2026 11 Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone

Here is yet another substrate based project I took with me to Make What Ya Brung in Shake Rag Alley, Mineral Point, WI.

This substrate is a round wood charcuterie board with some challenges--the surface is not smooth. That is why I wanted to try it: how hard will it be to get my images to lay on the board.

To paper mache the board I used pattern paper and an iron rusted coffee filter. 

Every collage begins with an audition of the potentiality of images.

At Shake Rag, this is as far as the project got. So, when I got home, I worked to finish the piece.

Thus we have Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. The title comes from a song by Lucinda Williams. It is a 16" Round, 2"D. It consists of a Round Charcuterie Board, Bone, Collage and Paint.

2026 11 For All I Know the Rest of My Life Is Taking Flight

This project came about when I gathered some objects to take with me to Shake Rag Alley for Make What Ya Brung, a gathering of art buddies who meet twice a year to work on whatever we want to. 

When I select an object like this cabinet door it is specifically to provide a smooth substrate to collage on. 

This is as far as I got at Shake Rag Alley. At home I was able to complete the project by working on the details.

Thus we have For All I Know the Rest of My Life Is Taking Flight. It is 15"H X 16"W X 4"D. It consists of a Cupboard Door, Metal Toy Airplane, Toy Plane Propeller, Knob, Collage, Paint. The title comes from a poem by Henri Cole called Young Tom’s Room.

2026 11 The Manic Dust Of My Friends, Those Who Fell Along The Way, Bitterly Stings My Face

In an earlier post I talked about a workshop with Leighanna Light that taught the process of gesso transfers. When I got home I worked on this substrate and box for the image I created. 

This weird little tray probably was one of a few that made up a bigger tray for charcutier.

The substrate selected was this old file tray

I covered the plastic so that it could be painted

Cady Wells' photography of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Frieda Lawrence (D. H. Lawrence's wife ) & Dorothy Brett.

Thus we have The Manic Dust Of My Friends, Those Who Fell Along The Way, Bitterly Stings My Face. It is 13"H X 10"W X 3"D. It consists of a File Drawer, Plastic Tray, Jewel, Tin, Gesso Transfer, Collage, and Paint. The title comes from Stanley Kunitz's poem called The Layers.

2026 11 A Musical Note Never Changing Goes Unheard

Always on the look out for found objects that can make a good substrate, I was happy to find this banjo ukulele for only $20.

In a class held by Karen Robison at Shake Rag Alley we learned how to tea dye paper. I rolled a vintage glove into a batch I made and it gave me this ghostly image which proved perfect for this project. 

The original banjo had four strings but when I re-strung the instrument with waxed linen thread I only had room for three.

Thus we have A Musical Note Never Changing Goes Unheard. It is 20"H X 8"W X 2"D. It consists of a Banjo Ukulele, Beads, Tea Dyed Paper, Waxed Linen Thread, and Paint.

2026 11 Projecting in Turns onto the Screen of Being

Since I took a workshop in Washington state at Bellisima Arts with Gary and Mary Ann Carlson I have been trying to be a little less symmetrical and more asymmetrical in my art making.

This pieces was constructed with that in mind. It started with this cool tool which is a screwdriver you can use to get around something in the way of diving in a screw. I felt the tool lent itself to the asymmetry I was looking for. 

I also bought a huge map for only $1 at a church rummage sale and I am starting to use it up.

I decided that even the collage would try to take part in the asymmetry.

Thus we have Projecting in Turns onto the Screen of Being. It is 13"H X 12"W X 2"D. It consists of two Cradled Boards, Angled Screwdriver, Tacks, Collage, Paint.

This piece is my submission to the Museum of Wisconsin Art's 2026 Membership Show hanging in late 2026.

2026 11 Somewhere In the White Space Between Sight and Sightlessness

Leighanna Light

Back in September I blogged about a workshop I took at Shake Rag Alley with Leighanna Light (https://artthou-gniebuhr.blogspot.com/2026/09/2026-09-spirit-protectors-metal.html). Today I am blogging about the project I did there which I am calling Somewhere In the White Space Between Sight and Sightlessness.

The process we learned was transferring an image using gesso onto tin. At Shake Rag, this was as far as I got.

The substrate was a lantern I picked up at a vintage store. I decided it need a shrine shape behind enhanced by a fork. When I got home, it was time to figure out how all this stuff was going to hang together.

All the parts at home ready to go

My #1 starting point is to figure out how this thing is going to hang

This image came from Leighanna

Thus we have Somewhere In the White Space Between Sight and Sightlessness. It is 18"H X 5"W X 4"D. It consists of a Lantern, Iron Rest, Fork, Jewelry, Wheels, Tin Lid, Collage. The title comes from a poem by Kwame Dawes called Horns.

2026 10 Coach Potato In Space

I found the weirdest frame in the world: a couch. In messing around with it I decided to add an astronaut (do not ask me why).

Then this sat around in my basement stash for awhile before I got a second wind on this project. 

I decided that this project would be mounted on a mink stretcher board substrate.

Every assemblage project I do goes through an audition phase where various objects come out of their storage boxes to see the light of day--some stay, some go back in the box. 

This is the point in the design that I knew I needed a potato. 

Thus we have Coach Potato In Space. It is 37"H X 25"W X 6"D. It consists of Couch Frame, Wood Round, Wood Mink Stretcher, Wood Shape, Wood Boards, Plastic Airplane, Electrical Dial, Aves Clay Potato, Paper, Paint, Collage.