rainy day happy thoughts

Total window replacement at home today.  In the rain.  sheesh

centering

I turn 43 this week.  I usually look forward to birthdays, this year I'm just preoccupied.  I've been thankfully and wonderfully busy, both with my art and family.  I've had some grand adventures, met some delightful new friends, and still trying to balance home, kids, obligations...  Sometimes it's good to start on the outside and work toward the center, sometimes it's best to start at the heart of things and work outward.  Sometimes you just have to go for it and see where it leads....

on the grid

OK, so I'm not talking about electricity or energy savings... simply creating unlimited mosaic designs based on a grid pattern, rows and columns.  If you think that's boring.. please reconsider.  I have been doing mosaic workshops with young children, I'm talking 3 and up, using grid trays and colorful tile.  This sampler is the product of 4, 50 minute workshops with 5th graders.  They had a brief introduction to mosaic, including a sample NOT made on a grid, then had a really fun activity creating their own pattern based on a 7x7 grid square.  Budget constraints prevented me from capturing all of their creative designs, but believe me when I say that not one of the 100 or so mosaics were the same.  The students had their own peer review and were allowed to vote for their top 4 favs per class.  Those 16 mosaics are now glued and grouted, ready to be delivered back to the school on Monday.  If you don't have a grid tray, or real tile, get some old fashioned grid paper and markers, and color to your hearts content.  Colored construction paper works well too.  These pattern ideas can be translated dozens of ways from quilts to crossstitch, paint to photo montage.  Designing on a grid breaks complex patterns down to manageable ideas.  Can you see the black and white smiley face in the photo? 

tree peony

Finally..... I bought these peony bulbs about 4 years ago.  The bulbs were shriveled and dusty, down at the bottom of the past season, super clearance, you're crazy if you buy me bin.  They said "tree peony" so I planted them underneath a large oak in my backyard (yes, that was my non-scientific botany reasoning, not the package directions).  They did sprout the next spring, but no buds.  They have steadily gained strength, and last year I had one flower.  This year there are about 7 buds and it actually is big enough to need some gentle support.  Today my patience (and luck) was rewarded with 3 gorgeous open blooms.  I love how the centers are frilly and there are just a couple of petals that are fringed.  First I thought that was damage from critters, kids, or who knows what, but each of the blooms has the two fringed petals.  So lovely.  I think I feel a mosaic coming on...

flytrap in motion video

Scrapel Hill IV, University Mall, Chapel Hill April-July 2012
Go VOTE for 'People's Choice Award', enter your ballot at the customer service desk for #3 Venus Flytrap by Jeannette Brossart and Glenn Walters!!!

mechanical flytrap sculpture installation

You may recognize this.  When I was in Italy, I created a small  Venus Flytrap sculpture with the intent of it serving as a model for a larger version.  This is the larger version, installed today at the University Mall in Chapel Hill for the 4th Scrapel Hill Exhibit.  A show of artworks made from repurposed, recycled, and scrap materials.

Each half of the "trap" is 2 ft wide plus the additional length of the wine bottle "teeth".  They are made from waste polystyrene, cement and fiberglass layers, then applied scrap and recycled glass mosaic.  The support structure mimics the plant structure with a large broad leaf (made from garage rails and patio umbrella supports).  There are some "swampy" details such as flowers and a snail.

It does actually move, thanks to my collaborating friend and co-designer/fabricator, Glenn Walters, and his assistant, DJ Fedor.  It works on "people power" and a repurposed air compressor system.  When you spin the flower wheel, air pumps through the green tubing to a piston mechanism.  When enough air is is the system, the piston activates, opening and closing the top half of the "trap" about 30 degrees.  Just enough to catch a pesky insect.

It will be on exhibit for a couple of months, then looking for a permanent home.... or swamp.

for Dad

My first memory of formal art is at the Gainesville (Florida) Museum of Art.  Our family would go there on Sundays for something free and educational.  We went several times, but my brothers and I were always more excited to see the alligator pit on the grounds, than step foot into the museum to see the art.  One trip, my Dad just took me inside while Mom and brothers were waiting at the alligator pit.  My first impression was that the exhibit was just a bunch of boring line drawings...   He said, "no, look closer".  So I did.  And to my amazement I saw little men walking up and down endless staircases, birds that turned into lizards, and a dizzying assortment of optical illusions.  It was an exhibit of MC Escher.  Dad is a bit artistic himself, he liked to draw and sketch, woodcarving during our teenage years, and now in retirement years, painting.

He is also my favorite assistant.  He is helpful with ideas and structural considerations.  He is strong and able to help lift some of my sculptures for installations.  He cuts wood panels for me and other related tasks.  He has a truck and is willing to volunteer when I need him.  He is proud of me.

His favorite flower is a dandelion.