Shadow Art

This piece is almost impossible to photograph—installed in a dark hallway and normally illuminated by candles. I've skirted the problem by using a flashlight. The complete installation includes six little candle-lit figures and a central piece of framed embroidered metal-on-metal screen. Three of the figures are currently on loan to the Oakland Museum. Here are the remainder.

The little figures are thin copper, fashioned after images from photographs of me dancing on the roof of a three-story Julia Morgan house in Berkeley.

Found: Shadows

Shadows — the most elusive art form. Here are a few found in situ in the Yucatan. In the next post I'll share a work using shadows if I can figure out how to photograph it.

Felt Buttons

An experiment in the course of trying to stay warm during the winter in Northern California.

Adapted pattern

The starting point: a blouse pattern converted into a jacket of polar fleece and adapted in a number of ways. Pattern pieces were simply cut out and then blanket-stitched together; no need to hem with polar fleece. The collar has been adapted into an oversized teardrop shape. Pockets have been added.

New teardrop collar

For the buttons, I tried an experiment, cutting abstract shapes out of felt, layering a piece or two, and using the felt as buttons.

Felt button

To use the felt button, you just fold or squish it together, pull it through the button hole, and flatten it out again. To my surprise, it works perfectly, particularly in combo with the polar fleece.

Pull button through button hole

And there you have it — felt buttons.

Found: Floating Ephemera

Back from the Yucatan. Below we not only have some stuff you can't have, but stuff you can't even make. This art was created by north winds tossing seaweed about in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Celestun. After standing thigh-deep in the water for a while, watching these shifting marine assemblages float by, I grabbed my camera and started to photograph the fleeting show.

How to Create an Ad Hoc Protest Organization

Remember when folks used to march against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? That was before we elected Obama, he increased the troop count, and somehow the whole anti-war movement seemed to just fade away. Back in the protest days I created my own little anti-war organization on a whim before I went to an anti-war rally in San Francisco. I designed the logo, ironed a printout onto cloth, and sewed it onto the back of a shirt. During the march, various women of a certain age came up to me to ask how they could join CAW. I had to tell them CAW didn't really exist, it was just something I made up.

What does all of this mean? The yuppies were right: it's all about marketing and branding, something the antiwar movement could benefit from right about now. Come to think of it, so could Obama.

The Little Shoes Now

Where are "All My Little Shoes" today? The edible ones were eaten or have long since rotted. The rest are ensconced in a vintage electric rotating watch display in the section of my apartment I call "Party Corner."

 

To see the little shoes, start with the "All My Little Shoes" introduction (click here), and follow the links from there to see the edible section, ephemera section, and etcetera section.

All My Little Shoes: Etcetera

Astroturf

Copper

Cork

Emery Cloth

Gold Mesh

Nylon Screen

Truck Tire Inner Tube

Sandpaper

Metal Screen

Sponge

For the back story/introduction to the All My Little Shoes project, click here. To see the edible shoes section of the project, click here. To see the ephemeral section of All My Little Shoes click here.