This is a tree in the backyard of where I am staying in South Carolina. When I first saw the tree I thought the depth and regularity of the holes were made by a person. And if they were made by a person, does that make it art?
The holes were made by a woodpecker.
I think the surface is beautiful. It brought to mind images of coins inserted into the bark of wishing trees and the story of pigs teeth inserted in a tree in the film Howards End.
I dislike travel. I like to visit people and see sites different from where I live. It is the getting there that I dislike, especially when the getting there requires flying commercial.
I hate strangers touching my personal stuff. It totally creeps me out. They wear gloves, but where have those gloved hands been??? And why is it that every single time my checked bag is searched?
One TSA fellow told me that the books that filled my bag looked dense and similar to explosives. I stopped buying and packing books in my bag. Nothing changed, my bag was still searched.
When I travelled through Columbus, Ohio last year I had my first experience with x-ray. And of course to remove my shoes and to take my laptop out of my bag.
Here’s the thing–shortly out of grad school I taught art sessions at Atascadero State Hospital, a maximum security facility. We were put through safety training and at the end a board of confiscated weapons was brought out for a look. The idea was to show us that a patient could make a weapon out of nearly nothing.
Do I feel safe because everyone is required to take off their shoes when I know a pencil or a toothbrush in the wrong hands can cause great damage?
I subscribe to a few blogs because often the posted images of furry ones make me smile.
And a couple of images of my furry roommates–
Nathanael “Big Baby”
Nora
I went to grad school at WSU in Pullman, Washington. One of the first people I met was
Tim Timmerman. We became friends right off, and still are after 20 some years.
While I was cleaning and clearing, I ran across the pink rabbit Tim used as a model for one of the pieces in his grad show. I liked the piece quite a lot. I asked if I could have only the bit with the rabbit painting. The piece was quite large and I didn’t have a place for it. One day a print of the rabbit bit arrived. What a great and thoughtful gift.
There is a tad more to the pink rabbit story. Tim and I would go junking together and on one of our excursions, Tim found the pink rabbit. It was such an enjoyable day.
While removing some of the chaos of possessions from my life, I packed up almost all of the bunny items that I have collected over the years. Couldn’t pack up the pink rabbit. So, I gave him a shelf under the print of the painting.
I was so delighted to find a very cool sketch of a bunny on Tim’s website.
I recently wrote a post about finding Casemaking Moths in my studio. Finding the moths was rather perfect timing. I had planned to eliminate some of my stuff. I knew that would be a difficult task because I have the habit of collecting loads of “potential” art materials for “someday.”
After reading several posts about lessening chaos and removing clutter on Zenhabits and Discardia, I liked the idea of photographing unused or sentimental items and then discarding them. That was until I began looking through and touching the past.
I was able to remove 17 boxes of books from my shelves. The shelves didn’t stay empty. I now have a clean place to store some of my small completed pieces.
I found a folder of newspaper articles that was labeled, “Odd.” The first article had the headline, Chicken With Prosthetic Legs Mauled by Dog. The other headlines were just as unusual, hence “Odd.”
There was a folder of items about artists. I made a pile of articles on artists that I liked quite a lot to google. A couple of favorite artists–
Marsha Pels’ Solstice still excites the heck out of me.
The article about Kate Hunt’s work had an image of Marriage (For Todd) Torrington dated 1997. She made newspaper and bailing twine into something beautiful. When I visited her website I found Trophy.
The piece has the addition of steel, encaustic, and boat building epoxy. I wonder how it smells?
Back to cleaning and clearing–an interesting thing occurred. I am from the generation when you had stacks of slides to document your work. What should I do with all of the slides that I haven’t digitized? I am thinking that it would be a waste of time to digitize most of the really old work. Potential art materials?
I have always been a compulsive note taker. I have all of my notes from all of my art classes that I took and taught. Whenever I start a new series I spend a great deal of time researching. I have binders full of notes.
I use composition books for sketchbooks and go through them rather quickly. I always index the books but trying to find a particular sketch or code takes some time. I thought about scanning the sketchbooks and notes, but thought better of it.
Pretty sure that I am going to set up a camera and shoot them. That would be just like how folks of my generation shot images from books to use in class and for papers.
Nathanael, “Baby” hasn’t adjusted to the furniture change in the family room. He still sleeps in the same spot even though the sofa he liked to sleep under was moved.
I suspected that at some point, I would create the perfect environment for some type of insect. When you have loads of dried plant materials and fiber it is rather likely some critters will move in.
This is a detail of a work in progress. It would have been a cup made of wool and rayon that I just couldn’t manage to finish. The head of a straight pin is in the upper left of the photo, and the tip of a pin is next to the casemaking moth.
How Did I Find Moths?
I read an article that stated empty birds’ nests should be removed from around your house because casemaking moths might take up residence. I had a collection of nests containing little vignettes in my studio. When I checked them, I found casemaking moths. After the shock wore off, and the sinking feeling that everything in my studio might be destroyed; I methodically started the hunt for the critters. I discarded materials and several works in progress.
I did a test to see if I can save a piece if it is found to have moths. I soaked some works in progress that had been attacked by moths in vinegar for a couple of days, rinsed in water, and laid them in the sun. My hope is that if there were eggs, they were killed.
The vinegar soaking changed the appearance of the pieces. I bind fiber onto washers for use as coding components. The bottom row was soaked in vinegar. The washers are not the same type, but they have a similar composition. The fiber is wool that sustained a color change due to the oxidation of the metal. The change in color of the cream wool is not to my liking, so the solution would be to age the washers, then bind them.
If the same or similar result occurs the next time I use a vinegar bath, I’m pretty sure that I will use the technique in the future to age some pieces. It is simple and non-toxic.
I found the casemaker moths–
Some insects are attracted to a particular color, fragrance or pheromone, or a location. I did not find a pattern or consistency in where they made their homes.
And it does not seem to matter if the fiber was impregnated with wax or shellac. It may be too early to tell, but I do not think that they took up residence in or on any of my work that was treated with salt.
This is the edge of a piece of foam core that I used for a photo set-up.
For More Information From Reliable Sources–
Casemaking Clothes Moth AgriLife Extension Texas A&M
Clothes Moths by Mike Potter, Extension Entomologist, University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture
Clothes Moths University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources, Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program