2024 09 This Land Is Your Land

Every once in awhile a piece really surprises me as it works its way towards completion. This piece began with an old wood shelf that I added a foam core back to so that it was more box-like.

I found an old postcard of what could be a settler of the American West. As I studied the photo I thought about how we try so hard to forget the genocide that was a part of the settling of the American West. Pretty early in the process (which is not always true when I am designing an assemblage), I knew what the message was going to be with this piece.

The song This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie came to mind. I have great respect for the social activism of Guthrie and the impact of his music but it shows how from the European perspective, things can be overlooked for the convenience of "progress."

The photograph went into a frame created from an old tin box. I decided that some handmade paper could represent the idea of the sod house on the prairie (although this is not a sod house in the photograph).

I really underestimated the amount of paper it would take to fill this shelf. Good thing over the years I had made plenty of paper from various sources so I had enough to do the trick. 

As it turned out, every attempt I made to include some symbolic item to represent the disappeared Indigenous Peoples just ended up looking like appropriation. I decided to just let this coyote skull be the lone representative of the missing. 

The literalness of the broom is fine: the true history of the American West is swept away everyday.

Thus we have This Land Is Your Land. It is 40"H X 13"W X 9"D. It consists of a Wood Shelf, Humo Metal Cigar Box, Postcard, Recycled Paper Hand Made Paper, Fern Kona and Abaca Hand Made Paper, Fern Kona and Hosta Hand Made Paper, Dryer Lint Hand Made Paper, Egg Carton and Abaca Hand Made Paper, Unknown Material Hand Made Paper, Corrugated Cardboard, Foam Core and Cougar Skull.

2024 09 We Dance From Memory Because It’s Here On Loan

Occasionally when I am junking my wife Denice is along and I use her as a soundboard. When I saw this piece in an antique store while we were shopping I initially rejected it because of the price. But when I pointed out its potential to Denice she encouraged me not to leave it behind.

It was easier to take the Pitt Space Heater apart then I thought. Because collage was the goal from the minute I saw this piece it was necessary to prepare the metal surface to take paper. 

The space heater's floral central element was another feature that attracted me to this structure.

Thus we have We Dance From Memory Because It’s Here On Loan. The title comes from a poem called The Art Of Clay by Duane Niatum. It is 17"H X 14"W X 11"D. It is made up of a Pitt Corporation Space Heater, Paper and Paint.

2024 08 Both the Prophecy and the Ambush of Hearing It

 

One of the things all artists need to learn is that the original idea for a piece may not be what eventually becomes your art project. 

I have long been a fan of the assemblages by Kris Kuksi from Kansas. The amount of artistry in just one piece of his is overwhelming. I thought: well, let's give this a try. 

I got this toy military helmet set at a flea market because...well, who wouldn't?

After seeing an exhibition at the Grohmann (Milwaukee School of Engineering) that used foundry sand mold forms, I have been drawn to use the ones that I have in my stash. 

Here is how I decided my Kuksi-inspired piece would begin. 

This old cabinet drawer would be the substrate

I thought this shelf would make a cool god-like overseer to the central figure

Never underestimate what ridiculous stuff can be used in your piece

These plastic hands were at the Dollar Store

The whole Kuksi thing went out the window pretty quick. I did manage to get a few figures on the helmet lion but I never could conceptualize the style so I just went back to me. 

Stencils were used to decorate the side of the cabinet

Thus we have Both the Prophecy and the Ambush of Hearing It. The title comes from Hala Alyan's poem, Relapse Dream Ending With My Grandmother’s Hands. The piece is 27"H X 16"W X 11"D and pretty darn heavy! It consists of a Drawer, Shelf, Wood Foundry Sand Casting Form, Earrings (2), Bocce Balls (2), Metal Folding Basket, Toy Military Helmet, Doll Head, HO Figurines (3), Plastic Hands (2), Eyes (2), Ceramic Figure, Muskrat Skull, Jewelry Findings (2), Metal Finding, Cotton, Rust Dyed Paper, Paper and Paint.

2024 08 Isla de las Muñecas

This project began with the online assemblage class taught by Michael de Meng called Fractured Fairytales. I decided that my story was going to be based on Mexico's Isla de las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls) that I had a chance to visit in 2016 on a Michael de Meng workshop in Mexico City. 

The island now known as Isla de las Muñecas today is in the water channels south of Mexico City at Xochimilco. The original owner of the island was Don Julián Santana Barrera.

The legend is that Barrera discovered a drowned girl in the canal. The next day he found her doll floating in the river and hung it as tribute to the dead girl. To ward off bad juju, he continue to add to the doll collection.

By 1943, the location was famous enough to make it into the film María Candelaria by director Emilio Fernández. 

The legend continued to build when in 2001, at the age of 80, he drowned supposedly in the spot where he found the girl. 

To reach the island today you ride in a trajineras which is rowed by a pilot.

Barrera's survivors continue to operate the location as a tourist attraction. Part of the ritual of visiting the island now is to hear a survivor of Barrera tell the eerie tale of the island while sitting in front of the founder.

Of course, the highlight of the trip is the dolls strewn around the island.

Michael's hopes for our project in the Fractured Fairytale workshop was to make a number of panels that would illustrate your choice. I decided that the structure of an old clock would give me the three spaces that I was looking for. 

The clock, a wood boat and what I believe might be a glass cigarette ashtray

I had to add two river beds to the clock

The trees were made out of rebar wire

The bark was made out of paper mache

Warning: if you ever decide to use a dremel on a plaster item, DO IT OUTSIDE

I decided to incorporate this photograph of the island's guide that I took in 2016. 

The lowest panel of this piece appropriately represents the original drowning victim found by Don Julián Santana Barrera. I used resin to create the water.

The middle part of this piece represents the slow ride down the channel to Isla de las Muñecas.

Each boat on the river has a name

The top part of the piece and the trees are representative of the absolutely magnificent dolls of Isla de las Muñecas.

Thus we have Isla de las Muñecas. It is 21"H X 22"W X 8"D. It consists of a Clock Body, Plaster Doll Head, Photograph, Wood Boat, Glass Cigarette Ash Tray, Artificial Flowers, Toy Cowboy, Plastic Baby Dolls (16), Resin, Plaster Cast, Paper Mache  and Paint.