Indian Summer

Gorgeous 70 degree day at Wrightsville Beach on the North Carolina Coast yesterday. The kids insisted on wearing their bathing suits and testing the icy water. Our dog got one little dog toe in and was totally turned off by the paralyzing cold of the waves but had fun running in the sand. We built sand castles and  walked on the water’s edge.

Internal Sunshine of the Gastric Find

  I’m in shock. I never realized I would find a stomach to be this graceful. Here is the larger-than-life ceramic sculpture of a stomach my daughter made for her 7th Grade school science project.

I’m sure she thought I’d lost my marbles when I cut off one leg of my pantyhose, had her fill it with uncooked rice and taught her how to use it as a form to sculpt around.

Faith

She’s clinging to something you can’t see or hear or touch. It might be what’s keeping her from falling.

Addendum in white.  Select  it to read: The sculpture named “Faith” is a blank slate for people to see what they need to see in it. I sometimes see the faith that got me through a few rough times, took away my pain so I could have an infantessimal increment of dignity during an overwhelming, unfathomable situation, but I also see in it, at times, that she is holding onto nothing, that noone will come to rescue her, that God will not send an angel to help, that she is abandoned to be humiliated, ridiculed, ostracized, discredited, ashamed and that righteous look on her face will soon dissolve into anguish as those around her revel in undoing her. -all her hope that people will some day see the truth and acknowledge it doesn’t bring it to fruition. It’s an ongoing struggle for me even though the flashbacks are gone.Of course, you probably already know this.

Restoring Peace After The Parting

No one who has laid eyes on this sculpture has come up with what it says to me.

They offer meaningful reflections and I wonder if it is that I have fallen short as an artist -that they don’t see what I see in it, or if it is some bizarre success that each sees his or her own circumstances.

I do believe good art offers viewers the opportunity to reflect on themselves and their lives, to make solid their own ideas and  philosophies -but somehow I was so over confident, almost embarrassed that the meaning of  this piece was a little too obvious.

How can I, a visual person, have been thrown for such a loop?

Grant Miller’s Nearly Naked Soul

 

It was difficult to capture such an elusive thing in clay but here it is. Grant, thanks for posing.

They pay me for this?

  I think I was channeling Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs this day. Had a great time with my preschool students teaching Frosty Fun and talking about what happens to snow when the weather warms up. We have fun coming up with new projects for kids and play off of each other’s ideas at the art center.

Smooth reclining

  Here’s that third sculpt of the reclining nude  in white clay with smooth finish. This is a quickie sculpture but the smoothing did take longer than the rough, tooled look. On this one I tried to capture the little smile on the model’s face and the way her arm pressed against her cheek. Great model.

Never drink water from the bathtub after you’ve peed in it.

This little tidbit of information was shared at snack-time from one four-year-old boy to another while I was handing out cups of water today in art class. I think it’s great advice. Thanks, kid!

Our angels -Thanks, kid!

I was struggling to finish this piece I dreamed of -one of my tasks, when a pre-school student of mine gave me a figurative sculpture of her own.

Her father said it was really important to her that she give this to me.  Thanks, kid.

Elena’s Kite

A few years ago I had a student at the art center where I teach named Elena who started coming to classes in her wheelchair with her Dad at age two. After many surgeries she eventually was able to walk using two crutches.

About two years ago she began coming to my preschool classes alone, using only one crutch.  She was so tiny we used to put a large cardboard box of markers under her so she could reach the table. When the other kids asked her why she wore a brace, she told them, “I can’t walk very well. My leg hurts.”

This class was based on a story called “The Leaf and the Wind” and for our final project we made mini kites out of coffee stir sticks and tissue paper shaped like leaves. Elena looked a little apprehensive. She told me, “Ms Marshmallow, (They call me Ms. Marshmallow because it’s so much easier to say and remember than Marchesseault and sounds similar) I can’t fly a kite because I can’t run. My brother has a kite, but I don’t because I can’t run.”

I said, “Don’t worry. You will be able to fly this little kite.”

We went into the hallway to get a drink from the water fountain and the other students wanted to help Elena, but she refused. She grabbed hold of the fountain, threw her crutch on the floor, stepped up and took her own drink of water. It was one of those moments in life you thank God you were there for.

Afterward we took our kites into the larger classroom next door and thanks to fellow teacher, Jewel’s brilliant idea, we set up a floor fan and Elena again threw her crutch on the floor. She stood still without her crutch in front of the fan with her little kite, guiding it as it flew in the breeze.

She was laughing and smiling. The other kids were running and swinging their kites around and taking turns in front of Elena’s fan with her.

Elena’s mother came to pick her up. She just stood in the doorway watching Elena for a long time.

They had been to the kite festival a few days before and it had been disappointing for Elena but now she had made her own kite that she could fly by herself. Elena’s mother was so happy. I told them to stay for as long as they wanted. They were still standing there in front of the fan with the kites when I left to go home that day. Another moment I thank God I was there for. Thanks, kid.