Thanksgiving Weekend

(Above:  Shadow and me ... ready for the big Ohio State game.)

Generally this blog is for my artistic endeavors.  Yet, every once in a while, I like to throw in a post about "the rest of my life".  This is such a post!  The photo above was taken yesterday morning, the day of the big Ohio State vs. arch-rival Michigan football game.  Most people don't know that Steve and I met during my second week at Ohio State (fall 1977) in Block O, the student cheering section at the Ohio State home football games.  I headed this rowdy group of 1500 raving fans the following year.  Steve headed Block O's basketball cheering section.  We were married in 1981 ... on the first home football game Saturday.  Our colors were OSU's, scarlet and gray.  I don't think Shadow cared about any of this.  She simply hated the little hat that my sister Sonya sent for the occasion!  (Ohio State won!)

 

 (Above:  Steve, a 48-inch metal ruler, super oversized foam-centered board, and part of two giant frames.)

On Bastille Day 2001, Steve and began to forcibly down-size Mouse House, our custom picture framing business.  At the time, we had fourteen on payroll and worked ALL THE TIME.  I wanted to become a professional artist (despite lack of formal art training or any real background in art!)  It took a couple of years to find jobs for most of the employees, finish up long term commitments, and for me to figure out how and what I wanted to make artistically.  It was quite a journey!

Mouse House is still the first floor of our historic, downtown home in Columbia, South Carolina.  Steve and I still do very limited custom picture framing.  Occasionally, we take on a job that is almost unbelievable.  We took on this one!  The diptych is by Richard Serra, an artist internationally known for his monumental metal sheet assemblages and sculptures.  He's also created very large and extremely rare works on paper that sport textural black surfaces that are remarkably like his metal finishes.

 
 (Above:  Me with one of the Richard Serra prints after accomplishing the pass-through hinges that attach the rag paper artwork to the rag super-sized mat board.)

The frames (inner measurement) are 93 1/2" x 51 1/2".  This allowed two inches of mat board to show all around the heavy paper artwork.  Pass-through hinges went through the super-sized mat board ... allowing the artwork to "float" on top of the mat.  These are NOT the largest things I've ever framed.  I've framed bigger oil paintings.  They are, however, the largest works of art on paper that I've ever framed!


(Above:  Diptych by Richard Serra ... FINISHED!)

Steve and I were really happy when we were finished (although I still don't like the fact that these paper pieces are open to the air.  In "proper" framing, all works of paper must be behind some sort of protective glazing ... like Plexiglas or UV filtering Lexan ... but this is how Richard Serra's gallery presents the work ... so ... WHATEVER!)  Steve and I positioned giant pieces of corrugated in front of the art and released the angry cats from the bathroom.  The cats were NOT permitted near these big, valuable works during the entire morning!  Yes, the cats had it rough ... but they did get some turkey on Thanksgiving Day!