Celebbrating Life and Death

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. I'm not sure how well it shows, but the lantern pods on the tree are beginning to lose their bright orange color. They're turning a pale salmon. I'm sure they'll begin to fall more rapidly now. And it won't be long before the leaves follow. We don't ever have really cold weather here, especially this close to the ocean, but some of the trees turn bright colors and lose their leaves anyway. To tell the truth, I don't remember whether the leaves on this tree turn completely yellow and fall off or whether they just gradually turn and fall. This year I'll pay attention.

Today there seemed to be a fair number of people in the Park, walking around, enjoying the bright fall day. I was cold, because now that the sun is lower in the sky, my outside worktable is in the shade all day, only getting a little sun in late afternoon. Before the days become shortest, I'll lose all my sun. But I'm encouraged by the fact that there are only about another seven weeks before the days begin to lengthen.

I worked on the rosary of skull beads to go with the etched copper cross that I made for my Dia de los Muertos piece. This evening, I went over to the gallery early so that I could add it to my installation. I also added some shawls to give it affect. I took some photos and I'll try to lighten them in PhotoShop and post them.

My piece consists of an old desk drawer that Jon gave me. The orginal plan was to mount it on a camera tripod. That worked really well until I started putting things in the drawer. Then it tipped over. Fortunately, the gallery manager is a good problem solver. She suggested a large pedestal that they have. It was perfect, just the right size. And when I draped the shawls over it, the affect was softened. I filled the drawer with momentos, travel souvenirs and things that represent the events of everyday life. After all, no matter how much traveling you do, no matter how many monumental events occur in your life, in the end it still boils down to the everyday events, living through the day-to-day events of grocery shopping, paying bills, doing laundry, cooking dinner. And it's on those everyday events that you build a life for yourself and hopefully with another person if you're fortunate. That's what I wanted to show.

The opening reception was this evening. The show consists of a great many creative pieces; almost all of them are installations. In other words, the artist takes a number of separate items and arranges them together in a way that makes a statement. But unlike something like a painting that can be carried from one place to another, an installation has to be reinstalled or reassembled each time it is moved. And it very likely won't turn out exactly the same each time. Each one in this exhibit is so different from the next. Some are tributes to a specific person, some represent a rememberance of a class or group of people. And we all put so many candles on our altars that the heat forced many of us outside into the cool evening air.