Art news leads off my hectic week. I’ve been working hard on my ‘Home of My Own’ piece. I created the trowel, the peat pot and
the leaves, which completes essentially all of the components for the
piece. I just need to attach them
all together. I’m still poking at
the salamander for the ‘Goose Pond’ piece, and I’m still crafting my box turtle
for another piece. Both should be
finished soon. That got me
thinking about all of the craziness I’ve been involved in lately, including art
projects, brain displays, my citizenship process and other family projects. Injected into all the usual mayhem are
the periodic countdowns from my family reminding me that the school year is
coming to a close!
Soon we’ll be
heading to North Carolina for a calming family vacation. Of course that meant I needed to launch
into a beach piece! And when you
need to make a piece, you just need to make the piece, no matter what else is
on your agenda.
On the bright
side, the whole process has been very relaxing. I’m still torn about putting my original vision into the composition,
which featured a bonfire on the beach.
In my world there are two things you can stare at for hours—a bonfire
and a large body of water.
Combining the two just seemed like the right thing to do. Now I’m thinking I might just go for
some grasses on the beach and some teeny seashells so I could hear the ocean any
time I wanted to. As I created the
background dimensional weave for the piece I decided I really liked how the
dunes turned out, and how the piece draws your eyes into the far horizon.
My art wouldn’t hang on the wall without the frames that Tom
Bertolacini makes for me. This
week he dropped off a dozen standard size frames plus the giant frame (did I
say giant?) for my commission piece.
I immediately took advantage of some nice morning weather and launched
into finishing the frames. That
means puttying, sanding and staining the oak frames. I managed to get them all to a reasonable stopping point
before the afternoon rains set in on today. My plan is to seal them as soon as we have another low
humidity day. For the big
commission, I built the large custom loom I needed and warped it. I have my sand colored yarns at the
ready from my beach piece, and I’ll use them to create a path through some
woods.
This past weekend also featured the big launch party for the
Brains Extravaganza. It was
amazing to see all 22 completed brains together in one place. The morning featured a photo session,
but around noon the public came rolling in. And wow, did they ever! The place was packed, and fresh visitors just kept feeding
in. I’m told the parking lots were
packed all around the venue, which was Bloomington South High School. Just like some of my art fairs, it was
a fun chance for me to see people I just don’t run into over the rest of the
year. There were lots of hugs and laughs,
which made for a fun time. The
most sobering part was meeting several people who introduced themselves as
afflicted with bipolarism. They
shared some moving comments about the accuracy they found in the piece.
My brain is now settled in to its next
home at the main foyer of the Wells Library on campus. My inside sources tell me that it has
been well received by the library patrons.
Of course my personal life keeps me hopping, no matter what
else is happening. Jacob had his
Hip Hop Showcase at Panache studios with two performances this weekend. My brain reception went from ten until two
on Saturday, at which time we skipped over to Panache for the showcase. Jim had dropped Jacob off at 1, so he
was backstage ready to go. Jacob
did a fine job in his dance debut, as did all the kids in the performance. Jacob was very focused, involved and
enthusiastic. It was great
to see all their hard work come to fruition.
Thursday was our big day in Indianapolis when I had my
swearing in ceremony. Everything
went off without a hitch, and the judge welcomed seventy-one new citizens from
all over the world. I was struck
by how many nationalities were represented. I got hugs and kisses from everybody. That morning I woke up to the smell of
a pie made from farmer’s market rhubarb.
In the afternoon I received a beautiful bouquet of red, white and blue flowers
from Grandma. Thanks
everybody! I’ve been enjoying the flowers
and the pie for the past several days.
Oh, and one last note.
I’m featured in the current issue of Bloom magazine, and I’ll have my ‘Summer
Salad’ piece featured in the next issue in the Pammy’s Picks section. I was also selected to be a featured
artist at the Loring Park Art Fair in Minneapolis this August—here’s a link to
see what’s happening there. This
week I’ll register to vote AND apply for a passport! Now I can speak my mind, vote on it, and travel all over the
world to tell people about it.
Hooray!
Until next week…
Martina Celerin
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