzard, it was too cold for anyone to stay in this space for very long. I left my horse skull mask to take center stage on its own. But I've got more to do on this.

On the wall, eye clouds.

paint parade

2011-12-05T09:48:00.006-05:00

I made a time lapse movie of me painting one of the arches because I finally discovered the timer function on my camera. (Parade float making begs for the accompaniment of Nino Rota music):

float!

2011-12-03T18:36:00.033-05:00

Phew is there a lot to catch up on. Let's go bird by bird, starting with my first ever parade float in October.

The Mystic Aquarium asked me to design a permanent float structure that incorporated fiberglass animals made by their shop carpenter Gary Grimm, including a 14 foot beluga whale. It had to come apart so it could be stored in a small space, and be able to change from season to season.

For the pitch I made a model of a wave pavilion, two crossing arches that could come apart to be stored flat, and sides to cover the trailer. Then I had fun making a stop animation of how it would look as it traveled by (the column in the center represents a human figure for scale):

By the time I got the green light I had two weeks to build it by myself, the staging, plus 3 penguins and various sealions, corals and seaweeds. And all on this challenging metal U-Haul trailer. Hello float marathon!

Thankfully my mum lent me her ballsy jigsaw, and do I love cutting plywood with it.

With cutting, painting and carving all going on at once, my makeshift studio expanded from my living room, to the dining room and kitchen. And with the pieces all being BIG (and almost always wet with paint), I was at over capacity.

And luckily my mum lent me herself for a many long days and nights. I worked her hard. Here she is carving penguins. The picture is fuzzy because she made me promise not to post her.

A few days before the first parade I drove it all up to the Mystic Aquarium shop where I spent the day helping to cover the U-Haul with my staging together with Gary's amazing whale and Ron's beautiful fish. We found a spare rock from the aquarium grounds that fit perfect.

Here's Gary and Ron, who were so gracious to let me in their shop:

I couldn't be at the first parade, but the aquarium took some photos.

I'd loved this project, a float was so right up my alley. I hope I get to keep working on this one, and get more opportunities like this. Though I could really use a warehouse next time.

City Wide Open Studios 2011

2011-10-29T08:53:00.003-04:00

I'm squeezing in an installation this weekend right before a sudden and unexpected trip to India. After doing City Wide for 7 years and taking a few years off, I'm back in a gloriously abandoned downtown building at 200 College Street. I'll write about the project here on Monday, but you can read where it started in the post below. The horse skull figure is up at Artspace for a few more days in conjunction with the City Wide festival.

feeling with the bones

2011-09-12T15:40:00.004-04:00

There are things in you sometimes that just demand to get out. They don't care about your work schedule or your dinner plans, and they'll wake you up in the middle of the night, or sprain your ankle so you're forced to sit with them till you do something about it. They bypass the brain and go right to the body making irritating disturbances. But if you're quiet and open enough you can feel exactly what they want you to do.

The Vermont floods really got into my psyche, so did the trip back to the town and my home where I hadn't been for so long. I don't know why I couldn't stop thinking about my horse's grave, but it was an itch I had to scratch, and scratching it was to sculpt a little horse skull while I laid in bed with my ankle. When that turned out, the rest of this scene followed, revealing itself step by step exactly what it wanted. I had no idea myself where it was going, it didn't feel like it had a point or purpose. But when the torso cracked in the oven because of a poor mix of clays, without missing a step I felt my fingers making a rose to grow out of the crack. Adding that last detail was deeply satisfying. It's funny how the soul works things out without you even knowing it.

Still not quite finished, but most of the pieces in place after two days of obsessive making.

studio 9-10-11

2011-09-11T10:40:00.009-04:00

Apparently I get the most work done when I'm incapacitated. Yup, I'm incapacitated yet again, this time a giant swollen sprained ankle I'm trying to stay off of. I've got it propped up on a cot in my studio, finishing up some half finished projects. Some hipstamatic snipits of the many things growing in here right now.

love fish

2011-09-09T13:30:00.004-04:00

Did some watercolor for the first time since college for a friends' wedding card (the ones who got married at the aquarium, of course). I'm out of practice, but I can't believe it was actually fun.

paper doll & stage how to

2011-09-08T10:20:00.015-04:00

I'd always wanted to make paper dolls. I'd had a bunch as a kid, this one was my all time favorite, and when I dug it up recently I was flooded with distinct memories of carefully cutting out all the dresses. I loved that it came in a package with a little window like a puppet theatre stage. (This is clearly a pretty strong continuing theme.)

I wasn't sure what to make a paper doll of, until my friend and go-go partner's birthday came around. Dot Mitzvah is an aerialist, roller derby skater, and burlesque artist. Her own wardrobe of costumes was ripe with paper doll possibilities. When this shot was taken at one of our go-go shows with the surf band, the Clams, I knew this was the pose for it.

I printed out the photo to the size I wanted the doll, just big enough to fit on 8.5 x 11 paper. I traced her on tracing paper, changing her costume to something easily coverable with other paper outfits. I xeroxed the sketch (copy machines have waterproof ink, unlike inkjet printers), glued it down to bristol board, and painted directly on top with acrylics. I printed her out on card stock, cut her out, and I had a doll to work off of.

I used the same method for the costumes. Using photos from her events I sketched her costumes on trace paper right over the doll so they would be precise. It was tricky figuring out which body parts to include in the costume, and which of the original doll would be exposed. This took a lot of trial and error.

Again, back to Staples to make black and white copies from the sketches on tracing paper, pasted them down on bristol, and painted them in with acrylic.

I painted four costumes, then scanned them into Photoshop. This is where most of the work was. I drew all the lines in on the computer so I could revise them. This was all the tabs for each costume that fold back on the doll so they stay on. This was hard, and took a week of experimenting, by printing them out and trying them over and over. I had to manipulate some of the painting in Photoshop because they were never quite perfect. It's a very precise art form. I had little paper dresses all over my studio.

I wanted her to have her own stage that was part of the packaging of this kit, so I scanned in some theatrical etchings from a Dover book of ornamentation, and with piecing elements together in Photoshop, built up a proscenium and back drop.

I altered the color to be a nice old sepia tone. Because Dot is a burlesque performer, I wanted an old vaudeville look.

Packaging was an important aspect too, because I wanted to give these to her as if they were a printed published kit, and I wanted her to be able to sell them or give them to her fans. To economize on paper I placed the Dot doll in the proscenium to be cut out. Here I had to go into Photoshop with that darn pen tool to make lines for her stand, and add directions for construction, also a very important and complicated task.

Engineering the stage was also tricky, but I went with a tab system, and with just 2 pieces of nice card stock made a sweet little 3-d stage. I am so excited about this stage! It's a step towards those elaborate paper theaters I've been obsessed with since I first saw them in the Albuquerque folk art museum.

Then I set her costumes up with titles, honoring each of Dot's many characters. These two are from our go-go group, the Nouveaux Pony Banditos.

After I'd tested all of these endlessly with print outs from my Epson, I took them to Tyco printing in New Haven and had the amazing Kick do her color copy magic with them. On good card stock paper, they came out gorgeous! I'm so happy with the rich color, sharp details, and the feel of the paper.

The kit is backed with an instruction sheet with photos of the constructed piece. The 5 sheet kit fits in a clear print sleeve, and looks very handsome. They'll be up on an Etsy site soon.

hometown

2011-09-04T08:53:00.015-04:00

After putting the word out in Connecticut, my friend Caitlin and I collected a mountain of food, clothes and supply donation for flood relief in Vermont that barely fit into her suv, and headed north for my hometown of Wilmington. I was unsure if we could, or even should go there, because of the dire state of the roads. But with all the conflicting information on the internet about what was going on there, and what they needed, I had to go find out myself.

We weren't sure if the route we chose would even be passable. It was, but barely. In many places the road was more then half gone, fallen into the creeks, and just a few orange cones directed you to drive precariously around it. There is so much to fix, with such massive amounts of new rock and fill to be brought in, it seems an impossible task.

In Wilmington we dropped off our carload, and drove to my old house, formerly the Fjord Gate Inn and Farm. I was obsessed with the idea that the bones of my horse, who we'd buried next to a pond, had been uprooted and floated away. The grave was fine, the inn now whitewashed and seemingly long-since closed for business, our old pastures and barn completely overgrown and abandoned. The bridge next to it missing a large triangular chunk of cement. It was apocalyptic. It was a strange thing to see.

In downtown, the volunteer work crews had wound down for the day and not many people were around other then police guarding the closed road areas. I checked on the places I could get to that had been intrinsic to my youth. Happily, Memorial Hall, the place I fell into theatre, looked pretty good, being slightly on a hill.

But just next door, the Incurable Romantic, once filled with fairies, victorian hats and all sorts of things that I coveted, was now full of the grey toxic muck that came with the flood and clings to everything. Across the street, the relocated Bartleby's Books, is gutted, nothing left. And the 111 year old Dot's Diner, the only place a teenager in the 80s could afford to hangout, is a broken box balancing on a few lose rocks on the edge of the river, the roads fallen in like a moat all around it. A few guys lingered on the porch of an unidentifiable restaurant nearby with a box of dusty liquor bottles, drinking beer and kindly offered us some.

The dramatic ancient cemetery where I idled many hours drawing grave stones as a teenager was thankfully ok.

We didn't stay long, wanting to get off the roads before dark and new rain. The ride home with the pink sunset over the silvery grey coated fields offered a whole new palette of light probably not seen in many places.

I'm happy we got some donations in, but with Vermonters worried most about their roads above all, I'll wait before going in again. I am glad I saw my hometown. Despite not having been back in a dozen years, I found pieces of me are still there, uncovered from their burial grounds by the hungry water. Back home in my untouched coastal house in Connecticut, I pick over the river-washed bones.

badges of honor and flood marks

2011-08-30T20:45:00.023-04:00

I've just learned that this blog feeds onto sites I was unaware of, causing me to have readers I don't know, and didn't know about. That's awesome! Thanks for reading, however you came to see these posts. Now I'm compelled to explain myself in more detail, since it's not just my mom and two cats I'm posting for.

So let me tell you about these merit badges. I can't express in words how much I love badges. I cannot walk by an army navy store without going in to dig through their patch bins. I even love the name patches on utility shirts. Why is this? I'm sure it originated in my childhood (as the root of all obsessions do) when I was a member of several badge-driven activity clubs, starting, of course, with the Girl Scouts. Though my memory of actual events in the Girl Scouts is hazy, I can remember the badges so clearly I can feel the stitches. I was crazy about the badges, and how they would fit on my sash, and how much space should be left between them in order that I could fit many more.

(Brownie "Puppets, Plays, & Theater" badge!)

In sharper focus is my memory of the club I left Girl Scouts for, the Indian Princesses. Yes you read that right. Though now considered inappropriately named and apparently disowned by the YMCA which founded it, this was back in the 70s before they figured that out. Indian Princesses was a bigger deal to me then Girl Scouts because Indian Princesses was a father-daughter outdoor club, and I was the only girl I knew whose father had died, making it impossible for me to join. But my best friend Whitney lent me her dad, and the three of us went to Indian Princess club together. We made native american inspired crafts, went hiking, and tacked badges of accomplishments onto the tan felt vests we wore. It was marvelous. I mean, look at this!

(That's not me, by the way, that's an amazing web find.) We had to come up with an "Indian" name for ourselves. I was at a loss, so a girl in the club gave me the name of her retired sister. It was "Morning Dove", a name I see listed on the remaining Indian Princess club websites. Of course, the bird "mourning dove" is spelled so because it sounds like it is lamenting, which was more appropriate for me then I understood back then.

And all during this time I took very formal, regimented figure skating classes with a USFSA club, with its highly organized system of testing to promote future Dorothy Hamills through levels. Which was recognized with: patches. I was crazy most of all about these patches, probably because they were the hardest to earn. My mum sewed them onto the left sleeve of a red Scandinavian patterned zip up sweater, which I wore to the ice rink with a ridiculous amount of pride.

(That IS me. I wish you could see the sleeve!) I would sit and study these patches for hours, and dream of the next one with its new 2 color combination, which I could see in the window of the skate rink office.

And even when my family moved to a rural area with no scouts or princesses or ice rinks, I still managed to fall into a patch-club by becoming a 4-H'er.

And then I grew up, and nothing I did, no matter how accomplished and hard, would earn me a badge. I find this inexplicably unfair! Adults put immeasurable thought and effort into making fun, creative, and meaningful experiences for children, but we completely neglect ourselves and each other of the same. And I don't think it's that adults aren't interested in things like badges. In just a few hours I've taken dozens of requests for Irene merit badges. I'm not sure, but I suspect it's that we're all trying to give the impression that we're grown ups, when deep down we all know we're not, and we think we'd better hide it. But I wouldn't wish that kind of growing-up on any kid. I'd wish them a lifetime of striving for new experiences, with a beautifully stitched badge to mark each one. And so I've gotten into the habit of making badges for my friends for all kinds of things we've gone through together. This was for the first time two of my friends and I got brave enough to do a marching band street performance. We called ourselves the Boom Boom Brigade:

All of my work has the purpose of bringing playfulness and enthusiasm back into adulthood. I love working with kids because they teach me how to do this, and they alone can remind me what is really meaningful so that I can bring that back to the grown ups. Kids are my teachers. Grown ups are my life mission.

So, this is how I take the news that a big portion of Vermont is in trouble, especially my hometown of Wilmington which was totally wrecked by Irene. With collapsed roads the town got cut off, people were unable to locate their families, people lost their houses and businesses. The famous 1938 flood mark on Town Hall I always assumed was exaggerated, was surpassed. Because I couldn't get there to help or get any information, I drew while I anxiously waited to hear from my friends.

The Girl Scout's Juliette Gordon Low said this: "Badges show that you have done something so often and so well that you can teach it to someone else." Vermonters, and many people in other states, have a long haul ahead to put their lives and communities back together. By the time roads and houses are rebuilt, they will be experts. As in tragedies that happen everywhere all the time, most of them won't get any recognition for what they've been through. I made this for my friends because I want them to know they are seen.

There are lots of ways to help, by the way, from financial donations, to physical volunteering. Here's some pages with good resources:

VTResponse

7 Days How You Can Help

Vermont Foodbank

(I'm relieved to report that my mom is a-ok.)

Hurricane Irene merit badge

2011-08-30T12:24:00.003-04:00

If you want one (and of course you do), either find me or email your snail mail address to me at merfire@gmail.com. 2 1/4 inch fabric patches you can sew on anywhere you like.

refuge

2011-08-28T14:00:00.007-04:00

The anticipation of Irene brought my porch garden in to the living and dining rooms. It's like a tropical jungle in here with all the foliage and steamy pre-hurricane humidity. The tomatoes are making the place smell so good. Another pleasure of a storm.

storm poem

2011-08-27T00:17:00.007-04:00

New Haven, Connecticut looks to be on Irene's agenda this weekend. This'll be my first hurricane as a coastal resident. I've got to take at least one trip down to the sea before things get too wild, then I'll burrow down with some projects and poetry. Starting with this.

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can't bear without a friend,
I can't love without a sister

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it's with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestler's sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

ashes and snow

2011-08-22T10:24:00.002-04:00

This is a photograph by Gregory Colbert. Years ago his photos of people with animals were all over the commuter trains to New York. You could stare at them the entire trip and become lost. They were part of a traveling exhibition called Ashes and Snow. I'm so glad to see it is still going, and the website has expanded into an audio/visual/video experience. I'm putting in the permanent link list, I hope you visit.

big puppet build

2011-08-17T15:40:00.002-04:00

As promised, the giant puppet "tutorial" in one giant post. Are you ready?

There are lots of ways you can make a big puppet, and lots of ways you shouldn't. I discovered a few of both during a recent build. I also found some fixes to my mistakes, so you can use this as a companion guide to your own build. For more thorough resources on the web try the Puppeteers Cooperative's 68 Ways to Make Really Big Puppets, and the Hillsborough Arts Council parade puppet instruction site. Most importantly, like all puppets, you can start with traditional methods, but it usually comes down to doing what works for that particular puppet because with so many variable factors, they all have a unique mind of their own. Puppet building takes a willingness to experiment and make mistakes, and the ability to change course depending on what unfolds.

I've built giant animal puppets for large groups of puppeteers to operate together, but I'd yet to build a traditional upright human puppet with the back pack system for one person as famously used by Bread & Puppet, and I've wanted to try one for a long time. I envisioned a fleshed out conical body, not just hanging fabric you often see on parade puppets. I wanted it over 10 feet tall.

With 2 weeks to build before the scheduled performance, I decided to use an existing big papier mache head I'd built spontaneously several years before. The head was a bit heavy, about 2 feet tall with a chicken wire armature and lots of paper layers (straight up flour and water and newspaper mix). But I'm strong and in good shape, so I figured I could take it for a 2 hour performance.

I'm also pretty bent on using existing materials. This is what I'd gathered up from around my house including the head:

OK, so half of this wasn't from around my house, including the walker and ratan. Let me tell you about the walker...

Ultimately, I wanted a metal frame backpack like you're suppose to use. I'd been trying to score one for years at the Goodwills, but no luck. In desperation this time, I looked around for anything similar. One thing that was plentiful were old walkers, and they too were light weight and super strong metal frames. And turned upside down, they had four hollow channels to insert poles into if desired. With a little padding and added straps, how could this not work? This was BRILLIANT! For six bucks I brought home a revolutionary idea in giant puppet building. (Well we'll see about that.)

The other acquired material was ratan. I'd seen my co-builder Jen on Luna's Sea use it for her seahorses and giant angler fish. I needed to stay as light as possible to compensate for the heavy head, so off to the ratan supply store, I picked up some bundles, and on the advice of the store owner, a 10 foot ratan pole for the spine instead of bamboo as is traditionally used. (Keep this point in mind.)

I began work, starting with the ratan torso. I'd watched Jen make elaborate and well planned jigs to shape her structures, by wetting the ratan and letting them dry around the nails. I, being not so planning-oriented, figured I'd wing it. Using cord and fabric strips I tied the wet ratan into basic S shapes. I measured nothing.

This did work, the ratan took on the new form beautifully. That was exciting. I began "sketching" out a torso by free-form gaffer-taping the ratan together. Again, no measuring. I ended up with something that looked pretty good and sturdy, though very flexible. It seemed the tape alone even was good enough.

Knowing I'd want something to sew the costume onto, I took eggshell bedding foam, and cut to shape over the ratan like skin, using fabric glue at the seams. I do not have a photo of this, because I quickly realized this was no good. The tightening of the thick foam over the ratan torqued it, because my ratan was too thin and not structured enough, and, I then realized, completely asymmetrical because eyeballing it was not enough. I ended up with a giant, lumpy gob of a torso. No amount of fabric could hide it, and it probably wouldn't fit in my car to transport, a factor I'd forgotten to consider.

Back to the drawing board and time ticking, I decided I didn't have time enough to learn proper ratan. I went to an old hoop skirt abandoned from a giant octopus project. This time I pre-planned out the steps starting with a solid foundation.

I got a wooden board for shoulders and drilled a big hole for the spine pole to fit through, and two more holes at each end where the arms would attach. I hung this from my ceiling with a pulley system, to make the work easier. This was a huge help. Then I draped the hoop skirt over the board. Not feeling there was enough volume in the chest this way, I added 2 white flexible PVC plumbing tubes, which I attached onto the boards by wiring them down through drilled holes, with wood glue for extra hold. Then I gaffer taped them to 4 spots on the hoop skirt. This also gave more stability to the hoop skirt which has a lot of swing. This time I measured everything, the length of the tubing, where they attached on the boards and the skirt, down to the millimeter.

Next, scraps of foam staple gunned down to bulk out the shoulders and hide the shape of the rigid board.

Then I sewed thin foam panels around the upper torso (not the bulky eggshell this time), just enough to prevent fabric of the eventual dress blowing against the hard shape of the tubing.

Here I put the head nearby to see how my head-to-torso proportion was doing. Another challenge in making a big puppet, especially when you're in a small space, is getting a complete view of the whole. It's probably best to build outside when possible. The puppet being taller then my room, I resorted to laying out all the pieces on the floor and climbing on a ladder to get a distant enough view to tell me how my proportions were, and that still wasn't always a good gauge.

Hoisting the torso up on the pulley, and getting to work on the ladder, I started draping some disassembled Goodwill dresses and other scrap fabric onto the form, using just pins as I continued adjusting until I got the effect I wanted.

Once all was pinned in place, I put the body over the ladder so it would be steady as I hand sewed the fabric on. The upper part of the dress sewed directly onto the foam and stapled onto the board at the top, the under skirt stitched onto the lowest hoop in the hoop skirt.

The body now well on its way, I went back to that walker.

The walker needed shoulder straps, to start. I'd tried some heavy cotton straps, but in order to put on, it needed to be lose to get into, then tightened once on. I realized an old regular back pack would do the trick, and just rebuckled its straps onto the walker. Then I added hollow foam pipe insulation anywhere the metal would contact my back. Then I gaffer taped the rattan pole on, just to see if it would work, and went for a test run outside with just the head on the top of the pole.

Terrible! The head was so top heavy, the rattan pole so flexible, and the walker so unsecured to my back that the whole structure kept bending and tipping side to side, nearly taking me with it. Modifications desperately needed. First, I shortened the rattan pole by a foot, (taking the full puppet from 12 to 11 feet tall), then drilled a piece of wood onto the walker as a third crosspiece to attach the ratan spine to. Then I gaffer taped the backpack onto the walker, and added 2 leather belts to go around my waist and chest, anchored onto the bottom 2 rungs of the walker with- you guessed it: gaffer tape.

But the second test run with the head was not much better, it still swayed far too much to be safe, and endangered my back. It was clear the ratan was not the material for the spine. Bamboo has far less flexibility and would have been the right choice. With just one 6 foot piece of bamboo at hand (too short to replace the ratan), I gaffer taped that to the ratan just up to where the shoulders would sit. That did it. The third test run was tolerable, though I still was in for a workout for my back during the 2 hour gig and adding weight. But I was out of time to replace the ratan altogether.

Now, how to get the body on, and keep it on the pole at the right level?

I found these two shelf brackets, thinking I'd use them temporarily for a test run with the body. But gaffer taped on, they actually did really well holding the shoulder board up, so they stayed. No need to even attach onto the shoulder board, it stayed right where it needed to because of the foam in the body, and could easily come off for travel. Just some foam taped over the sharp ends for safety.

And here is the full back pack structure. Almost as tall as my ceiling while sitting on the ground. Time to go out for another test run, but first a break to sit down and do some less intense decorating.

The giant white head as it was, with torn and tied cotton strips for hair, and a silver crown cut from an insulation sheet. As much as I love all white sculptures, this will need color to make a splash, and I'm going with a sea theme.

I got the hair simmering in a dye pot on the stove with blue and green mix Rit dyes. Then with acrylic and sequins, did up her face.

Then I rough cut 2 very simple hand shapes out of 4 inch thick blue foam insulation, with minimal low relief paper mache sculpting so it would dry fast, because time was ticking. Then outside for another test run. One clearly-too-long arm in place (simply 2 lengths of pool noodles thread with rope, thickened with bubble wrap taped around, and tied to the hole in the shoulder board.) BUT, it was all working this time, however scrappy so far.

Last I added the lower skirts, a patterned green sheer that would act as a scrim, so that I could see out but hard for people to see in. I left a window at face level, and lined the rest of the sheer with metallic silver to hide my body. Chopped some length off the pool noodle arms, and painted the hands. I stuck thin, 5 foot bamboo poles into the bottom of the hand, almost straight in, near where the rope is tied to make a wrist. I cut small slots in the underskirts for the poles to go through, from my hands to the puppet hands. This was always awkward, and I have to research more solutions. Or maybe this is just big puppet awkwardness.

And with some glitter seaweed added to her crown...

...we were ready to go! Jen's angler fish from Luna's Sea was going to be her companion, great because this was a street fair and not a passing parade, we needed a shorter and more agile puppet to connect to the smaller people in the crowd. Off we went, packed up good for the 1 hour highway trip to Torrington.

Here she is assembled and waiting in the alley. She'll get another 3 feet taller once I'm strapped inside. Getting her on takes a big wall like this, a strong helper like Jen, a good back, and roller derby leg muscles.

And here she is up and performance ready. My head is right at the top of the the lime green fabric.

The giant and the angler on the fair midway:

This was a challenging 2 hours inside the giant. I was lucky there was not a lot of wind, as on her own she was a constant fight to keep upright. My back was never not correcting side to side, and forward to back swaying. As I got more confident, now and then I'd lean forward and kneel down, to connect with kids, but this was an extravagant move my muscles paid for the next day. Having never been in one of these with a properly built back pack system, I don't know close this is to normal strain. But I'd definitely suggest trying to score a frame back pack! The walker I think still has a lot of potential for some other forms of puppets, but I wouldn't go with it for another one of these.

No matter how challenging the build (this ended up taking me a week of full time work), the reward is always in the performance. One more video, this time from the inside.

paper doll

2011-08-16T23:21:00.008-04:00

Another thing I've wanted to try making forever, and it was trickier then I thought. I started working on a paper doll of my friend and go-go partner Dot Mitzvah more then two years ago, and finally finished it for her tonight. So much trial and error! My studio was covered with little paper bits this week.

brown paper

2011-08-12T10:47:00.009-04:00

Making pictures for no reason on anything nearby cultivates a real joy of drawing. This was the craft paper packaging from one of the ink on wood paintings I sold at Koffee. Sharpee markers and a white out ink pen.

faith

2011-08-10T23:50:00.004-04:00

My derby sister Wender Bender took this shot of our fellow rollergirl Faith this week, when we were having a skate-a-thon on a go-kart track. It says so much with so little.

praying mantis

2011-08-04T11:40:00.022-04:00

A walk in my favorite place in New Haven, Edgerton Park, always brings messages from the more subtle worlds, answers to pressing questions, and a peacefulness as still as its mirror fountain. Last week there I met a small brown praying mantis. Maybe only the third I've ever run into in my life. I filmed him (or her) with my iPhone (below). The quick turn of its head when I get too close cracks me up.

Some animal encounters feel more meaningful then others. When they do, I try to figure out their qualities that I might benefit from by developing in myself by reading scientific entries as well as spiritual ones. I found this on a shaman practitioner's site: "I considered the attributes of the Praying Mantis – devotion, stillness, patience and Divine Timing. A Mantis waits motionless for its prey to draw near and then strikes with impeccable speed and accuracy. Mantis knows what Mantis wants and is willing to wait for just the right time before making a move."
She has a lot more to say about praying mantises, but this part was most relevant to the reason I was at the park that day. The mystical marriage is an alchemical reference:

Another expression of the Mystical Marriage is the integration of the spiritual and mundane life or the inner and outer worlds. We all have busy schedules and for many spiritual goals and ideals are put right at the bottom of the to-do list. When things get busy it is easy to skip our yoga or meditation class and forget that we promised ourselves to give up smoking, forgive the ex or find a job that really utilizes our talents. When our daily life reflects our spiritual values, when we act and speak from our inner truth and our habits and behaviour reflect this, then we have really integrated our spiritual and mundane worlds. Some sensitive souls find the mundane world extremely difficult to live in and tend to retreat into their own private world of dreams, thoughts and visions. Whilst this can develop a deep and rich inner life, there comes a time when that richness must find an outer expression, must be allowed to bloom and add colour to one’s daily living or it will create only fantasy. The ability to realize your dreams, that is to turn them into something real, workable or solid is a good indication that your inner and outer worlds are in balance. Finding your true calling in life, where your daily work uses your talents and abilities to the fullest and where your personal beliefs, ideals and values are put into practice and reflected in those around you, shows that your spirtual and mundane lives have become one.

Thanks, little mantis, and Misha Hoo. I'll take your advice. Starting right here.

we got wheels

2011-08-04T11:10:00.011-04:00

I've had only a vague memory of something I saw on TV as a kid that made a deep impression and stuck with me. Typing a few words into google: "tv show airplane bomber tire draw 80s landing" brought it right up. Amazing Stories, episode "The Mission". 1985. 26 years ago. And in 2 seconds it's on my screen on youtube. This is a miracle. Really. We take this for granted now, but this instantly accessible collective memory we've grown in such a short time is mind blowing.

A WWII bomber crew has lost their landing gear in battle. They are running out of fuel, and the gunner is stuck in the basket underneath the plane, sure to be scraped to a pulp upon landing. He's an artist, and he begins furiously drawing. They are about to shoot him him to spare him a hideous death, but he begs the captain (Kevin Costner!) to try engaging the landing gear once more and out comes 2 giant yellow cartoon wheels, big, patched and puffy. They land, Kevin Costner touches one of the wheels which blubs and sparkles. The gunner is in a trance in the basket. Understanding the tender magic at work, the captain commands silence as they gently pull out the gunner still in a trance. Safely away, they slap him awake and the wheels disappear, the plane crashes to the ground. Of course I love this. It's high 80s fantasy, when outright joy and optimism were displayed without apology. And because an artist is able to manifest his imagination through drawing (not unlike my other favorite 80s masterpiece, Xanadu.)

But, I also love it because it's not so much fantasy. Things like that happen every day. We're surrounded by the impossible happening, we just don't notice because it's so commonplace. The impossible happens when someone has such immense fortitude in their desire and belief for it. It doesn't happen when we think it can't, or when we have too many small desires dividing our attention. The gunner had only one big thought in his mind: wheels. Impending death made no room for anything but that. His imagination was completely filled by wheels.

My natural tendency to look at everything everywhere all the time (like, oh, say googling 1980s tv shows) can have its benefits, but it's a drawback when it goes unchecked. This year I'm actively working on focus, and finding a balance between being a rain storm and being a fountain at the right times, and deciding which thing I want to be a fountain for. This is an art that will take a lifetime to never perfect. But I'm keeping this clip handy to remind me.

mer-made

2011-07-29T01:15:00.007-04:00

I just added a new job description (or life description?) to the Antinomia sub header above: mermaid. I've been mermaiding so regularly, it deserves a place there. Tonight in Torrington I broke out a 3rd bag of "Big Value 400 Pack" toy plastic gold coins, which means I've given away almost 1,000 to about 1,000 kids since New Year's Eve.

Being a silent mermaid statue provides plenty of time for observation and reflection, and I'm learning a lot. People put lovely and interesting things in my box- the money is nice but even nicer are thoughtful offerings like painted shells, mermaid earrings and hershey kisses. Inevitably something strange I never could have expected happens with every outing. Tonight I found myself at the center of a performance by what seemed like 100 dancers at a street festival. Did they choreograph knowing I'd be there? Was it a glitch in performance booking they had to work around? I don't know, but the view of a sea of joyous kids rotating around me like the Kaaba is a vision I won't forget. And burned into my heart is Stevie, a little girl who kept returning to Luna's Sea, the last time dressed as a mermaid with a doll she'd named Luna in hand. I've had some of the best and deepest conversations of my life with Stevie, with just a few spoken words exchanged.

Below: now that I've made a dressing room out of an alley, and a make-up table out of a garbage can, does that officially make me a street performer? (I hope so.) Below below: it was such a beautiful day, I made an outdoor studio on my porch to work on tail maintenance.

summer north

2011-07-27T11:57:00.012-04:00

A seasonal trip home to Vermont, which included the now mandatory porch lunch with my mum at Harlow's farm, because they have a good gluten free selection, including incredible chocolate chip cookies. I love it there so much! I found an intriguing manure wagon with puppet potential on the way, did some weeding in mum's lovely garden (which is full of queenly cleomes now), watched an old movie with uncommon dialogue, caught a big beetle, paid my respects to Lady Chair between the trees (almost gone now), and paid a visit to a pretty little mermaid statue on the way home.

two birds with one drum

2011-07-26T01:40:00.013-04:00

If you have enough dilemmas, sometimes they'll solve each other. This giant marching bass drum has been an obstacle: too big to store anywhere, too awesome to give up. The living room was also lacking a coffee table. Voila! Bass drum coffee table. The glass from a porch table fit just right as a top, and everyone is enjoying laying around the new fixture, which can be picked up anytime for spontaneous marching band incidents.

clean house

2011-07-24T23:52:00.011-04:00

The second floor was taken over as a three-room work-room for the last half year, first with Luna, then assorted art shows, and most recently, (which made even walking through nearly impossible): giant puppet building. This is the first week since February I've had a break from projects to be able to put it back in order. I've missed the giraffe, the zebra, and the beautiful refinished floor, which survived the abuse. My two most kick ass sewing machines have even found a place they can be constantly admired. For some reason I can't yet take down the list of puppet tasks for Luna still on the living room door. I think I need to keep at least one toe dipped in the pool of chaos. Too much order makes me uneasy.

blue shadow

2011-07-21T11:52:00.002-04:00

Blue bottles on the windowsill behind the shade.

beluga mariachi

2011-07-19T22:44:00.003-04:00

My first go-go partner and fellow puppeteer of aquatic persuasions, Kim Mikenis, got married to her sweetheart Kevin last Friday at the Mystic Aquarium. Someone caught the mariachi band serenading the beluga whale, this video is quite marvelous:

queen of pain

2011-07-17T11:42:00.008-04:00

The giant puppet I've been working on all week was set loose on Torrington, CT last Thursday. She was so troublesome! I thought I had the construction well planned in my mind, but the execution was mistake, correction, mistake, correction, with every step. (I'll post a how-to of the process, including the how-not-to parts.)

I wore her for a painful 2 hours at the street fair, while Jen McClure, my co-puppet builder, wore the Angler fish she made for Luna's Sea, which breathed bubbles. This was a whole new experience, trying to connect with people while being completely hidden in a puppet with limited articulation. These giant puppets are really meant to be quick-big-splash parade puppets, not one-on-one interaction puppets. But I was determined, and sacrificed my back to kneel down and bend forward so kids could high-five me. That was successful for the most part, other then for my back!

But she more satisfied my desire to make ornate tents, and my inclination continues to be that some smaller puppet happening goes on within her, as if her skirt is a proscenium. There's lots more to be worked out with that.

One amusing coincidence: I spotted my book, Magic Hoofbeats, in a rack through my skirts. It was the stall of two lovely Barefoot Books ambassadors, Melanie Cote and Marsha Miles, who took these first two pictures.

giant step

2011-07-13T09:32:00.005-04:00

Even though I couldn't teach giant chicken puppet building at Common Ground camp this year because of Luna, I still ended up making giant puppets, this time for the weekly Torrington street fair. I try to get out, but the giant puppets keep pulling me back in. Here's me in an 11 foot sea-spirit-in-progress stepping out into the world for the first time yesterday. My tiny feet are comedic. More to come on her, she's been a demanding lady.

glow

2011-07-12T09:26:00.002-04:00

The front and full interior of the Peaceable Kingdom glow in the dark birthday card. They're placing this on an existing background and adding glow ink. I can't wait to see this.

all-night fairies

2011-07-01T12:01:00.005-04:00

Some fairies for the Peaceable Kingdom glow birthday card. These came out bright and cheerful even despite the sleepless 40 hour painting marathon after a flash flood wiped out my original. Ouf.

ladders

2011-06-25T00:52:00.003-04:00

Playing around with the Hipstamatic while at work, my three rolling ladders: Sly, Slim, and Hurley. I am very fond of them.

movie making

2011-06-20T09:28:00.005-04:00

I've been spending way a lot of time making promo videos for Luna's Sea. The show has its own YouTube channel now, Giant Pink Octopus. (I like to pretend I pawn all this work off onto my puppet cast, I feel somehow less overwhelmed!) Here is a new one, much better then the first. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm enjoying figuring these out.

We aren't selling as many tickets as expected, but the reaction from our audience is far beyond what I'd dared hope for. The kids have been completely engaged for all 40 minutes, which I wasn't sure was possible for such a broad age range. I'm getting emails from parents saying their children keep talking about Luna. I'm busting butt to keep this show alive, because I know it's got the wings to fly.

glow

2011-06-09T16:58:00.006-04:00

Just after a 2 month crash course in UV effects with fluorescent materials and blackight for Luna's Sea, I was asked by Peaceable Kingdom to make a glow in the dark card. That is so awesome! It's a fairy birthday party of course. I never get tired of the fairies. Rough sketches.

Two-Woman Solo Art Show

2011-06-05T12:02:00.008-04:00

A year after that Scion street art showing in front of Koffee on Audubon, I have a show up inside proper. All of the I AM ink on wood paintings are there (thank you Koffee for being cool with breasts!) and some children's book paintings. It's a first time coming together of my two art personalities, Linda and Polly. I titled it Two-Woman Solo Art Show. One of my first hang outs in New Haven, I love this place, so happy to have my work there. It feels like coming full circle somehow.

my kingdom for one horse

2011-06-04T22:41:00.011-04:00

I had a weekend full of the most marvelous horses. First, exquisite, massive, glorious horse puppets of the Handspring Puppet Company in Warhorse at Lincoln Center. I've never seen puppets or a show like that. I can't come close to describing it, so you should just go watch the trailer.

Then helping out with my friend's remarkable horse at a historical camping event for three days. My hands and nose were full of horse. It had been a long time. It's hard to get a horse off of you if you dare to let it set in long enough.

Time’s tailor has never made a robe for anyone
without then slashing it to pieces.
See how the million fools of this world
pay heaps of gold for pain.
How can you go on gazing at the body’s dust?
Search out the horseman of the Soul

and see the horseman at the center of this dust storm!

Articulate Hand NYC

2011-06-02T19:27:00.003-04:00

The show about hands created and performed by the remarkable Andrew Dawson is coming to the NYC World Science Festival on June 3rd. The stories of people with hand disabilities are performed to their recorded interviews. I shudder to hear my silly voice, but the performance he does with it is marvelous. Tomorrow I'll finally get to see it in person and be on the talk back panel which also includes the guy who does hand transplants!

I met Andrew when I was his driver during last year's International Festival of Arts & Ideas. He was one of the nicest artists I've ever chauffeured in my 5 years there, and his unusual one man performances are stunning. Everyone should go see this tomorrow at Galapogos Art Space in Dumbo. Find tickets through www.worldsciencefestival.com.

reentry

2011-05-25T22:12:00.008-04:00

I'm back from the hermit retreat with a full heart, renewed spirit, and a little bit of paradise still on my shoes that I'll keep tracking wherever I go in this fast and noisy regular-world. Wow how fast and noisy!

Life went on here pretty well without me, and I'm catching up by playing with some video clips for a Luna promo. I still can't figure out how to get a nice looking video on youtube, but this gives you an idea what it looks like under Luna's Sea.

silence

2011-05-11T18:46:00.001-04:00

In my medieval-obsessed youth I was always most fascinated by the monks who lived in silence, doing things like illuminating manuscripts and growing herbs. I thought that would be an excellent life. But my own life has always been pretty far from that. Especially the last few years. It's been a long, frantic, overly-public, noisy road. Not entirely unwelcomed, but I need a break! Now I'm going westward into the hills to follow my heart's true desire. I'm excited to experience a monastic setting, work in a garden, and live in silence. I'll be back at the end of the month.

In the meantime, I hope all you passers-by are finding your own illuminated road to your own heart's desire. Tally-ho, travelers!

the incomprehensible silence

2011-05-06T19:40:00.004-04:00

Oh man am I tired. Getting Luna's Sea up took the energy of a hurricane. I don't have a lot left, and I need the amount it would take to power 3 hurricanes to accomplish all I have to do this summer.

But this week I threw it all to the wind and got back to my ink on wood paintings which I've missed. This is the first sentence in the Nag Hammadi poem, so coincidentally appropriate to this week's Illustration Friday theme "beginner". And because I'm about to go on a 10 day silence retreat in upstate New York, hoping it re-engergizes me for the good work I've got ahead.

These wood panels I paint under the name Polly Sonic will be on view at Koffee on Audubon this June, along with my acrylic illustration work. The show I'm calling a "Two-Woman Solo Art Show". Maybe the only one that's ever been!

Luna!

2011-04-24T11:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the second preview show of Luna's Sea, a full stage 40 minute puppet/dance/blacklight show I wrote, built, co-directed with Cornerstone Playhouse in collaboration with the Mystic Aquarium. I'm so lucky that this show came out great because of choreography and performance by the Moon, (otherwise known as Christine Poland), the main character of Luna (Irish step dancing world champion Kaitlyn Kuvalanka), expert direction by Karl Gasteyer, poetic voice over by Keely Baisden, puppet building help by Jen McClure, and 5 incredible young puppeteers, mostly high school students: Weston, Ali, Kim, Felicia and Erica. Just looking at this list of people, plus even more people who helped and donated supplies along the way, (including my mum Judy Wingerter who I worked to the bone, and my friend Harry Johnson who helped with costumes) I'm humbled with immense gratitude. Pictures from dress rehearsal off the Luna blog. We officially open this Saturday, April 30th. I'm ridiculously tired from the months of push it took to get this up, but really happy with how it came out.

Luna

2011-03-26T23:18:00.006-04:00

I've been away from Antinomia due to total immersion in a big project. Luna's Sea is a feature length puppet and dance show I'm creating for Cornerstone Theater and the Mystic Aquarium. Luckily, I have some really talented and generous friends helping out, because with this one I'm in way over my head. As in, at the bottom of the ocean! It's great.

Luna has her own blog over here, and a facebook page here.

A photo from rehearsal, with Luna resting after a long session of being tossed by waves.

art show

2011-03-25T16:04:00.004-04:00

Jennifer Duff came upon my blog a few months ago when she was looking for information about making braided jean rugs, and it just so happened she is a gallery owner with an interest in children's art, and it just so happened I live about 5 miles from her gallery. I love the internet.

She graciously gave me the opportunity to have a solo show this month at her space, the Davis Gallery. I took full advantage and made it a retrospective with 37 originals from all 7 books, two Cricket Magazine covers, and a few from Peaceable Kingdom cards and posters. Counting up the years in order to properly title the show, "Painted Pages: 15 Years of Children's Book Art" was a little daunting. So was the framing, so I called my mum who cheerfully came down and matted all weekend. We took over pretty much the whole house.

The show is really nice and so is Jennifer's family who helps her run the gallery. My work is up in the main space until April 11, and stays in the second gallery until May.

My mum never lets me take her picture, but Pip does!

sand mandalas

2011-02-28T13:44:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I went to a fundraiser at the Unity Church of Great Hartford for the exiled Tibetan monks of the Drepung Gomang monastery in India. I haven't seen the sand mandala touring monks since the event at RISD 17 or so years ago which I blogged about here. I don't know if they were from the same monastery, but I was even more excited to find that they were showing people how to draw with sand, and letting the Unity Church community make 3 mandalas of their own, which they then swept up and poured into the earth (lacking a traditional river). They blessed a mala for me, and participated in a rousing session of "laughter yoga" and one of the Dances of Universal Peace led by my sufi friend Amina, both of which were a first for me too. And as if the day wasn't great enough, I followed it all up by trying a burger off the gluten free menu at the 99 Restaurant. Yes, a gluten free menu at a chain restaurant! What a day!

Photos from the fundraiser including the community made mandalas, and the stacked hats and robes of traveling monks.

I still can't believe my eyes!

The Articulate Hand

2011-02-13T10:41:00.005-05:00

I keep having the good fortune of running into people who somehow specialize in hands. This summer, as my fourth year as an Artist Driver for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, one of my favorite people to drive was the extraordinarily lovely Andrew Dawson of Space Panorama who I blogged about before. His newest work is The Articulate Hand, in which he used audio from an interview Tony Baloney and I made about our hands. You can hear me put to original music here on the show's website. But there are other pieces about other people with far more dramatic and inspiring stories about their hands. The performance Andrew did to this track is beautiful. He uses a broken pencil to tell the story of my roller derby injury. I hope it comes to the US!

Photo from Andrew's website.

kid review

2011-02-13T10:35:00.002-05:00

Pat Zietlow Miller keeps a blog with book reviews by children, and 9 year old Anneka just reviewed Chiru. I love this picture a lot. Thank you Pat and Anneka!

ringing in the new

2011-02-02T18:25:00.004-05:00

I don't wear much jewelry, but since I wore through my Sator Square sundial ring I got for 5 bucks in Rome many years ago, I've been purchasing some small wearable token every couple of years when a new phase is beginning. Usually these are found on drifts, wandering through stores with a vague idea until synchronicity leads me to the thing I know is meant for me. Most I've found at my friend Raphael's mesmerizing Group W Bench in New Haven. This time I had something very specific in mind: a hand made ring with a winged heart. Not finding one in town, I got obsessive on the internet. There were some nice manufactured versions, but none felt authentic enough. Then I found Jen Hilton's website, and there it was, delicate, modest, lovely, in the size I was seeking. Jen makes her jewelry the way I look for jewelry, and it shows. This little ring was made to be on my finger. Thank you, Jen! I've added her to my Makers links on the right.

mermaid reel

2011-02-01T22:28:00.000-05:00

And a little promo video for the mermaid:

splash

2011-01-29T21:31:00.015-05:00

Matica Arts asked me to provide some living statue entertainment for Hartford First Night. I'd never done a living statue, but I said yes, thinking it would be an opportunity to make some headway on a mermaid vending machine I'd been desiring to build. Of course I found time shorter then expected, and the week before looked at this pile of things from around my house and wondered: can I make myself into a mermaid with this? Well yes, yes I can!

The Zoltar fortune machine from Big has been kicking around in my subconscious for a long time. When I saw this movie I wanted to be the mechanical puppet in the box:

And I've been fascinated by this picture in my costume reference book at work. Why aren't there actual dresses like this around?

So with the idea of a hoop skirt, I started building my tail and rock out of foam and hardware cloth.

In 2 days of frantic non-stop, possessed, furious, bloody, and somewhat divinely fortuitous building, this mermaid came out, and the 4 hours I spent in front of the Old State House in Hartford on New Year's Eve was one of the best performance experiences I've ever had. Hundreds and hundreds of people, all with completely positive reactions and some wonderfully startled encounters. It was heaven, even if it was pretty cold to be standing statue-still all afternoon.

I got on the local news. They captioned me "Polly Sonic, MERMAID".

I made the top front page of the local paper.

And these were some other photos taken by Andrew Hart from the Hartford News.

So she's not a fortune telling vending machine yet, I still have to figure that part out. But she's already booking appearances, next at the Yale Center for British Art in February. I can't wait to take her out again.

cooking with lightning

2010-12-21T16:55:00.010-05:00

2010 has kept some tricks up its sleeve to lay on the table right before it heads out the door.

In October a single bolt of lightning struck the middle of a quiet New Haven intersection on a sunny day just dozens of feet from me and several others waiting to cross the street. A giant boom and a flash of brilliant white light, like an explosion, and then nothing else at all. No rain, nothing damaged, no further thunder, just car alarms set off all around, while everyone including myself froze in place trying to comprehend, except for one woman who laughed with unbound joy as she skipped down the street.

The next day, on the opposite side of the same block, I ran into a street prophet. He first asked for money to help him get a train to Maryland to see his son for the first time in 21 years. When I had none to offer, he hit on me. When that didn't work, he began telling me about Jesus, and told me to ask him any question I had about God. I thought hard, and then told him earnestly that though I have many questions about the world and about myself, I have no questions about God. He hesitated, and then for the first time in his lengthy monologue asked permission to tell me something, and I agreed. What followed was spoken in a different voice and tone, and something I can only consider to be a prophecy for my future, a good one, that I am keeping close at hand.

I've wondered since then about my having no questions about God. I didn't notice that before. I believe in God and I think about God and religion and spirituality a lot of the time. I ponder how I can best live my life in tune with God. I wonder why people care so much about the details of different religions that appear to them to be in conflict. But about God, himself, herself, itself, whatever- I don't wonder or worry, or try to understand with logical thinking. Should I be relieved about that, or does it mean I'm lazy or missing something if I don't have questions?

I contemplate this as I continue a long hermit interlude, slowly piecing my kitchen back together with all the details carefully considered. It is an overdue home improvement, but it's deeper then just that. With my new wheat allergy the need to learn how to cook has bullied itself into being a priority in my daily existence. Resistant to this at first as a life-long hater of cooking, putting so much love into the kitchen through my language of paint is changing my feelings about feeding myself for the better. And as I go, I learn even more about kitchens and food, and how they are so closely linked to God.

Photo above, the kitchen with its newly recovered wood floor, once under brown linoleum. Below, the floor before deep sanding and polyurethane.

Bambola

2010-12-06T00:43:00.005-05:00

A New Haven ally, Erika, has been leading gatherings of intentional doll making and blogging about it on Each Day is a Present (added to my links over there on the right.) We talked about dolls and discovered that one she made recently has come to serve the same purpose for her as my Bambola doll does for me. She had a lot of interesting things to say about this, so I'll let you read it yourself in her Dolls as Guides post, in which she included Bambola.

I made Bambola 16 years ago, out of discarded painters' canvas and found objects when I would sit nervously for hours in my studio trying to get up the courage to take on the wild streets of Rome. Carrying a horned faceless doll certainly helped keep the roving packs of girl-hunting Romans at bay. But more courage was gained from the hours and days of stitching with this need in mind. Making objects by hand is powerful meditation when there is a strong and specific intention. It is spell-casting.

I added some doll and Baba Yaga folk lore to Erika's post:

"A merchant had, by his first wife, a single daughter, who was known as Vasilisa the Beautiful. When she was eight years old, her mother died. On her deathbed, she gave Vasilisa a tiny wooden doll with instructions to give it a little to eat and a little to drink if she were in need, and then it would help her. As soon as her mother died, Vasilisa gave it a little to drink and a little to eat, and it comforted her. After a time, her father remarried to a woman with two daughters. Her stepmother was very cruel to her, but with the help of the doll, Vasilisa was able to perform all the tasks imposed on her." More on "Vasilisa the Beautiful" at Wikipedia.

"An example is the fairy tale of 'Vasalisa with a Doll in Her Pocket' in Estes' chapter 'Nosing Out the Facts: Gathering Intuition as Initiation [Women Who Run With the Wolves].' Vasalisa loses her good mother early and is plagued with a wicked stepmother and stepsisters who make her a servant -- not an uncommon fairytale structure. Her true mother left her a magic doll to always keep in her pocket to guide her. When the step-women send her into the woods to the powerful witch Baba Yaga for fire, expecting Vasalisa will never return, the doll guides her way and saves her by helping her give the dangerous witch the right answers. When she escapes and returns with the witch's fire it consumes the bad women. Estes explains that the Vasalisa story illustrates intuition as a mother's gift to her daughter. Intuition is symbolized by the doll, teaching Vasalia to pay attention, hold onto (and trust) the doll, gather the facts. The story is a tale of the rite of 'the old female Goddess, Baba Yaga,' initiating the girl into adulthood and a dark world where she has the power within her to survive." -Linda Ashar. More here.

Bambola has been a lot of places with me, and taken a lot of ware and tear. I just noticed the little Amalfi coast sea shell necklace that was sort of like a rattle when Bambola shook broke off. I'm looking forward to the repair.

Jimmy Chin

2010-11-07T08:52:00.003-05:00

(Me stalking Jimmy Chin in Trailblazer.)

It just so happens that Robin Hirsch, a draper I sometimes stitch for at the Yale School of Drama costume shop, is also a rock climber who has met all of the men in the Chiru book. It just so happened that one of our co-workers spotted a sign in town that one of those men, Jimmy Chin, would be giving a talk at the Yale Law School, 2 blocks from where we work. So Robin and I ventured forth a couple of weeks ago with some Chiru books in hand to go meet him at the reception at Trailblazer. I was so nervous I got too giddy to talk, but Robin pushed in and made the introduction. He had no idea a children's book had been made about the chiru journey. I gave him a copy, and we signed books for each other. He was the loveliest person. His slide talk was magnificent. He skied down Everest. Yes, I said he skied down Everest. I wish I'd seen the talk during the time I was painting that book.

He we are signing books, and a serious group photo followed by a silly group photo.

fall north

2010-10-16T11:51:00.010-04:00

My annual autumn ramble north. This time home to see my mum and the Puppets in the Green Mountains festival all around southern Vermont, with a stops to get my fiddle fixed, see great art and some very huge and inspiring braided rugs. Then camping at a fire performers retreat where the prayer ties on my camp site brought the wind in force, but my increasingly luxurious set up with cot and the blue jean rug kept my fine new tent grounded.

a day's work

2010-10-14T12:56:00.003-04:00

is not so much work when it's at a place like this. It was 3 days work this weekend that I chauffeured a wedding party at this seaside home, and was reunited with my beloved 15 passenger Festival van. The weather and the views were paradise. The people were really nice. The coffee breaks overlooking the regatta marvelous.

case work details

2010-10-13T22:00:00.010-04:00

More of my lame sonore case (especially for Natalia the Saw Lady, who I'm honored to have as an occasional visitor here. She rocks.) The jersey-covered chipboard bow box (above), the flap side (below), and the heavy black canvas interior (that will hopefully stand up against the saw teeth) with snaps!

case work

2010-10-05T22:06:00.003-04:00

Feeling serious about my saw, and worried about the safety of my exposed bow and the arms of passers-by as I lug sharp metal teeth down the street to rehearsal, I made a custom fit case, including pockets for bow and rosin and leather shoulder strap. Still waiting for snaps for the pockets, but it's a happy saw outfit now. It only looks a little like a rifle.

bowed

2010-09-30T22:58:00.007-04:00

Muses come to the spirit, and the spirit is the crossroads of the mind and the body. Inspiration is felt in the hands as much as the head. The fingertips ache to push into clay while the mind can see a form as if it already exists. It swells in the belly and the chest, and not answering what wants to be born will cause trouble and physical pains. Fingers cramp, thoughts scatter. Best to follow what calls. I've got an absurd number of projects going on, but I'm a taut string that can't resist the vibration. Especially with this: playing the saw in a great little show called Vaudevillain, and trying out my fiddle again after finally getting its bridge fixed. The saw needed a heap of de-rusting, so do I.

Meanwhile the rug still wants to grow, a few stitches at a time, and the kitchen is looking like someplace you'd buy really good cheese, except for the bathtub in the middle.

hipstamatic renovation

2010-09-29T23:59:00.010-04:00

The fall has me burrowing down deep to re-feather my nest, and I obsessively take pictures of it with the Hipstamatic application on my new iPhone.

spirals and the practical hands of destiny

2010-09-17T23:45:00.009-04:00

Fortunate I am to have lots of friends with worn out pants. I lost count of how many are in the rug now. I'll keep going until I can beg no more jeans, or the rug is too heavy to move. The stitching tires my hands, as does the tedious painting and re-making of my kitchen. But bit by bit the spiraling path seems a little less stormy.

The woman in this video is able to say what I think about hands and spinning things much better then me. Listen:

had I three ears

2010-08-22T15:58:00.009-04:00

Yet again I found myself stuck in bed with a non-serious but incapacitating illness, taking up a new occupation to distract myself. Heat rash had me laying on ice packs for several days. With my scissors and some discarded jeans nearby, I started making a braided rug.

In the many hours this task kept my hands away from scratching, I thought of the 3 Fates, or the 3 Norns, or the 3 Weird Sisters, triplet hags who spin and weave the fortunes of men. As I cut and braided and cut and braided I pondered my fate. How had I gotten here, with this rash, my ass kicked from a camp teaching job? Where will I go next, after this, my 60th or so job in a long line of eclectic temporary jobs? Am I getting too old for all these strange employments? Will I ever not be poor? Will my need to do only work that has "meaning" always be the curse I was once told it would be?

But as I keep spiraling and sewing this continuous stormy sea-colored braid outward, I think I must be on the right road, no matter how rocky and twisting it persists on being. I cannot live as a straight path walker. The rash I thought would never go away finally did. Some new unexpected prospects are poking up around the next bend. I'll soon have a very nice denim rug on which to rest my investigating feet.

This rug is easy to make. Cut up your old jeans into 2 inch strips (making turns at top and bottom for longer strips) then braid, joining new strips in by tucking them into the braid. Then spiral the braid around, stitching the sides of the braids together. Keep it flat when sewing, wet it down to flatten more now and then as you go along.

Photos below: strips are a joy to cut with good Gingher sicissors; the spinning Norns at the foot of the tree of the world; and my heat rashed back (sparing you the full hideousness by removing the color).

roaming Roma

2010-08-15T14:41:00.003-04:00

I've been spending the afternoon walking around my old Rome neighborhood via Google Street View. It is unbelievable that technology has made this possible. I can still find my way through the streets I used to take to go to school, and to buy bread, and have cappuccino, and eat gelato at the Pantheon 15 years ago.

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Giant Chicken Puppet v.2

2010-08-14T12:14:00.009-04:00

The second session of Common Ground summer camp brought a whole new chicken. It was important that the second be different then the first, based on the drawings of a new group of kids. Early in the session, though, my body rebelled with a terrible case of heat sickness including an intolerable rash from hiking with my backpack, and then a vomit-virus, and then a bad cold with a fever. I was half delirious when I was cutting the cardboard chicken parts each night, and somehow it came out far bigger and heavier then intended. By the third week it was still in pieces, and I had no idea how it was going to work.

With some last minute night-before building help from fellow camp teacher Jasmine, and councilor Ralston volunteering to take the inside position in the performance so I could assist with the massive head, and despite a drizzle of rain just before (which is no good for a tempera-painted paper chicken, let me tell you), it just barely came together just in time. And thank goodness, because these kids were so excited for this chicken. I would have done anything not to disappoint them.

Chicken version 2 featured googly eyes made of rotisserie chicken containers and foam balls (invented by one of the campers) and also a second puppet of a worm for the chicken to chase with its functioning tongue.

alone at last

2010-08-13T13:14:00.006-04:00

Though in the Polly costume I constantly, compulsively pull groups together and seek crowds and noise, I am at heart a hermit. Silence and solitude are ingredients I need as much as air and water. Six weeks of being a camp councilor with 200 children with 200 million questions to be answered was a monumental challenge. Today, at last, it is done, and finally I am in my studio, alone, with just the sound of the breeze through the screen, and the distant voices of people who need nothing from me. I am grateful for the incredible experience I just had. I'll miss the staff and the kids a lot. I am sick as a dog and still fighting an impossible heat rash. But right now I am quietly full of bliss, and I feel just like this:

giant monkey puppet!

2010-07-28T22:23:00.011-04:00

It looks like I never posted the first big puppet I did, Giant Monkey Puppet, at ECA when I was co-teaching the circus class there with Jake Weinstein. So here are pictures. Just like Common Ground the students planned, built, and operated with me and Jake just guiding with tech support, over most of a semester. The great feature of this one was eyes that moved and popped out.

Giant Chicken Puppet!

2010-07-25T21:48:00.006-04:00

And here it was on the campers' last day, during the family picnic. I had to choose these 4 to be the puppeteers, which was easy as they'd come to class after class. The rest were appeased by being given bubbles, streamers and rattles to accompany us with. I took the inside position as the puppet had gotten too intense for a small person. My head puppeteer was an amazing fellow who held up that heavy head for our whole 20 minute show. We danced, we pecked at things and ate the camp staff. Best of all we laid 2 eggs, which got cheers from the surprised crowd. And for me, being inside, getting to see a stampede of feet around me with cheers and shouts, and occasional faces popping in from underneath to discover the secrets of the giant chicken puppet, that made the 3 very challenging and exhausting weeks completely, utterly fulfilling.

All the credit goes to these kids. They came up with the all the design, from the sunglasses and ukulele props, to the extra long extending neck, to the laying of eggs and the tossing of gummy worms, and the cowboy boots (which, well, turned out to be go-go boots). And they did all the work other then the heavy interior construction. Plus by the end they had specific theatrical requirements, like that the puppet be hidden until just the right moment of the picnic.

And now, to start another one all over again on Monday! (thanks to LB Stein for the photos, and getting me the job!)

Chiru video

2010-07-24T20:20:00.003-04:00

Jacqueline, the author of Chiru, made a sweet little video about the animals, her trip to Tibet, and our book. I hope somehow this book causes me to go Tibet someday too.

Since the video was getting cropped I updated my Blogger template. They have all kinds of patterns now! I prefer sparse backgrounds for art blogs, but in honor of Antinomia's 5th year let's keep a little flair around for a while. How about a nature pattern and lots of green to go with the theme of this summer?

chicken-building

2010-07-24T09:51:00.011-04:00

The Giant Chicken Puppet got made in one hour classes with changing groups of usually 12 campers ages 6-12 and a teenage counselor assisting. It was a challenge to keep everyone of all ages occupied at once, and re-teach and explain the project every class. I had at least 4 different task stations they could switch between if boredom was imminent: feathering, egg painting, head papier macheing, sewing, and prop making; most needing lots of supervision and instruction, so I was running between tables like a headless chicken. I experimented with teaching one camper a task, then letting him or her be the supervisor of that table, and I was surprised how well they worked together that way. I also soon realized smocks were key.

Antinomia's 5th birthday

2010-07-18T05:40:00.008-04:00

Today it's been 5 years since I started this blog! In July of 2005 I was making masks with Margie and ElizaB for Elm Shakespeare and thinking a lot about puppets. Not much has changed. Some photos from our big art project at ecology camp: a giant chicken puppet made of recycled materials, designed and made by the kids, with just structural and technical guidance from me. It's going to be amazing!

teachers

2010-07-08T22:24:00.008-04:00

I've had so many great ones this year. Aileen Lawlor (photo above), imported from California for the Wildfire fire performer training camp, is a gorgeous fire staff artist. She taught staff as an acting class rather then a trick class, and had us visualizing relationships and moving in ways that exploded my conceptions. I finally felt myself begin to progress from staff spinner to staff dancer, the teaching I've been seeking for years. Here she is doing a poi duo at Wildfire with Noel Yee.

Then I got to drive the most awesome performer, mime, hand model, actor, director, etc Andrew Dawson around New Haven for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. His piece for the Festival, Space Panorama was hilarious, breathtaking, suspenseful, and everything a show should be with just his hands, a table, and 30 minutes. I saw it 3 times and could watch it a hundred more. I got to take his workshop on hands and mime and his experience with Feldendkrais which addresses physical injury and is all about subtlety and awareness, something I struggle to remember. Frankenfinger had a hard time keeping up. It was mind-bending and brain-turning and hand-waking.

During that class I remembered when a mime named Tony Montanaro came and taught for a day at my rural Maine elementary school, and then I went to his mime camp for the summer, which was a nest of progressive art right down the street from me in the middle of Nowhere Podunk Farmville, and in that camp we danced, mimed and made big puppets, and I realize now what a huge influence that was.

Beacause this week I've gotten to know and teach several dozen young campers how to dance, make art, and puppeteer giant puppets, and generally enjoy themselves, and life, and the world, and I am humbled by the weight of the task of potentially being a life long influence like that, and here is hope upon hope that I do a good job of it.

Andrew Dawson and his elegant and subtle hands:

camp

2010-07-07T20:22:00.002-04:00

Consistently though my life, when I get a call from an art director to do an illustration, it very often is subject matter that closely resembles something going on in my life. A synchronicity.

Cricket magazine called a while ago for a one page poem piece (above). In that time I heard about, interviewed for, fretted over, and eventually won a full time job as a nature camp counselor, and finished this painting the night before the kids arrived. Camp counselor is not anything I ever expected to do, but I find myself outside all day every day with a great group of kids, eating lunches, making art, and hiking. It is a great contrast to the recently past dark days of mono and night shifts. I'm pretty happy about it.

windflags

2010-07-07T06:36:00.004-04:00

With just a gap of 12 hours in between, I went from artist's driver for the Festival to recycled art teacher at a kids nature camp. I'm still not recovered from the whiplash. It's my first time being a full time teacher, and the first time in ages being at camp.

The first project was printed windflags, based on Tibetan prayer flags, made with all plant materials. The night before I was experimenting with natural dyes on the muslin. Something didn't go quite right, my beets and red cabbage/blueberry dyes weren't very strong, and my carrots were a wash out. But some tumeric spice added last minute gave a great yellow. I'll keep working on this because it is really fun, and the campers took to the vegetable prints with enthusiasm.

BOOK

2010-07-04T12:31:00.003-04:00

Finally, finally, finally, Chiru is an actual book, with a cover, and a jacket, and a spine, and pages, and everything. And Wilson gives it twelve out of twelve whiskers. You can see some of the interiors here.

Circus, Fire & Sketchy

2010-06-29T07:51:00.002-04:00

A nice young Yale student did an article in the New Haven Independent about last Thursday's happening. Read it here.

The video is an example of me performing while distracted by organizing, and getting a nice little rain of fuel fire. I need to figure out how to work with this situation, because it is likely here for the long term.

Dr. Sketchy & Fire Show

2010-06-27T21:46:00.031-04:00

I am really proud of this one. The Advocate newspaper asked me to gather up Polly Sonic's Fiery Circus again for a music night they regularly curate during the Ideat Village fringe festival in New Haven, and this time I also added an outdoor Dr. Sketchy and New Haven Circus Collective happening.

We narrowly missed a tornado a few miles south of us, ended up with blue skies and an incredible turnout of spectators, volunteers, sketchers, street performers, fire dancers, and TEN beautifully dressed models. I found myself managing a real three ring circus, but I'd luckily put my most trusted allies in charge of each ring with an inspiring number of friends willing to help, and found we could create a pretty fantastic event together. A reporter there who's been following Sketchy and NHCC kept asking me as I ran manically around the plaza "So would you say tonight is the birth of the Circus Collective?" I kept dodging him, until the end, when I finally stopped to look around and realized "Yes, yes it is!"

I brought out my little circus set again and it's getting more Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus as I add to it. What I really want is a small cart that can unfold like that...

Great photos below by William Skrainski, J. Adametz, and ElizaB. More here.

around the edges

2010-06-23T11:53:00.010-04:00

Yesterday I ran 6 of the wood paintings down to the Scion set up in front of Koffee. There was no place to hang them except for 2 lamp posts, and then they turned into true street art, which has been in my mind all the time I've been making them. Here is me, badly in need of a hair cut, a little bit rained on, still queazy from bad chicken, and tangled up in my Festival gear. But I like my new glasses, and am really happy about the paintings being out in the world. They are there again today from 11-7.

And if this wasn't enough, tomorrow our third annual Polly Sonic's Fiery Circus is at the Ideat Village fringe festival in Pitkin Plaza at 9pm, with 7 fire performers this year. Plus, a Dr. Sketchy's session with a dozen models and roving street performers encouraging everyone to draw. Pictures below of me, Pam Terror and Nicholas Ridiculous from last year by Mike Franzman, JoAnne Wilcox and Meg Fama.

SCION = SONIC

2010-06-21T21:37:00.002-04:00

I am the featured artist of New Haven for the Scion x-CHANGE program, which is touring the country raising money for local arts organizations. They'll be at Koffee on Audubon Street with my Nag Hammadi wood panel paintings from 11-7 on Tuesday June 22, and for every car test-driven they'll donate money to Music Haven. I'll be there at some point too, between driving artists for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas again (which has been terrific) and getting over food poisoning (which has been not so terrific).

fire pony

2010-06-03T02:35:00.001-04:00

And here it is, burning magnificently:

the Pony

2010-05-31T08:11:00.011-04:00

The fire sculpture I mentioned before. The Pony is the equivalent of the Burning Man on the east coast, built to be set ablaze at a Delaware festival called Playa del Fuego this weekend. It's cleverly made to evolve as it burns, as different thicknesses of string and rope burn at different speeds, allowing the outer skin of the giant pink My Little Pony to peel off and reveal the awesome black skeleton horse inside, with moving wings. Other fine details include yellow daisies applied with hot glue, which melt and fall away from the skulls underneath. Photos from the last weekend of the build by the Connecticut Oak Burners group.

slither

2010-05-28T13:32:00.000-04:00

For this week's Illustration Friday.

in the details

2010-05-23T07:40:00.004-04:00

The arch murals at Kaia Yoga in Westport I've been working on with a bunch of my former roller derby team mates (oddly enough), are nearing completion. Some photos Slim Fast took of me on metallic duty. Last photo, Jen, the designer and yoga teacher, and handstand expert.

horse spirit

2010-05-21T17:23:00.003-04:00

Horse energy continues swirling into all my cracks and crevices, sweeping out the cobwebs and dusting off old atlases. Including an invitation to help an artists collective build a giant fire pony (more on that later), and an illustration of a mysterious horse spirit for that same group (above). And I ended up here last week (below). I can't wait to see where this is going.

sacred circles

2010-05-15T18:01:00.004-04:00

photo Adrian Oxbrow

Chiru of the High Tibet was picked by the Junior Library Guild for their fall book club list, which means a few thousand libraries will be getting a copy. That's pretty awesome. They asked me to write something about my connection to the book, which made me remember an incident that happened in college, one of those that probably informed more of my life after that then I realized till I sat down and thought about it.

Many years ago when I was studying illustration at Rhode Island School of Design I started seeing strange men in long red and yellow robes around campus. I followed them and found them in the museum, sitting cross-legged on a platform, carefully tapping colored sand out of metal pipes to make intricate patterns in a very large circle. I went every day to watch them, and learned that they were Tibetan monks making a sand mandala. After days and days of this work, they cheerfully swept it all into a pile and threw it in the river. This was when I first heard of Tibet, and where I fell in love with the culture, the art, and the landscape, which I soon began studying. Painting those landscapes and making mandalas for Chiru, alongside the magnificent words of Jacqueline Briggs Martin, was a tremendous experience.

Video of a similar mandala-making event at UVM, and beautiful photos in the Adrian Oxbrow link above.

The Making of a Mandala from UVMVermont on Vimeo.

Dark Heavens

2010-05-10T10:34:00.009-04:00

I've been collecting links to extraordinary things here on the blog to the right. Including the website of Hamid Sardar who has a most unbelievable exhibition of photographs of Mongolian nomads and shamans at the Tibet House in NYC. A few of his images here to make you go see it.

my kingdom for one horse

2010-05-08T11:00:00.007-04:00

An intense horse nostalgia is creeping into me. It's been something like 18 years since my family sold off the last of our horses. We had a big herd. I was literally soaked in horse as a teenager. A tragic end to my gelding, Scott, and some other rough incidents snuffed out my horse craze. And my mum's.

I took care of a friend's farm in the summer for a few years, and got to ride their Clydesdale once in a while, and that was extremely satisfying. But I never had the desire to go back to the kind of backbreak and heartbreak horses can give you.

This week though, at the oddest times, I'll suddenly smell horses, or hear and feel the sensation of Scott's breathing on the right side of my head. At any moment I can close my eyes and remember swimming with him on the lake as if it was real, and I can put my arms around his neck and feel the dander on my fingers. I scratch his cheek then reach up to his ear, which he hates, and he swings his head away with a very un-horse-like grunt he'd make when I was irritating him. And then I miss him so intensely it's nearly unbearable.

And as I write a fierce lightening is splitting over my roof, and birds are singing from the soffets next door. Wood smoke is coming from somewhere.

ancestral echoes

2010-04-21T00:16:00.005-04:00

I've been working with some friends on an intricate mural job for a new yoga studio. I found myself delegated to this arched niche, which I was on top of that scaffolding to work on tonight. It seemed vaguely familiar. (My grandfather Francis makes his third appearance in my blog):

harvest

2010-04-18T18:19:00.004-04:00

I've got beans! I only just noticed. Plus the surviving worms of the worm tragedy that occurred a few weeks ago are doing really good.

earthquake

2010-04-16T10:52:00.005-04:00

On Tuesday a big quake hit Yushu in the Tibetan autonomous region. 90% of structures in the town of Jyekundo were leveled, with 740 casualties counted so far, many missing, and thousands injured. A dam cracked, and 100,000 people are in jeopardy.

Jyekundo is populated mostly by nomadic Tibetans who have been pushed from their herding grounds and into a sedentary life in poorly built public housing. Many of the dead and injured are children of migrant workers housed in boarding schools.

Aid is hindered by the remote and elevated location, but the Huffington Post has a list of organizations taking donations. I am posting this since lack of video seems to exclude this disaster from major media coverage.

Photo from Reuters article here.

travelers

2010-04-11T14:20:00.002-04:00

By wagon, by horse, by boat, by cities that swim.

Live Before You Die from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.

ROLLING THUNDER trailer from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.

Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea from ekai on Vimeo.

linked

2010-04-10T03:26:00.011-04:00

For Illustration Friday. Blogger doesn't love a vertical, click on full picture below for a bigger view.

doppelgangers

2010-04-04T01:48:00.012-04:00

So for a year I've held the prestigious position of "Yale Costume Stock Manager" at the Yale School of Drama. I have a real day job now. I check out and restock costumes in a big basement warehouse 4 days a week. I complain a lot about the stinky thousand or so pairs of shoes to be kept in order, the messy students, and the stagnant air, but I freakin love it. The nicest part is I get to see the Yale Rep shows for free, and hang around the productions in some pretty spectacular theatrical spaces.

The best thing I've seen in a long time was the commedia dell'arte The Servant of Two Masters. It was gorgeously made, and so well performed. Partly I loved it because of eery similarities to a tiny 6 minute vaudeville act I did a few months ago for the Forgot to Laugh Festival, including an illuminated moon for a finale and a musical saw cameo. I mean, obviously there's no way anyone at Yale saw my show, which was slapped together and silly- it's just one of those amazing sort of synchronicities that made me love the Yale show in a way my mind will set on for a long time.

Photos from my act for Forgot to Laugh with fantastic dance, juggling, and puppet help from Nicholas Ridiculous, Lisa Anamasi, Pam Terror and Dot Mitzvah. And below, a video from The Servant of Two Masters.

rescue

2010-04-01T00:40:00.002-04:00

For Illustration Friday.

nature boy

2010-03-30T00:35:00.008-04:00

My tub was full of dirt from cleaning plant pots. Letting the water seep out slow so the sediment would dry left a topographical landscape that I was taking photos of when Wilson got interested. A usual calm and collected checking out of the situation turned into a rare frenzy. He squirmed and rolled in the dirt and licked it passionately. He's been an indoor cat all his life, but it was obvious he instinctively wanted to burrow down into nature, too. Then he suddenly jumped out, bored, leaving new interesting marks.

Wilson Cat's latest installation: Tub.

dormant

2010-03-27T02:02:00.005-04:00

The daffodils have come up again as they have faithfully for 9 years since I first planted them, but I remain a cold wet bulb beneath the earth. The mono is making a long exit with a train of fatigue sweeping the floor on its way out. I'm still waking around noon and seeing only a few hours of sunlight before I go to work in the Yale basement. Were I less tired I'd be frustrated by limited daily consciousness and a weakened body, but instead I embrace the darkness and spend the nights making rivers of black ink on pine boards, which is endlessly fascinating to me. It's the first time I've really enjoyed drawing probably since I planted those daffodils. I like the solitude of night to be alone with the lines. I like speaking only in pictures. I would burrow even deeper underground if I could.

You, darkness, that I come from,

I love you more than all the fires

that fence in the world,

for the fire makes

a circle of light for everyone,

and then no one outside learns of you.

But the dark pulls in everything;

shapes and fires, animals and myself,

how easily it gathers them,

powers and people.

And it is possible a great energy

is moving towards me.

I have faith in nights.

-Rilke

expired

2010-03-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

For Illustration Friday.

subterranean

2010-03-19T04:26:00.001-04:00

This week's Illustration Friday. Or, technically, last week's.

chiru

2010-03-14T17:47:00.001-04:00

Another piece from The Chiru of High Tibet, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Houghton Mifflin Fall 2010.

St. George

2010-03-11T13:16:00.007-05:00

(Terry Moore photograph)

For years I've been constructing in my mind a heritage tour of places in my family history, but time always seems too short and obligations too heavy to actually do it.

All last year I had a major pull towards Pennsylvania. It came up over and over, friends were going there or coming from there, events I wanted to go to were there, I had several spur of the moment invitations to travel there, none of which I acted upon and sorely regretted. In the fall on a trip back from NY state I missed the turn to CT and came very close to ending up there accidentally, hours out of my way, which was startling.

In idly checking on some of the sites online today I found videos of one of major stops on my epic trip is being demolished. St. George's in Shenandoah, PA was the church that brought my great grandfather Francis to the US from Lithuania to paint the original murals in in 1907. Though I don't believe any of the current murals were his due to a fire in the 30s, watching machines tear through walls exposing bright paintings of saints to falling snow before crushing them is hard. It reminds me of the destruction of the Giottos in St. Francis of Assisi, which made me weep. It was not taken well by the Shenandoah community either, and it seems like much that could have been salvaged was tossed. The church didn't go down without a fight either, one of the demolition crew was killed in the process.

It's so strange to find all this out. I had really wanted to visit that church. Demolition started late last year, a little after I nearly accidentally ended up in that state. It's almost like it was calling me, even hitting me over the head to get me to notice. For someone who claims to pay attention to synchronicity I obviously still need a lot of practice.

I've started digging, hoping to find someone who can direct me to any pieces that were preserved. I think I feel an irrational obsession coming on of finding a way to touch a piece of this church. Andrew Popalis has a great photo album of the church and the town in the early 1900s here.

Addendum: I did end up in Pennsylvania last year once, of all things, to go-go dance for a surf party at a competitive equestrian driving event, which in itself was highly unusual, and go-go dancing started for me in part because of Coney Island, another place being destroyed on my heritage tour. I think my white go-go boots still have the mud from PA.

The strange webs we weave. Below, Francis painting an unknown church.

fan art

2010-03-10T23:25:00.006-05:00

It's by far the best thing ever to get mail from kids saying your book inspired them. This one is especially great, from an elementary student in Connecticut, who made a 3-d shadow box of the opening page of Aziza's palace. Even the envelope was covered in drawings of One Riddle One Answer, and it definitely made me a little teary eyed.

brave

2010-03-07T03:23:00.004-05:00

Just finished the next wood painting in time for Illustration Friday.

Chiru

2010-03-03T23:57:00.001-05:00

Another spread from The Chiru of High Tibet by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, coming this fall.