I released a friend today.
I didn't want to do it,
but the past, it always holds more sway.
So I released a friend today.
I released a friend last night.
We were always civil -
there was no fight.
But I released a friend last night.
I released a friend today.
He was already absent
and no promises were there to betray.
So I released a friend today.
I released a friend last night.
I found him halfway
between darkness and light.
So I released a friend last night.
I released a friend today.
I hope he's not angry.
His course should not stray.
I hope our paths cross again in some way.
But I released a friend today.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Relic
Not too long ago, I worked with a company who specialized in church restoration. It was a great experience. I *quickly* got over a life long fear of heights (or at least faced it from 60' up).
In one church, we removed images of saints who had been painted on canvas and "wallpapered" up - they required cleaning, touch up and to be rearranged to accomodate a larger alter.
Imagine my delight when I found this looking back at me from under the canvas...
Lovely, isn't he.
I love the over-large features and the serenity in the eyes.
Here is what it looked like prior to a repainting that happened around the late 1950s....
photo is circa 1935.
Unfortunately, there had been major water damage to the right portion of the apse, so a whole section of these fellows simply no longer exists. And after conferring with the diosese, it was determined that there was not the time nor the resources to undertake a full resoration.
We did protect them prior to replacing the canvas, just in case there are resources in the coming decades.
But sometimes, late at night, I think of them lying just below the surface...
In one church, we removed images of saints who had been painted on canvas and "wallpapered" up - they required cleaning, touch up and to be rearranged to accomodate a larger alter.
Imagine my delight when I found this looking back at me from under the canvas...
Lovely, isn't he.
I love the over-large features and the serenity in the eyes.
Here is what it looked like prior to a repainting that happened around the late 1950s....
photo is circa 1935.
Unfortunately, there had been major water damage to the right portion of the apse, so a whole section of these fellows simply no longer exists. And after conferring with the diosese, it was determined that there was not the time nor the resources to undertake a full resoration.
We did protect them prior to replacing the canvas, just in case there are resources in the coming decades.
But sometimes, late at night, I think of them lying just below the surface...
Monday, May 28, 2007
An Elegy for an Automobile (March 2006)
it's super smelly in tremont tonight... so here's an elegy to ponder while i inhale microscopic mittal death
Lolita - Beloved car...
Feb'y 1998, Tempe, AZ - March 2006, Cleveland, OH
You were a good car.
A trooper.
Your chassis held true.
You carried me back from Arizona and delivered me into the rolling hills of Vermont.
You squired me to weddings and funerals, anniversaries and birthdays.
Ever vigilent you were.
You rarely broke down (technically only 3 times...4 if you count the time I left the cap off the radiator... sorry about that...).
And you always waited until I was off the highway to really get screwy...
But near the end, your engine ran hot.
You developed a taste for Dex-Cool that could not be quenched.
Your internal combustion became too much and eventually, dear Lo, you hemorraged.
O my dearest darling Lo! How I will miss your dedicated ways.
Your scar from the snowplow.
Your missing lock.
The wound above your windshield - it was so late and we were so stuck in that parking lot... we had no choice but to rev the engine and ram the gate.
You were my chariot and I miss you so.
Lolita - Beloved car...
Feb'y 1998, Tempe, AZ - March 2006, Cleveland, OH
You were a good car.
A trooper.
Your chassis held true.
You carried me back from Arizona and delivered me into the rolling hills of Vermont.
You squired me to weddings and funerals, anniversaries and birthdays.
Ever vigilent you were.
You rarely broke down (technically only 3 times...4 if you count the time I left the cap off the radiator... sorry about that...).
And you always waited until I was off the highway to really get screwy...
But near the end, your engine ran hot.
You developed a taste for Dex-Cool that could not be quenched.
Your internal combustion became too much and eventually, dear Lo, you hemorraged.
O my dearest darling Lo! How I will miss your dedicated ways.
Your scar from the snowplow.
Your missing lock.
The wound above your windshield - it was so late and we were so stuck in that parking lot... we had no choice but to rev the engine and ram the gate.
You were my chariot and I miss you so.
Decoration Day
I spent the morning in the small town where my family is from and they take Memorial Day VERY seriously. It's a traditional town - rural - full of orchards and farmhouses that hold fourth and fifth generations. It's a lovely escape from all the asphalt and industry I live with daily, but I think my love of the town is anchored firmly in my love of green growing things and personal sentiment.
Last night the town was all birdsong and frog chorus - the occasional sound of a piano being played. But today it was marching bands and gun salutes and orations about God and Country.
God and Country(!) ~ the speaker was on about how divided the country became after WWII and how worrisome it must be to the troops that there is such division in the nation... and then he held up the Declaration of Independence and the Bible and urged us all remember how the former was created with explicit connection to the latter... and some tangent that included a reference to the 2nd amendment... followed by a story of a teacher taking a cross away from child... and how we, as a nation, need to focus on the Bible to better live the Declaration and unite once more as in the time of "The Great War"...
It was a messy and illogical speech, and lazy, because it simply focused on inflammatory touchstones that appeared to center on a theme of: diversity of thought = degradation of a nation.
... and I thought we were there to honor our dead.
Look, I don't want to get all head up about politics here, this site is about artifacts and memories... but I suppose this constitutes a memory newly created and an old perception dashed to bits... but I just keep thinking about his logic and call to arms... that we, as a secular nation, should unite through Christianity.
Religion?
Really...?
One specific brand of religion...?
Is there nothing more divisive, inflammatory, personal and private that we could try to unite through?
Ok. Fine - let's all gather 'round the old spinet and sing old timey hymns in four-part harmony... and THAT will keep the men and women of our military safe, lower gas prices, abolish terrorism, cure cancer and reverse global warming.
Let me know how that works out for you.
Last night the town was all birdsong and frog chorus - the occasional sound of a piano being played. But today it was marching bands and gun salutes and orations about God and Country.
God and Country(!) ~ the speaker was on about how divided the country became after WWII and how worrisome it must be to the troops that there is such division in the nation... and then he held up the Declaration of Independence and the Bible and urged us all remember how the former was created with explicit connection to the latter... and some tangent that included a reference to the 2nd amendment... followed by a story of a teacher taking a cross away from child... and how we, as a nation, need to focus on the Bible to better live the Declaration and unite once more as in the time of "The Great War"...
It was a messy and illogical speech, and lazy, because it simply focused on inflammatory touchstones that appeared to center on a theme of: diversity of thought = degradation of a nation.
... and I thought we were there to honor our dead.
Look, I don't want to get all head up about politics here, this site is about artifacts and memories... but I suppose this constitutes a memory newly created and an old perception dashed to bits... but I just keep thinking about his logic and call to arms... that we, as a secular nation, should unite through Christianity.
Religion?
Really...?
One specific brand of religion...?
Is there nothing more divisive, inflammatory, personal and private that we could try to unite through?
Ok. Fine - let's all gather 'round the old spinet and sing old timey hymns in four-part harmony... and THAT will keep the men and women of our military safe, lower gas prices, abolish terrorism, cure cancer and reverse global warming.
Let me know how that works out for you.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Bounty: A Sunday Trip to Unique Thrift (a post for girls or foot fetishists...)
This overcast Sunday brought me a leisurely breakfast at Lucky's (I highly recommend the breakfast burrito... more like fresh breakfast echilada in mole sauce... waffles were good too, but I was more of a savory girl this a.m.) and a trip to Unique Thrift on Lorain.
I haven't been in ages, and was pleasantly surprised to find a wealth of vintage footware in good condition and in my size.
Behold the wedges!... both dress and casual.
Envy the mint condition of the dainty low heeled sandals.
Gawk at the lines of the 1960s poison-dart pump fashioned from the skin of a venomous serpent that will infuse the wearer with the same slithering grace and basilisk glance of its previous inhabitant.
And of course, a fabulous Thai cotton shift for drinking mai-tais alfresco, smoking exotic cigarettes, and listening to beat poets pound their words to the rhythm of a distant bongo drum.
I haven't been in ages, and was pleasantly surprised to find a wealth of vintage footware in good condition and in my size.
Behold the wedges!... both dress and casual.
Envy the mint condition of the dainty low heeled sandals.
Gawk at the lines of the 1960s poison-dart pump fashioned from the skin of a venomous serpent that will infuse the wearer with the same slithering grace and basilisk glance of its previous inhabitant.
And of course, a fabulous Thai cotton shift for drinking mai-tais alfresco, smoking exotic cigarettes, and listening to beat poets pound their words to the rhythm of a distant bongo drum.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Fallen: Work from another lost artist (Spring 2004)
I was free-lancing at museums prior to returning to school for my masters. As before, there are always artists working there to pay the bills and subsidize their real pursuits.
In spring 2004, I worked with a photographer named April. I loved her work and was totally game when she asked me to participate, esp. since she wanted to evoke broke-down fallen and otherwise disheveled.
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