No, dear rock lovers, I have not abandoned stone! My garden is littered with wonderful stones awaiting…something. Or not. So many of them are just lovely just the way they are…
But back to The Evil Styrofoam, so nasty to work with, but oh, so rewarding….
Sculptor Tanya Kovaleski and I are doing a yearlong installation at the Maloof Foundation in Rancho Cucamonga beginning in spring 2020. I’ve always been attracted to Altars – possibly because stone is so grand and so much of our landscape seems like Natural Altars to me… I’ve decided to create 10 – 12 Altars for the Maloof Exhibit. I already have my Altar to the Fire Gods (in remembrance/awe of the Thomas Fire). There are so many other tumultuous and disturbing themes and forces roiling in our world that I’d like to address…. The state of the oceans is so distressing – the trash, the fishing nets, the destruction of species…
Did you know we are losing 250 Species a DAY?
Good Book: “The Myth of Human Supremacy” by Derrick Jensen
I digress. Actually, I didn’t. I’ve had this idea about whales swimming in crushed plastic detritus and I hope to have the beginnings of this piece underway in time for the Tour (yeah yeah, a week away... Nothing like a deadline to get work done 😉
So here is the beginnings of my first whale - hard to carve movement with the Evil Styrofoam. Not like clay or wax where you can shape and manipulate. Lose a nose. Put another nose back on. Don’t like the way those boobs are drooping? Easy fix… Now I truly do digress….
My whale is coming. Such graceful, majestic creatures. I find I carve and then have to pin nasty chunks of Styrofoam back in (doesn’t matter what it looks like underneath). I’m no Steve Jobs – I heard even the inside of his computers had to be perfect, pristine. My whale is full of shishkabob sticks, Great Stuff (the goop, not actual GREAT STUFF… and of course a lot of Styrofoam…. ‘
I’ll keep you posted on this one….