A Happy Conjunction of Writing and Visuals

 My friend Irene Zabytko has a new book of short stories coming out with the wonderful title The Days of Miracle and Wonder, and she has very cleverly put out a video "trailer" for the book. I love this idea of doing a mash-up of images, words, and music. Conjunction is not just for planets any more!

E book is available now, with hard copy coming within months. I can't wait to read it.

Ho Ho Ho

 

A friend bought a large standing figure from me over 20 years ago, and it has stood just inside her front door for many years. Every time I go to visit, it makes me happy to see it there.

She just sent me this image of the piece with a temporary adornment. So much fun!

Last Two For Awhile

 Vermont, like the rest of the country, is experiencing a huge spike in Covid-19 cases, so I finished the most recent two pieces I've been working on in the studio, took some photographs of them, packed up my paints and some boards, and am battening down the hatches and working at home for the next weeks (and possibly months). 

The first piece is another car-related piece, which for the moment I'm just calling Cars. The head is a trailer hitch, but it seemed to be more than a little too small up on top there, so it's been joined by a cool tricycle that I bought at Resource in Burlington a number of years ago. I like all the different car-and-other-wheeled-vehicle action in this piece!

 

Next, Cup of Coffee, with a White House Coffee can on top. I decided to use that because I had legs made out of a pile of Chock Full of Nuts cans, and it seemed quite funny and appropriate to have these coffee cans together. But then the nut was voted out of the White House, so I decided to let it go. Besides, the Chock Full cans were too yellow and clunky, and I wanted to bring the green color around the white house into the bottom part of the piece, so it now has more sedate legs.

LIL BUCK explains

 I just found this video of Lil Buck dancing to "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen". This is what I was thinking of in my piece below. 

My question, "Why?" has to do with Why is it this cruel way? But also, Why DON'T they know?

More People

 

I have been working on some new large figures. Here are two of them. First, Bedtime, another take on the mother-and-child theme, which somehow keeps coming around for me. Maybe because I'm spending a lot more time with my grandchildren, maybe the need for nurturing in our collective life during this pandemic, which is woefully absent in the current administration.

It's built on an old ironing board with a cork head, chair legs, an antique doll bed, and a variety of disks, wheels, and other circular objects.

 

The baby's arms are made of white shell buttons, my favorite connector...

 

The next piece is Coming and Going. I've carved this text on the arms: " SLIPPING ALONG THE THREAD, COUNTING THE HOURS AND DAYS" On the legs: COMING AND GOING AND COMING AND GOING..." This piece is still in progress; I have tried a different head and will live with it for awhile to see if I need something different.

Bird in a New Perch

 

Bird has gone to a new home. It is a joy to me that five of the thirteen large figures in my most recent exhibit have been acquired by collectors. it's great to see my work in a new context -- not my studio or a gallery, but at home with people who want to live with them. 

Many Pieces Have Gone to New Homes!

Thirteen pieces sold from the exhibit at J. Langdon. Wow! Thank you, Juliana Jennings and the many people who appreciated the show!

Two of them went to a home where they are mounted on a screened porch, looking out over a hillside.

 

Hangin' Looks Great!

 

People have been really enthusiastic about this exhibit, and it looks wonderful in J. Langdon's space!

 

J. Langdon is on Langdon Street in Montpelier, next to the river, and they're open every day from 11AM - 5PM. The show is up through August 31.

 

Hangin'

My exhibit,

Hang on, Hang in

H a n g i n’

will be at J. Langdon, 7 Langdon Street in Montpelier, Vermont, from August 3-31, 2020 with an opening reception during Montpelier's Art Walk on Friday, August 7, from 4-8 PM.

SPECIAL Art Walk TREAT: The FAMILY BAND, consisting of my husband R.D. Eno on accordion, son Jonas Eno - Van Fleet on bass guitar, daughter-in-law Anna Van Fleet on keyboard, grandson Manny Van Fleet on electric guitar -- playing outside from 5:00 - 5:30 and 6:00 - 6:30!

Below are the major pieces in the exhibition, twelve half-to-3/4 lifesize figures that will be hanging on the wall.

I Smell a Rat, 54x27x17", with plug-in light

 Falling, 59x17x17", buttons, maps, wood

Black 49x21x7", plastic, plexi, rubber, metal

Mama, 52x21x10", metal, wood, paint, barrel hoop

Angel In, 45x36x12", metal, bone, shell, wood, clay

Tools, 58x15x8", antique toy, bike seat, wood, tools

Bird, 46x21x9", wood, metal

Hungry, 46x33x10", wood, metal, spoons

Play Ball, 55x44x6", wood, metal, antique catcher's mask

Washing, 48x13x18", wood, antique paper coupons

Portland, 53x37x10", wood, plaster, metal

Music, 66x28x13", wood, metal, buttons, rubber

All of these large figures are offered for sale at $1,2000 each, and each of them is paired with a smaller, related figure, sold separately, ranging in price from $125 - $500. There's an 8% discount for purchasing the two figures (large plus related small) together.

Feel free to be in touch with me to ask for higher-resolution images, or to inquire about current availability.

It Had to Change

This work I've done during the Coronavirus home-stay has really challenged me. All those figures holding disks with animal heads. What was that about? And that dog or some kind of animal? Finally, they all came together as a single piece, marching along together. I have no clue what this is about, but I am glad to put it aside for awhile...

Everything So Far

So the animal wasn't actually finished yet. It needed more definition, and I carved a new left eye for it. Here's where it wound up. All these photos are taken in the room where I have my temporary studio and where I have a couch and a cot for my two grandchildren, who spend every Friday night here now.

There are seven figures in the Catching It series at the moment, and I think that's enough for now. It's time to turn to something new. I have a group of wonderful bird cages given to me by Ruth Hamilton, and I need to figure out what goes in them...

Animal Finished

I played around with the idea of having a variety of other creatures riding on this guy's back, but I think the bird is enough.

Here's one of the creatures (a turtle?) that didn't make it onto the back..

I took these photos this morning out on the front steps, with a sheet as a backdrop. Primitive times.

An Animal

I carved this piece of firewood (somehow it just looked like an animal...) to create a head and body, and then added pieces of wood I've collected while jogging during this time of sequestration. It proves my personal philosophy

There's nothing that can't be improved by the addition of polka dots!

I find this little creature very comforting. It needs a tail, and I think there might be something riding it -- maybe a bird... More later.

Catching It

I realize these guys are catchers. We're all worried about catching it, the plague, the virus. I think there will be more in this series...

Shields

I needed materials, so I went for a jog this morning and collected wood on the way to bring back to the "studio". I already had found two fabulous pieces of pierced metal on the road last week, and they were just waiting for their other parts.

I added heads first, then one got what seemed like wings. Then I wanted to have them holding round things. At first I thought it was a tray, and they were some kind of servers, but then I realized they were shields. Maybe we are all trying to ward off the awfulness that seems to be assaulting us and the world -- environmental depredation, a narcissist for a president, and now a pandemic. Three strikes. Maybe they're catchers... Catchers in the Sty.

The wood still needs to be treated somehow (I don't have my wax with me at home), and I'm not sure if they will have legs and, if so, what kind. Also are they on a stand or on the wall. Time will tell.

Art in the Time of COVID-19

Adjustments are being made by all of us during this time. My Art Group has been doing a round-robin email thread where people can tell what they're working on -- or thinking about.

I isolated at home for two weeks after my husband had back surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, then had to go out to a doctor's appointment two days ago and one for him to have his stitches taken out yesterday, and I took the opportunity to go by my studio and pick up some tools so I can do a little bit of work at home. I know I could be working on watercolors or drawing, but I was craving to work with wood and objects.

So, I rearranged my home office and brought in a nasty old piece of plywood from the barn to create a surface over file cabinets and voila! Home studio! I'll have to go outside to do big sawing and carving (thanks to Ann Young for the loan of chisels!), but tomorrow I'll dig in.

One side of the room and

the other side.

Bigs and Littles

Some friends recently bought a small apartment in New York City and wanted some of my work in their new space! They wound up buying both one of the new large figures

 

and also three of the smaller figures that were in a recent show at North Common Arts

I'm grateful to them for sending these images, and I'm sure they and my work will both enjoy their new home in the Big Apple!

Boats Floating in Montpelier

I've been working on making Ships and Boats for several years now, and this week I've put them on exhibit at the Capital Region Visitors Center at 134 State Street in Montpelier (next door to the Vermont Arts Council). They're open 6AM-5PM M-F and 9AM-5PM on weekends (wow, way more hours than most galleries...) The boats will be there until April 29, so stop by and have a look.

There's a case with a small flotilla of vessels, and two larger ones on a nearby windowsill ... just where you'd expect to find boats.

 

Here's a short statement. I was thinking about immigration, and the movement of people around the globe and how we need to be open to that, since all of us in this country came (in the not so distant past) from somewhere else.

If you’re here at the Visitors Center, you’re probably from someplace other than Montpelier, Vermont!

Humans have been moving around since the beginning of our species – by foot, by horse, by cart, by plane – and by boat.

Ships and boats move goods across oceans, take people fishing on lakes, and glide up and down rivers. They are part of our life on this watery planet.

These boats are made of found materials – wood, metal, bone, and other interesting things.