My Bipolar Brain Project…

I spent a lot of quality time with my Brain last week. I have been gluing and gluing and gluing objects onto the “depression” side of my brain. The best news is that I can finally see the light at the end of the very black tunnel. That’s important when you spend hours upon hours gluing black painted objects into a sea of black felt. Now I finally have everything affixed to a first approximation on the depressive side. And so on Friday I did a little victory dance at Stone Belt. I still have to make another pass with my fine-tip glue gun to tighten all the connections and test that everything is securely attached, but oh does it feel good to be approaching done on that part of the Brain project!

The most exciting (and somewhat concerning!) aspect of my efforts this week involved crawling inside my brain. I need to attach some 18” butterflies and the structure of lithium citrate to the surface in a way that lets them float above the brain. That involved projecting rods (maybe picture bolts) from the surface. To secure them I needed to be inside the brain to add the washers and nuts and secure everything with epoxy. That’s when I called upon my two Joes (usually it’s Toms in my life). Joe from Stone Belt drove the forklift to pick up the brain, while Joe LaMantia, public artist extraordinaire, helped me position the brain to raise it safely. It’s hard to watch the art piece you’ve invested hours and hours into creating being picked up by two big metal tines that don’t have much respect for felted flowers. When it was safely lifted onto a raised shelf I crawled inside and held the bolts in place while Joe LaMantia added the washers and nuts on the outside to secure them. I have uploaded a short movie to load so you can live the moment with me, thanks to my iPhone.

Once inside the brain I realized how interesting it was, mostly because of the textures. It was too dark to get good pictures, but the fiberglass material has kind of a cotton candy look and feel to it. Of course one dares not touch it for fear of picking up glass splinters. I certainly loaded up on personal protection, donning glasses, a mask, a balaclava, and full artist body armor (OK, a turtleneck). Bonnie Gordon-Lucas was there to snap a picture of me for posterity as I entered. Once inside, I found surface features of mountain rows opposite the furrows on the outside, so it has a silent landscape all its own.

Back on the surface of the brain, I created a second vine and attached both of my vines this week. I really like the effect it gives. I feel like it adds more dimension to the piece, with more visual interest. It accentuates different parts of the piece that I’ve already created. One of the interesting aspects of building up the surface features of the brain has been working in the community of brain artists at Stone Belt. I was getting pretty wrapped up in my own thoughts because I work with the brain so intimately, trying to develop my original vision. It can be hard to pull yourself back and look at the composition critically. I’m fortunate to have friends like Bonnie, who gave me some important advice about not overworking the piece. It’s easy to get so physically and emotionally close to the piece, especially as you work on a deadline, that you forget to step back to look at the whole of the creation. Bonnie and Robyn helped me decide that my plan to put three vines on the brain would have been too much. With two vines you get to have a little peaceful meadow on the green side. That brought back a conversation I had with Dawn Adams recently about incorporating regions of calmness in art pieces as you fill up the space. You just need to have some mental breathing room in some areas. I’m just really happy with how it’s turning out! Next week I should be able to complete the butterflies and chemical formulas to complete the floating elements. I’m really happy to have the support and help of the Poynter Sheet Metal Center in town for creating several of the steel structures I’m using—they are an unexpected and very helpful support group. Now I finally feel like I’m on the other side of the process, where I’m beyond the creation stage and the feeling of being overwhelmed - that it will never come together—it definitely will. I’m in the home stretch, and it feels great!!

In family news, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one who had big projects coming due. Jacob participated in his classroom’s county fair project. He studied Lake County, Indiana. He created an elaborate, three-dimensional sculpture of the county courthouse. That went along with his poster and write-up about county features. We even baked a recipe for ‘plain cake’ that he got from the county historian of Lake County. We baked three big, BIG loaves, which I cut up into small pieces and brought in on a big serving dish. They were very popular in the class. It’s cool to bring in cake! The only leftovers were a set of handmade bookmarks that he printed in color, cut and decorated with a ribbon to be used as prizes. If you have use for some nice bookmarks let me know! Tommie had his own big project as part of the sixth grade class studying aspects of World War II. It’s a huge event where they all make posters and projects, and they bring in veterans who served in the war to tell about their experiences. Tommie studied the Manhattan project, learning all about the development and use of the atomic weapons used at the end of the war. He made and painted elaborate sculptures of the two bombs, which drew in a lot of students to ask questions about the project. I’m just super proud of both of them for carrying themselves so well during the expositions of their work, and for putting so much effort and dedication into their projects! Good job, boys!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Pie, brains and Shakespeare

My week started out on a high note—Jim baked me an apple pie! Who knew! It was really good, too. There’s nothing better than a fresh slice of pie to go with my morning espresso after an hour of Zumba in the morning. The Mutsu apples freeze nicely, so it’s on my summer list to make sure Jim freezes lots of them when he’s done with peaches. The even better news is that I’ll probably get another pie next week when we see Jim’s mom. We bought her a beautiful red deep-dish pie plate for Christmas and she’s planning on a rhubarb pie.

Most of my art week efforts were focused on my brain project. I’ve been gluing lots of dark objects on the depressive side of my brain to showcase facets of the disease. I’ve got clocks that stand still while you’re depressed, black roses and birds, and black pill bottles, all spray-painted black on the veranda. I made a trip to the Recycle Center to pick up black wine corks and beer caps to connect the abuse of alcohol with depression. To balance my efforts on the dark side I’ve been needle felting giant butterflies to float over my flowers on the euphoric side. I also began creating the giant vines that will be growing from the euphoric side to the depressive side by wrapping bailing wire with green yarn that will eventually transition to black. The giant green tendrils have engulfed my art studio and me—it’s a little out of control. The last major project has been to assemble the superstructures that will elevate the butterflies and other objects above the brain surface. I’ve been drilling holes in the brain to embed steel rods that are secured by bolting them at the inner and outer surfaces. I managed to secure some spring steel rods, thanks to Poynter Sheet Metal, to attach the butterflies. I’m excited about using the rods because it will give them a little bounce and movement.

I’ve also had a busy family and social calendar this weekend. Friday night we went to watch a black belt test at Monroe County Martial Arts. The boys have trained with Phoebe, the youngest girl ever to receive a black belt there, for as long as they have trained. She did an awesome job with all her kicks and techniques, and when it came to the grueling sparring rounds at the end, she still had enough left over to get in some kicks to the head of her black belt sparring partners. After a busy Saturday we went to see a production of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, put on by the IU theater department. I’ve seen the conventional version so many times, but this version promised to be lighter and more accessible. I persuaded my family that it would be fun, so off we all went. Puck was played by a woman, which was something new for me. She did such a fabulous job that it quickly erased my stereotype for the role and gave a whole new flavor to the performance. All of the characters were so vibrant and well developed that the story just came to life. I just love the Shakespearian English. The dialogue is at once powerful, colorful and poetic, evoking such vivid images. It was just an amazing performance, and everyone enjoyed the night out.

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Bloom and brains but still no pie

The Bloom magazine’s Local Artist Showcase was the focal point of my art week. Malcolm Abrams, the editor and publisher of Bloom, and his group put together an excellent event. I was especially pleased by how well promoted and attended the show was. We had the perfect convergence of events on Saturday. The weather was mild enough to get everyone out of the house, and the crowds were ready to see some fresh art after a long winter. Gosh, I haven’t gotten to chitty-chatty like that since the Unitarian Universalist show last year in December! I sure hope this becomes an annual event! I even found a lovely scarf from a Martinsville artist. By wearing it I think I managed to get two more sales for her after a city meeting last night.

Of course my other projects had to keep moving along. I had Tom Bertolacini, my photographer, come by to capture images of my recently completed weavings. I’m hoping to translate some of the images into a new set of note cards. I think my ‘Flowers for Mom’ piece and some of my bike-themed pieces are good choices.

I also spent part of the week finishing my Trashion/Refashion outfits. This year my son Jacob is participating too. He designed an outfit that I’m helping him put together. I don’t want to ruin the surprise with pictures, but after the images are submitted for jurying Thursday I’ll include them in my blog.

Last, my giant brain project is advancing. I found a bunch of Valentines Day decorations that were on sale (90% off) so I snapped them up and spray-painted the hearts black. I know that that sounds creepy – and it is. I also searched through my collection of found objects and pulled out some other appropriate objects to paint black, including an old watch and a doll. It’s moving a little slowly because I can only deal with the happy objects turned black for an hour or two each day. So much life is drained out of the objects when you paint them black, and that just isn’t who I am. To balance things out I spent some time working on butterflies for the euphoric side of the brain. They will be suspended over the enormous flower garden on the right side of the brain. I have until April seventh and I feel good about what I’ve gotten accomplished so far. It’s really nice working at Stone Belt because I get to interact with other artists. When I’m in my art studio I only have my own thoughts to keep me moving along. I’m very productive, but it isn’t as much fun as being surrounded by a group of supportive artist friends.

Let’s see, what else isn’t happening in my life that should, and very soon. I’m thinking pie! Aren’t there apples in the freezer, ready to go? Some of those really nice, big Mutsus from the fall Farmer’s market?

Jim?

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

More art, less brain and my third anniversary.

I buckled down this week and focused on studio art. This Saturday (February 25^th) is Bloom magazine’s Local Artists Showcase at the Convention Center. The show will run from 11 am – 5 pm and I plan to have some brand new pieces to display. I laid down a layer of skin on my hand this week –my felted hand, that is - and called it complete. I added the dandelion bouquet and attached the hand to the background piece. As often happens, when I saw it all together I realized it needed a little something more. I wanted to convey the sense of the hand and dandelions breaking through a background of more traditional bouquet flowers, so I created and added a few more background flowers behind the hand. As I looked at the completed piece I decided that I knew its name: Flowers for Mom. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I also worked on a nature piece that’s been coming together in my mind. It will include some summer birches by a lake, and probably bicycling to the lake to sit and watch the water. I’ve been weaving the background and crocheting leaf clumps out of the mohair boucle I dyed a couple of weeks ago. I wrapped some old shoelaces, string and cord with yarn to create the birch bark tree trunks. To create the smaller branches I’ve used some grey alpaca from Cathy Crosson. I’m close to finishing the bike piece, but I’m still waiting for it to tell me its name.

Of course my brain at Stone Belt is never far from my conscious thought these days. I visited to attach some spray painted letters to the dark side this week. WTIU, our local public television station, came to videotape the work in progress, so I put in an appearance when they filmed. This week the Louisville examiner is coming to town to do some interviews so interest in the project is starting to spread beyond Bloomington.

My big adventure this week was a trip to Indianapolis to be fingerprinted by the naturalization people. Jim came with me for moral support, applying a stern eye to the humorless guard on duty. The interaction with him would have gone better if I didn’t bring my Swiss army knife in my purse. Much like the airports, weapons are frowned upon in federal buildings. Jim ran it back to the car while I was admitted to wait. Even though we came an hour early they took me right away and I breezed through the process. It was all remarkably painless. They gave me a big brochure with information to study for the next stage of the process, the civics test - one hundred questions about American history, government and geography. At least once a day Tommie pulls it out and asks if I want to try the test. I think I started out at about seventy five percent accuracy (sixty percent is a pass). I do better every time I try and I still haven’t read the booklet! All I know is that there will be a big party when it’s all over (right Jim?)!

On a final note, this is the third anniversary of the blog. The first two visitors came by on February 17, 2009. Since then, the blog has had around seven thousand visits from 106 countries and all fifty states! Thanks to everyone for stopping by.

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Valentine’s Day: Pie, chocolate and brains

Yesterday morning was Valentine’s Day. I woke to the alarm and skipped off to my 6:30 a.m. Zumba class through an inch of fresh snow. When I came home I was in for a few surprises! Jim baked me a delightful pie using Mutsu apples. They were bought at the farmer’s market, sliced up and frozen away until now—a little bit of autumn in the winter. My boys made me Valentine’s Day cards too, with chocolate candies taped inside. They tell me I’m the best Mom ever! My day was off to a good start. After a day of art and housework I settled into the couch in front of a nice fire to warm my bones while I needle felted the final details on the hand that holds my bouquet of dandelions. Last week I described this in more detail, but basically the bouquet will stand out in front of a green background covered with colorful felted flowers. I finished the dandelions a few days ago and photographed them in a special vase from Kathey Gibson, a good friend from Kawkawlin, Michigan. I still need to add the layer of skin to the hand before I can assemble the parts, but I’m really pleased with the hand and how the piece is coming together.

I can’t talk about art these days without mentioning my giant fiberglass brain at Stone Belt. Last week I finished attaching all the flowers to the green side of the brain. I still need to create vines and butterflies to give that side of the piece more depth and movement. The green side is intended to showcase the eurphoric aspects of bipolarism. My understanding, and what I’m going for, is to create an information overload that goes beyond pretty valleys and images and creates an intense, palpable, almost overwhelming experience. I also started work on the dark side of depression and despair as I move the rest of the piece forward. I covered the left hemisphere with mottled sections using black felts. I started to attach a few black objects to the dark side as well, including broken watches and compasses (time stands still and direction is lost), empty liquor bottles, wine corks, and pill bottles painted black (alcohol and drug abuse). I’m working on creating more dark objects to include by spray painting roses, birds in cages (thanks Cappi!) and dark angels . I’m going to add a few words I’m creating from cardboard castoff letters (thanks IU Geology department!), also painted black. I’ll use helplessness, depression, darkness, anger, and anything else that contributes to the depths of despair. I also intend to include black electrical cords to add movement and balance the green vines on the euphoric side. I’ll make the dark side additions permanent using silicone adhesive, which seems to work best for the range of materials I want to use.

The brain project also brought me a few minutes of fame across the Midwest this week. The Bloomington Herald-Times newspaper came and took pictures of the brains. They interviewed Joe LaMantia and me to get a flavor for what’s going on, and the article was picked up by the Associated Press. I saw that the article made it to papers and TV websites in Indianapolis, Chicago (the Tribune!) and Louisville. It even made it to Terre Haute and Brazil (Indiana). My life is complete. The local public television affiliate, WTIU, is scheduled to visit Friday to get some footage for TV. We’ll have to see if my brain makes it onto the little screen.

Of course the rest of my art projects don’t rest, even as the brains expand. I’m trying to finish off a few pieces I’ve been working on for the Bloom artist showcase on February 25^th. I even took on a new commission this week, due by early June, so life is full. I do take a little time out for myself (and Jim) these days. We went to the Sunday matinee performance of “The Boy in the Bathroom” at the Bloomington Playwright’s Project. Chad Rabinovitz and the cast put together another amazing and moving performance. We’re extremely fortunate to have him running the BPP, bringing together both the artistic and business aspects of the venture together into a successful and vibrant home for new plays. I’m sure we’ll be back sometime soon!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Dyeing and drying green…

It has been a very green week. Most people do spring cleaning when the weather gets nice—I do my annual green dyeing fest. It usually gives me enough green yarn to carry me through a year of verdant art. I pulled out my dye pots from Grandpa (thanks!) and filled them with greens I like. After the dyeing I drained the green yarns and spread them over a chair in the veranda. It looks very soft and inviting to sit in. When the weather turned cooler I moved everything downstairs to hang and dry more completely.

Speaking of turning things green, I spent a little quality time with my brain. If you aren’t up to speed on this project, I’m embellishing one of the 22 brains in Bloomington’s ‘Brain Extravaganza!’ It’s the brainchild of Jill Bolte-Taylor, pun intended. I met my brain at Stonebelt this week among a bunch of other brains. Mine is gong to represent my interpretation of bipolarism. The right hemisphere is now a lawn of green felt to be covered in flowers I created, and the theme is a floral euphoria. I spent a big block of time, at least when I wasn’t chatting with my friend Bonnie Gordon-Lucas working nearby, attaching felt to the right hemisphere of the brain. I’ve been collecting felt scraps for years, knowing I’d have a use for them someday, and now I do! I used up every last green scrap I had. I tested several glues along the way to see what works best to adhere the coarse resin brain surface to felt and discovered that good old white glue was the best. The good news, and bad news, is that I went through my entire collection of leftover white glue bottles. I started the project with two two-gallon bags full of partially used bottles of white glue; now I’m completely out. My husband thinks I’m going to stand outside the elementary school after classes and mug kids to get more. Have I said I’m big on reclaiming and recycling? The problem is that I don’t have enough glue to finish the dark side of my brain, so I see a trip to Pygmalion’s soon to pick up another gallon or so. If you can’t use recycled materials, buy them locally I say.

My own brain got to re-thinking my ‘Hilly Hundred’ piece this week. I decided that the green background I made isn’t persuasive enough to evoke the hilliness I want for the twelve bike wheels I just created. I need to play with some design ideas to make it more dimensional. I decided that the background I made would be perfect for a project I mentally composed about a year and a half ago. Of course I got sidetracked before completion, but now I’m back on the job. The vision is to have a hand holding a bouquet of dandelions above a diverse background of more traditional garden flowers. It speaks to the idea that things don’t need to be commercial or prized by society to have great value to a person. People think of dandelions as mundane weeds, but they provide the first real explosion of colors for the world in spring, whether you planted them or not. When my boys were little they would pick dandelions for me, which they saw as pretty. They just wanted to share flowers with me because they knew they made me happy. I still cherish the little yellow splashes of spring.

Art making never seems to completely fill my week. Thursday evening was the big grand re-opening of the Bloomington Playwright’s Project. Chad and Gabe and a whole bunch of volunteers have done an amazing job converting the theater from a dingy gray space into a warm inviting living room. It’s an accessible and inviting place to be. Part of the ceremony was the official unveiling of two art pieces that were intended to capture the spirit of the BPP and to be part of a permanent collection. Oliver Winery underwrote the commissions for two pieces (thanks Oliver!). Joel Washington, a terrific Bloomington artist, did one and the other was one of mine. I was delighted and honored to be included in the project and the re-opening ceremony. I’m very grateful to Chad for re-establishing the BPP as a Bloomington landmark and artistic treasure. His vision and energy were just what the place needed and demands.

And if that wasn’t enough for one week, on Friday night we were all off to Wonderlab for the aluminum pouring event. About a month ago my boys and I picked up sand molds and long nails for carving designs. The boys set to work almost immediately, scratching designs into the artificial sandstone medium. I put off my design until the day before the pour because I couldn’t decide on a subject. During my dyeing spree I went out into the veranda and the sun was shining, so I knew what I had to do! We watched them pour molten aluminum into the molds and buff the cooled products. While we waited, we had a nice macaroni and cheese dinner upstairs, care of Bloomingfoods, and did a little running around inside. The pieces turned out beautifully, and everyone involved was excited to participate in the process of creating the aluminum casts. It was a week of delightful experiences all around.

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Flowers on my brain…

It has been a busy week of art creation this week, but not much on project completion. I took a few big steps forward on my ‘Hilly Hundred’ piece—I wove the entire green background. I wasn’t sure about the color palette that I wanted to develop for the bicycles, but while I was reading art magazines at bedtime I came across an image that solved my problem. It features a clock tower and a green pathway. I want to emulate the feel of the color combinations by featuring the green hills of southern Indiana and splashing on the colorful bicycle bodies. To create the bicycle wheels I’ve been collecting a bunch of old bangles from various garage sales and places such as Opportunity House. I’ll wrap these with silver yarn and wrap a black shoelace on the outside of the ring to create the bike tires. I like making bikes – it reminds me that spring is approaching!

On another front, I’m now fully committed to creating my ‘brain’ piece as part of the ‘brain art’ installment series around Bloomington. The project is being organized by Jill Bolte-Taylor and will feature embellished six-foot wide fiberglass brains at selected sites. I’ve been felting soft flowers for one side of the brain, and now I have four trays ready to attach. They’re all made out of scraps of wool and commercial felt bits that I’ve been collecting. I’m quite partial to a series of marigolds I’ve been creating and having fun with. I made a few of them at my art-associated meetings where my colleagues are used to watching my ‘voodoo’ art. That’s how they often describe my intense and incessant poking of small objects with felting needles. More recently I’ve been cutting fringes into strips of felt about a foot long. Then I roll them up to create the yellow marigolds. I always seem to learn something new when I start down a new road in art, and the marigolds are a fun offshoot of my ‘brain flowers’, and they blossomed from my holiday ‘Sweater Petals’ project.

The third piece that’s almost done now is my poppy weaving. I have been featuring the flower parts over the past few weeks (scroll down to see them) and I had hoped to complete it this week. My busy meeting schedule got in the way, however, so this week’s the charm for bringing the elements together.

In family news, my crew went to see Stomp! at the IU auditorium on Friday evening. It was wonderful to watch the boy’s reaction to the production. Tommie especially was engrossed by the percussion dance performance. He was bopping and tapping in his seat right beside me. And last night I was off to the ‘Art of Chocolate’ exhibit at the IU art museum. I juried two pieces into the show, so I got a free ticket to sample the special chocolate goodies they’ll have. I did manage to snag a few treats to bring home for the boys – Ooo, were they pleased !

Until next week…

Martina Celerin