A Shrine to Rust

A competition and fundraiser for Hospice, to decorate a mannequin in whatever way you want, inspired me to make "Our Lady of the Divine Rusty Junk".

Our Lady of the Divine Rusty Junk

The body has been rusted using the technique outlined here. The elements used to embellish her were all salvaged from the Hospice rubbish pile. One man's trash ....... as Macklemore says......

Our Lady is rife with symbolism of fertility and re-birth. She is a shrine to honour the beauty that can be found in aging and decay. Rust is a beautiful mark that time leaves behind, a symbol of a good life. The repurposed junk reminds us that 'useless' is a subjective term and that everything continues to have value.

The mannequins are on display at a local shop window, and people are invited to vote. Then they will go to auction and all proceeds donated to the local hospice. Where I work. Another example of recycling I guess. 

When I made her, I had trouble getting the rust to stick to the mannequin. In the end, I painted her with gesso mixed with binder medium, then a second coat of gesso, then the rusting chemical. Finally I sprayed it with fixative spray.

 I'm not a catholic but I love the iconography of catholicism. The virgin Mary is a favourite of mine.

Not all Mums would spend their weekends drilling holes in boobs, my daughter says that's because I'm wacky, not like the other Mums. Thank goodness for that.

Why I rip dolls heads off.....

People think I'm a tad on the strange side when I tell them I rip the heads of dollies. Can't think why? No doubt those same people may be offended by my treatment of Jesus and the Madonna as well.

This latest assemblage is influenced by the Mexican Day_of_the_Dead. Dia de los Muertos, a religious holiday related to the Catholic All Saints Day, honoring those that have gone before us and celebrating their lives.

I found these small statuettes, candelabra and a doll at the hospice garage sale - another place where we remember the dead - and in typical DeMengian usage of 'inherant thingyness' put them together in this table centrepiece. The crystal in the middle has healing properties.

It is an evolving piece, I hope to have it covered with black drippy wax and spider webs in time to come. I find it infuriating that candles these days are all non-drip. I love to play with drippy wax, something quite therapeutic in that.

Polyphemus

Polyphemus was one mean son of a bitch to Odysseus and his men. 

"The cyclops grabbed two of the men and bashed their heads on rocks. The remaining men cried aloud as he ate their comrades". He ate whole sheep in one bite, and tried to trap sailors in his cave (like a live supermarket for fresh meat).

But Odysseus gets even, poking the cyclops eye out with a stick after getting him drunk on wine before making his escape. 

He was one cool due, Odysseus. When the sirens sang to lure him and his sailors to the deep, he put wax in his ears and had himself tied to the mast so as not to be lured to his fateful death. Pretty resourceful really.

Anyway, here is my tribute to Polyphemus and the most awesomest-ever adventure of Odysseus. This is my most adventurest (is that a word?) assemblage shrine so far, gifted to my husband Luke for his 1/2 century.

Interesting that my biggest source of inspiration - the king kapisi of assemblaaazzzh Micheal deMeng, has just posted a blog on cyclops inspired work - the Santa Clops. I'm probably the world's biggest Scrooge when it comes to Christmas, but Michael puts back some reason for the season. 

Study is over, time for me to create

Last week I finished my final university paper for a post-grad cert (yahoo). So now no more weekends of study in front of YouTube medical videos on how to find the JVP or what a rhonchi sounds like. I spent an entire 4 days on art work and my psycke is soaring. First up, making two small artworks to donate to a fundraising exhibition for the Matakana-Omaha walkway This is an initiative from ceramacist Mike deHaan and A Fine Line Gallery. Tickets are sold for $40 each, and throughout the evening the artworks are numbered off to match the number on the tickets. So everyone gets to go home with a unique piece of local art. Great idea huh?

The brief was to make a piece around DLE size. This mini shrine is a symphony of diaxozine purple in a tin pencil case. A tiny musical scroll in a little bottle, a light bulb, a mesmerizing photograph of a woman underwater, and lots of luverly super-glue. Not sure what to call her.

My second donated piece is a fine art print of delicate wild-parsley. Quite a contradiction to black skeletons. 

This is a real buzz, first to be asked to contribute, but also to be a part of this amazing community initiative. Tickets are sold out but you can just turn up on Saturday night to be part of the fun, buy a raffle ticket, have a glass of wine and meet some neat people. 

50 cents for your soul.....

It's incredibly rewarding to take a week off work and dedicate time to doing art. This week, amongst other things I set myself a goal to at least start a new shrine - my fourth - and low and behold I completed it today. I started out with an old wooden box, a piece of chain from a chandelier, a few heavy bolts and a tibetan tin heart. Then things emerged and evolved, and all the little extra bits I found in my junk drawers led me to create this shrine to Marilyn Monroe. I've always thought Marilyn was cool, in the days between her demise (actually she died a month before my conception) and when her face became popular culture on hand-bags and T shirts. Some Like It Hot is one of my favourite movies, and I adore her with Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. There is of course something sad about her short life, a sweetheart icon persecuted by the press and old men (recognize those dinosaurs?).  Marilyn once said "Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."  She wasn't as blonde as you might think. 

Art of Seven

So this month I have two exhibitions on, which is stretching myself a bit thin, and am in a framing and book making frenzy and I really need to learn to say NO sometimes..... however all is going well at ART of SEVEN in Warkworth at the home of Marianda Twydell. I've made a couple of sales and had some lovely feedback.  The SEVEN include myself, Marianda, Biz Dempster, Mike de Haan, Judy Wood and her sister Helen Howard. It's been really nice to get back into exhibiting in terms of making me produce something out of my photos instead of keeping them to myself on the screen.

Pohutukawa Leaf and Recycled Frame.

I am also showing to the world, for the first time (oh no wait, for the second time), my assemblage shrines and getting mixed feedback, mostly people saying they find them interesting or even amazing, and a few implying that I am sick and twisted.... maybe they are right but do I care?? This is my latest, titled Epona for the Gallo-Roman goddess and protector of horses. 

Epona, mixed media assemblage shrine.

 Obviously she didn't do a good enough job of protecting these My Little Ponies from my mutations.  Too busy worrying about her belly button bling.

Happy Birthday to Depot Artspace

It's been 15 years since the Depot Artspace opened in Devonport. My friend, the darling Ruby Piddington has organised an exhibition there to mark the event, and has asked me to show a piece. Plus she's organised the Depot Dot exhibition, incorporating a small white circle and asking artists to showcase their work on it. So I had a bit of fun with this, created with found objects and lots of PVA. The ballerina is off my childhood jewellrey box, if you keep something long enough it will find a new place in the world. This is the smallest book I've ever made, coptic bound and fits into a pill box.  I have added a milagro for good luck, for the new owner, assuming someone buys it.

I went over the lines.

the smallest book

she's been with me since I were a little girl