2026 08 Whirling In the Circus of the Empty Hope

 I finally managed to finish my project from the Michael deMeng workshop at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI, called Circus of the Curious and the Misbegotten. A previous blog about that experience has already been posted.

Here is the process I went through to participate in the workshop and then complete the project at home. 

First the base. Originally it was supposed to be a record player but that did not work so I went to a lazy susan for the base as I always conceived this as the center ring of a circus--that would spin.

Before I left for Shake Rag I assembled a bunch of stuff to make my circus come to life. 

Now it is time to build the characters who will populate the center ring.

At the base of the circus tent I used a ring of Chinese terracotta soldiers to stand in as the circus clowns. 

Every circus has a Ring Master so I decided to repurpose an Alexander Hamilton bobble doll as mine.

I had to make him a hat...

...which promptly ended his bobbling days and made his head stare at the ground!

The Ring Master of Ceremonies

Some characters either were altered from their original concept or dropped altogether. The Cyclops never made it into the center ring.

Stretch did not get off the drawing board either.

There was a brief moment that Stretch was going to have an elephant head--but I gave a nod to a different character.

L-aerialist

My original idea for this character was to have a tiger act figure.

I'm glad I switched him to a lion act.

Leo the Human Tamer

This character had a more direct route to the center ring.

Iron Hippo

Without Cyclops or Stretch, I had to come up with some new acts for the center ring when I got home from Shake Rag Alley.

Victor Trapeze

...and it spins!

Thus we have Whirling in the Circus of Empty Hope. The title for this piece comes from the poem In The Middle Of This Phrase by Octavio Paz. It is 24"H X 18"W X 18"D. It consists of Wooden Lazy Susan, Lampshade, Circus Rattle, Shaker Rattle, Clock Body, Chinese Terracotta Soldiers Statute,  Wood Post, Alexander Hamilton Bobblehead, Between the Lines Tin Cigar Case, Plastic Elephant, Spiderman Action Figure, Metal Ring, Carved Wood Pilgrim, Plastic Lion, Hulk Figurine, Plastic Hippopotamus, Balls, Nasty Boys Wrestling Figure, Victor Mousetrap, Simpsons The Yes Guy Figure, Plastic Dog, Plastic Wheels, Plastic Signs, Rebar Wire, Clay, Paper and Sari Ribbon.

2026 07 Gonntage

The third and last project I started in the Gary and Mary Ann Carlson workshop at Bellissima Art Escapes in Port Orchard, WA, was inspired by a work of Gary Carlson's art hanging in the workshop.

This piece is only about 4" tall and is made up of a few found objects. I decided that in the down time between the two major projects I could work on something equally elegant.

I had brought a paint scraper from home in my stash and that I decided would be my substrate. I did not take any pictures of this one in Port Orchard but it came together rather quickly. The angular piece of metal gave the whole piece the asymmetry I was training on. The tin type (also something I brought from home) started to give me the story I wanted.

When I got home I found the bag of text I had hauled to Washington but never used. However, in that bag was remnants of an old German bible and I selected the text because it fit in the physical space I need and was cool graphics. I was stunned to learn the meaning of this word (according to Wikipedia): Gonntage (German) translates to Indulgence Days, and it added "In Roman Catholicism, an indulgence day historically refers to a specific number of days (e.g., 40 days, 300 days) deducted from a soul's temporal punishment in Purgatory after a forgiven sin."

Not sure what these two men were up to but evidently their sins are forgiven.

Thus we have Gonntage (Indulgence Days). It is 11"H X 6"W X 1"D. It consists of Wood Handled Paint Scraper, Tin Type, Metal Findings, Watch Part, Bottle Cap, Text, Sari Ribbon.

2026 07 Cradle Song

This blog is about the second piece I made at the Gary and Mary Ann Carlson workshop at Bellissima Art Escapes in Port Orchard, WA.

This was how my first piece began at the workshop. 

When the workshop started, the two wings on this audition were a one piece wood tray I purchased in an antique store somewhere on this trip (again: you can never, never, never have enough stuff). Sawed in half, I thought this would add the asymmetry I was learning about in this workshop. But I just felt it did not work and the first piece went in a different direction (please see the previous blog for that story).

I set to work on project two and did not waste the tray wings. 

Asymmetry in action

This is as far as the substrate got in Port Orchard

These are all the parts I shipped home from Bellissima. On the last day there I did have time to paint up a white plaster bust of Brahms which started to give me a story for this one. 

The sheet music

The record player

Final Brahms

The record player gets hooked up

The record's tracks

Thus we have Cradle Song. It is