Sticking it all together

This is my box of body parts from which I harvestthe bits and pieces that I need as I stick together my figures out of odds and ends. Selecting the right pieces takes a long time. Devising the right method of attachemnt of rubber to metal or wood to plastic and metal and cloth to metal etc etc also takes quite a bit of time but mostly needs experiience and the right glues and compounds. I use alot of great products from Aves Company which makes kneadable epoxies and stuff that can fill in gaps between parts as well as stick them togehter and also be sculptural. 

These figures tend to sell well in the gallery at Shelburne Falls, so many of these have already gone out into the world and are lost to me. THe Pisser ones sold very quickly!

 This lights up as you can see. It is an old kerosense heater for a body, with phone cord heair and grease gun dick.You cna't see it well int his picture, but one arm ends in sort of a hatchet. There is a doll foot dangling out of the mouth.

I  didn't have another hand of that size--this piece is pretty large-- heence the hatchet arm. THen it became a Tranny-sylvanian Devil due to the skirt, dick, and devil face. Yes, it is pretty distrubing on many levels.

Reaching Back Into the Past: High school 1974-1977

Gender identity came up in my early work quite often. Part of me always identified with the male, leading me to feel an imposter syndrome as a female. Perhaps becasue my mother way such a strong figure, and I worshipped my older brother? I did have, still do have, many fears about my competence in some areas; while in others I have no hesitation and am bold. 

I see in this drwaing my desire to blossom and hold an open heart. But also, the intellect and the editor inhibit me, poison me. Perhaps this is not so much a gender issue as a more general inability to have a voice in the world, to find the right soil to nurture my growth. I am sad that as a teenager, I couldn't find the right help with this, and resorted to alcohol and alternating wilding versus isolating.

I don't recall that I created much good art in high school. I was way-laid by social problems in adjusting to the move from Baltimore to Amherst and by family adjustments that led me to feel extremely isolated and abandoned. 

In a few days, I will be visiting my high school teacher and her husband, and may find out things that I have forgotten. Trauma following the high school years, as well as substance abuse during those years, has affected my memory of those times. Whenever I meet someone from back then, I am amazed at their clear recall of what happened.

When I was sixteen, I moved into my own apartment and proceeded to self destruct at a rapid pace, and ended up dropping out of school and moving to Provincetown. These things did not result in art making. I was trying to find a place I could belong where I could find love and be known. 

Recent Work

I am changing these postings to reflect my work of the moment, and to offer some back story on work of the past. In January, the store remains closed except by appointment, and I turn my efforts to creating work for an upcoming show of Flags in February at the Nook. 

It has been an up and down year in my life and in my little gallery, one in which I have been assessing the dirction in which to go and renewing my commitment to making the art that means the most to me. I have not put the energy into finding guest artists as much as I have in previous years, hence the lack of postings on my web page in recent months. 

This past year, my marriage ended; I found creative explosions with a group of fellow women who are artists, writers and performers as Exploded View; our all-female band, She Said, found a home for performances at the new Underdogs Lounge in Shelburne Falls; my youngest son suddenly changed direction and landed back at home to start his first year of college; opened myself up to working through more shame and doubt musically by joining a bjam band class and playing with a few ukelele folks; I started hosting travellers in my home as an Airbnb; and I have renewed and strengthened the bonds of friendship with a wide variety of people.

I stopped taking Wellbutrin and my hormone supplements a year ago, and wonder if these changes are related, and if such substances which we believe allow us to feel normal, are only allowing us to endure. Which can be a good thing, if chnage is impossible, but I opened my mind to change, painful as it was. I am without doubt, much *older* than I used to be, and am allowing myself to be middle aged as much as I can, in trying to forgive this old body for it;s sagging and wrinkling, etc. Since I rarely appreciated my looks when I was younger, this doesn't feel taht hard to do! haha. As usual, I reveal too much to these Internets. 

And here, I reveal almost all in my participation in Anja Shutz's brilliant #grabhimbytheballot project!

Clouds

Images from the “sky of mind” of three artists fill the Nook from July 7 through August 27. Clouds light up as wall sculptures; clouds arise from the pen and ink details of brick; clouds scud across small canvases. A reception with artists Marjorie Morgan, Nina Rossi and Barbara Milot will be held on July 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. 

Marjorie Morgan image

photo image by Marjorie Morgan

 

Drawing by Barbara Milot

Illuminated Cloud by Nina Rossi

Thrones: Group Exhibit

Opening Reception May 20, 5-7 pm