Well, my daughters are going back to their different schools tomorrow which makes me a little sad. I love having them home.... We'll get back to 'normal' soon but it's always a little hard when they leave.
I've been working on the horizonal format with my work and instead of creating 'totems', which has been interesting, they are looking and feeling more like books. I've been stitching pieces of thai bird's nest (tbn) paper together and then cutting the stitching open in order to see inside the 'book'. Inside the 'book' is another piece of paper that has metal pieces glued onto it. I'm finding, at least for myself, a mystery within the book by covering the metal. The metal pieces are not very visible, you really have to look inside to see what they are. That doesn't bother me because I'm trying to achieve that mystery, that ellusive quality that collage sometimes offers.
With one of the 'books' I'm using gold and iridescent white for the covers and red for the inside. The combination of colors evokes for me a sense of heaven and humanity. The stitching is with raffia grass which gives it a fun texture. I haven't decided which colors to use for my next book; I have a feeling it will be a darker one. I'm drawn to the darker palette although I do love the metalic colors.
I use metal lids from food cans for my work. I age them by burning them and then rusting them in salt water, although not every lid is rusted at this point. It hit me tonight that these lids are a very humble object - something that people just throw away without a second thought. Fr. Bill Moore, SS.CC. spoke at APU last summer and mentioned how he uses materials of the lowest denominator and I realized that these lids fall within that catagory too. The redemptive act of transforming these lowly pieces into art is so similar to what God does in our lives - when we let Him. The creative act itself joins with the creativity of the Maker of the Universe. Not that I would equate myself or any other artist for that matter as equal with the Creator, but engaging in the creativity that we've been given as humans mirrors that of the Father.
I'll post pics of them as soon as I get a good photo of them. I'm sending one of them with my pieces to APU for review from my committee. Hopefully, they will like them. I'm fascinated with them right now and find them engaging. I haven't forgotten about the totems - I have some of them in the works as well.
Well, that's it for now... take care, enjoy, and God bless.
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