Fibonacci 53. George Washington's Birthday Letter

                     Our Annual Letter
1    I/
1    haven't/
2    sent my/
3    Christmas cards yet,/
5    nor mailed New Year's; Dr./
8    Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; Valentine's Day; nor/
13  Lunar Year of the Rabbit cards. And yet I hate to let the/
21  seasons pass without saying to friends that 2010 was a stony road, with my father's death and my illness; but that/
34   I am now well, and so are Michael and our Labrador mix, Koko. Laramie is ebullient. She's the Chihuahua/Jack Russell we adopted -- she was found wandering down the roughest thoroughfare in town --/
55   to walk me and comfort me during radiation.  Now I'm healthy enough to walk both dogs at once; and I have a purple bicycle that so far I've fallen off of only once. We have primary and secondary health insurance.  I won the Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists award for best essay.  In/
89   spite of her vascular dementia, my mother is doing well in the care center where she's lived since Daddy died.  My brothers visit often, taking flowers or candy or her cat named Cat.
             My late sister's younger son and his wife are expecting a baby this summer, and everyone is thrilled, including Mother (this she remembers).  My daughters remain smart and beautiful.  Bradley is in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii. Devin graduates this June. My friend Lizzie graduates next year; her brother sat out football due to injuries but is/
144   hearty again.  Michael took family leave to care for me and, in December, was promoted and given a spiffy company vehicle.
          I write a poem daily based on the Fibonacci Sequence, a kind of fractal (any group of numbers that add back into themselves).  The number of words per line is as follows: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. I've been told the sequence ends at 21, but ask me if I care.
           I won a ribbon for photography in the state fair, and I make art every day. Small art to put in the mail to strangers around the globe. Semi-abstract quilts. Large collages to hang on walls. Altars to the planet, made from junk and wood dragged home from dumps./

          On this George Washington's birthday, we wish you health, happiness, and sufficient wealth to purchase fine wooden false teeth if needed.
                                                       Love to all, Michael and Mary Jo

Some other collages at the state fair

Honorable mention in the Collage category at the state fair.

Red ribbon in collage.

I love the huge fly on this one.

Blue ribbon in collage.

Who Cares for the Caregiver? collage

My collage is 30 x 40.  The frame is made of the containers that hold bullets. The ladder-y looking stripe on the left is the netting that you wear while you're undergoing high-dose radiation for breast cancer.  On the bottom near the netting is a fake MammoSite made from a squeaker that fits in a pet toy and a straw.  The targets were shot out by dear Michael, Caregiver Extraordinaire.

Other artifacts on the piece include medical appointment cards, a lymphedema-warning bracelet, a latex allergy bracelet, and our radiation oncology parking card. The red star is a quilt piece I got with a bunch of pieces from Iowa several years ago; it's included to highlight a list of things caregivers can do to relax.

Close-up of the fake MammoSite.

Even closer up of the fake MammoSite.  I bought the pink pin in Washington, D. C. in 1991; and the fragments of pink are from a paper top I didn't wear that somehow came home with me.

I loved making this piece.  About an hour into it, waves of rage were pulsating through me.  I kept working, and after two or three hours the rage faded and I was caught up in the pleasure of the work.  I plan to do a series of three or four pieces to go with this one.

Upcycled Art: Temple to a Dying Planet

This is the Upcycled Art piece I entered in the Kentucky State Fair.  In earlier posts you can see that it began as wire holders bolted together to hold up a slab of wood I pulled out of a dumpster.  Here you can see the fringe surrounding the table (made from Dunkin Donuts coffee bags inside out and edged with left over bits of fringe from various projects over the last five years).

A pull-toy dog with his nose chewed off, a Grace keychain, part of a map of the world, and one side of the Great Pacific Garbage Dump.

The other side of the Great Pacific Garbage Dump.  The fishing line is a glob of it I picked up while walking the dogs at the Ohio River a few months ago.

The Temple Guardians were given to me by a friend nine years ago and have done good service heretonow.  They are attached to the table using old tubing from my C-PAP machine.

Bits and pieces are glued all over, including a turquoise Barbie shoe at one of the guardian's right ear.

The best view I could get.  The group of primary-colored crates behind were a machine or monster (or, if you're living in the eighteenth century, both machine and monster).  The piece is about 5 feet tall, 6 feet long, and 2 feet deep.

Kentucky State Fair -- Grand Prize Winner quilt

It's the most extraordinary thing.  You wander up and down the aisles of quilts thinking any one of them, with one or two exceptions, could have been produced any time in the last 150 years.  And then you stumble upon the Grand Prize winner, and all my residual hatred for quilts flew away.

This piece is Neptune and Mardi Gras, fiesta and feast and feat.  The use of color, of negative space, of nonspace.  The variety of products used in its construction, the confidence of the color, the exuberance and energy and MOVEMENT -- This piece is breathtaking.

Kentucky State Fair -- wall hangings (textiles)

A lovely and well thought out woodlands scene; the colors were better in person than they are showing on my screen.

Blue ribbon.

An amazing use of black and white and ever so many grays.  Astonishing.  The one to its left with the blue ribbon has a title referring to the Gulf oil disaster.

And now for a bit of frivolity. The bustle of each lady's dress is made from a vintage handkerchief.  Really fun to see.

Kentucky State Fair - Christmas trees, crafted dolls, and colons

This was the big winner for Large Decorated Christmas Tree up to 6 feet high. It's a police tree, with a car and police station underneath, red and blue lights on the white tree, and an assortment of a dozen or so ornaments in the shape of policeman -- one looked like a Christopher Radko blown glass, one was made from that Fimo clay stuff, and the rest were a variety, including a Santa policeman.

The photo below is from Division 4312, Handmade Dolls or Toys

In person, she really rocks.  She's an adult woman in jeans living life to the fullest.  I think the technique for her was felting.

Not only does the fair feature expansive exhibit halls showing the work and possessions of Kentuckians, but various organizations also have booths.  Every county was, as far as I could see, represented.  I saw the army, the national guard, the air force, and the FBI, which was giving away a prize.

"What prize are you giving away?" I asked. 

The person behind the table pointed to a pair of bicycles.  Hmmm.  Don't know what I expected:  handcuffs, maybe?  A shoulder holster?  A blank signed search warrant?  Anyhow, apparently they're hiringg.  Division of Fish and Wildlife had a huge booth and had various pelts, including two from the non-native phythons in Florida that have taken to eating pets and pigs and whatever else they want, because there are no natural predators for pythons in Florida.  They'll be lucky if they don't end up like Guam, where the brown snake (an inadvertent consequence of the vast number of combat planes arriving with stowaways during World War II)has consumed virtually every species of bird to extinction.

Health agencies also sponsor booths, and my favorite was the one with the walk-in colon. 

It's not every day that you get the chance to see one of those; I hope it eases the minds of people so they'll schedule a first routine colonoscopy at age 50.  Polyps in the colon often develop into cancer; in the course of a routine colonoscopy, surgeons remove any polyps, thus preventing cancer before it can take hold.  Just as important as mammograms, colonoscopies save lives.  Preparation the day before is a bit ickier, but they gave me fabulous drugs and I don't remember anything except a peaceful darkened room, the doctor at the computer across the room, and the helpful anesthesiologist.  Next thing I knew, I was waking up; I missed the whole getting dressed and Michael driving me home adventure, but I remember that I slept the rest of the day.  And my doctor was a genius; she made it clear that she could handle any potential problems.

What I won at the Kentucky State Fair

The distant view of my photo with the green Honorable Mention tag.  It's second up from the bottom on the left and shows up not at all in a pile of other photos.

Now you can see more clearly that it's a brand new grocery cart lying on its side in a creek -- Beargrass Creek in Louisville, where I've been taking photos for several years now, many of which feature trash.  No photo-sopping was involved with this photo, so it must have been the time of day making the creek appear so blue, because I've never seen it that color.

I've been saying that I've never won a ribbon before, but I don't know if that's accurate.  I've had two pieces of art, both collages, both textile, win prizes in competitions.  The first was in an art show at the Duke University Divinity School, where I think I won third prize; and the other was in the annual Spartanburg Sidewalk Art Sale, where art is hung on the gates surrounding Converse College.  That time I won second place and also a check -- I think it was 2001.  But did I get ribbons, and if so where are they now?

I suppose I'll have to clean out the file cabinets to learn the answer.

Heigh ho! Heigh ho! It's off to the Kentucky State Fair I go!

Camera battery charged.  Check.
Dogs walked.  Check.
Car keys located. Check.
Sunscreen applied. Check.
Hat put on head so I know where it is.  Check.
Plan to pick up Gatorade on way but know I'll forget.  Check.
Letter written to Mother and stamps applied to all outgoing mail.  Check.
Mail stuck through camera bag strap so I'll remember it.  Check.
Waited through the 80 degree morning and the 84 degree noon and now it's over 90 degrees.  Check.
Something to write on.  Check.

Time to hit the Kentucky State Fair.  Check.

The Morning After

I did ongoing updates on facebook about progress with the fair exhibits we were preparing, but not so much blogging.  Quick hits matched my work methods.  But here we are on Sunday morning/afternoon giving final touches to "Who Cares for the Caregiver?", my 30" x 40" collage.

"Who Cares for the Caregiver?"

I read over the directions in each category three or four times.  Only in the last reading, however, did I suspect that in the collage category even gallery wrapped canvases had to be framed.  It was four-ish on Saturday afternoon at the time, so ingenuity was required.  In keeping with the theme, I told Michael I wanted to use the cases in which bullets travel for the frame. (I'd been having him bring them home from the shooting range all through the spring).  I had styrofoam glue,which, I learned yesterday from a trustworthy source, must be applied in a very thin coat.  Anyhow, here's Michael working on the frame while I'm filling out the hangtags for our photography exhibits.

Still life with fixatives and the two eggs I drenched in Mod Podge but didn't get painted for the fair once I realized I'd accidentally signed up for Egg Ornaments rather than Egg to Be Sent to the White House in 2011.

I should add that we wheeled up to the building seven minutes ahead of the deadline; and with a minimum of panic got all of the photographs inside and the collage inside.  While I was getting the photos approved (the rules are specific about how entries must be prepared; and I saw several people leaving with their matted photos in hand; anything not 16 x 20 was disallowed), Michael returned to the Jeep and single-handedly carried in the approximately 5' tall, 2' deep, 6' wide altar that was my contribution to the Upcycled Art exhibit.  Only two things fell off on the trip inside, one being a Fisher Price dog from the '50s that small children would pull around by a string with half of his nose chewed off.  I'd used super strength glue, which goes to show why fixatives are the key to great art. I had scissors in my pocket and strapping tape in the Jeep, but no glue, so I took one of the half dozen necklaces off one of the two temple guards, tied it around the dog's neck, and anchored it to the guard. 

  We got home. I walked Laramie.  Laramie and I lay down across the bed and I slept 18 hours straight, with an hour-long interruption at midnight for a pimento cheese sandwich and a chat with Michael about our genius.

Who Cares for the Caregiver? collage

Items for the Kentucky State Fair competitions can be delivered tomorrow or Sunday.  I'm thinking Sunday.  However, things are moving along nicely.  I found four lampshades this morning, one of which wants to be part of the upcycled piece of art.  I enlarged the photos for the Photography competition and I got a framing shop clerk to show me what the words in the description of prepartion meant.  And last night I threw very large pieces of paper around the living room and did the first gluing on my 30 x 40 collage.

When caring for someone with cancer, it helps to have a hobby, preferably one that demands intense focus and is also extremely satisfying.

The guy in the lower right is pointing a gun at you.  Some people don't get mammograms because they're fearful.  Mammograms are nowhere near as scary as this dude -- and the former may actually keep you alive, while this dude could kill you on the spot.

 

I found it important to use the spray glue outside. Luckily the heat index is over 100 again.

.

Okay.  So that's the base of operations.  Can't wait to see Phase II.

Another Way the State Fair Contributes to the Community

While I was yanking the board that would become the tabletop in my Upcycled Art piece out of the Dumpster, I noticed a box with some junk in it, so I pulled it out, too, thinking I could always glue the pieces to the artwork if I decided to call it a sofa table.  Thus I rescued these three interesting pieces of history -- or of garbage, depending on your outlook.

Here's what I found:

Large wooden bowl to use on the project.

Lovely piece, yes?  Pewter, you think?

When have you seen such gorgeous peonies?  The pitcher is 9 inches tall.

Note on the bottom of the pitcher. How many generations do you suppose it took for this piece to move from being treasured to being trashed?  If I'd been an hour later, it would be in a landfill rather than on my mantle.

I think that rather than resolving the global warming crisis we will instead lose coastlines and civilizations and communities and plant life and animal life -- as well as millions of human beings.  If we're comfortable tossing valued family items into a Dumpster rather than -- oh, let's say giving it to the Salvation Army, I have no reason to believe we're going to stop any of our other habits that are killing the globe.  Perhaps once Washington D. C. and Charleston, SC, and Los Angeles are under four feet of water, change may come; but between now and then plan on radical losses.  The banks and pharmaceutical companies will, I am certain, survive.  They always do.  It's the rest of us who are at risk; and all of us who are at fault.

Upcycled Art larger than 12" for State Fair competition

I've been working on this for two days, and it's completely finished except for deciding whether it's a nicely decorated sofa table or a jewelry box.

Early ideas and also tools

Supervisor

Assistant supervisor (you can see Laramie's head peeking over the top of the table).  Behind the piece you can see my other idea, which was to create a mannequin using empty cable reels, a vintage dress pulled out of a trash can, a cheap badminton racquet head, and for hair a piece of what seems to be fur that my mother gave me years ago.  I was going to decorate the dress with words.

Tomb of the Unknown Litterbugs.  Boring.

Altar to Stuff Nobody Needs Any More

Variation

Variation 2

Jewelry Box Variation

Different angle of Jewelry Case.  If I go with this design, I can get rid of about two dozen small lengths of dangly bead ribbon trim.