Mandala CLXXVI

(Above:  Mandala CLXXVI.  Custom framed: 18 1/2" x 18 1/2".  Found objects hand-stitched to the back side of a vintage quilt.  Found objects include:  A vintage clock mainspring; piano hammer flanges [part of the internal workings of a piano key]; assorted beer bottle caps; eight gold flatware forks; four, vintage brass belt buckles; ballpark seat numbers; plastic candle holders for a Christmas tree or cake; eight, tan-colored Princess phone key chain rings; assorted buttons and beads. Click on either image to enlarge.)

Moving can be emotionally difficult.  There are always items that are highly sentimental, things that no longer have a place in one's physical reality but serve as markers for past memories. For most people my age (which I'd like to call "middle aged" ... but I'll be sixty-five next June, a senior citizen on any system that gauges the human aging process ... basically ... OLD!) there is no one in the next generation who wants or even cares about my "precious possessions".  I've known this for a long time.  I've even presented a 2015 TEDx talk called Precious: Making a Plan for Your Precious Possessions.  

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CLXXVI.) 

While preparing to move, I've had to face the twenty-nine year accumulation of "stuff" in my business/home (some of which was still in boxes from the last house!)  I've had to make some heartfelt decisions about what to toss, what to give away, what to consign to Bill Mishoe's auction (which is where lots of my "stuff" came from), and what to keep for basic living and for potential use in my studio art practice.  It's hard!  Of course it is!  As an artist who finds inspiration in "found objects", I could rationalize that EVERYTHING IS NECESSARY.  But, it really isn't.  In my TEDx talk, I mention the fact that "sometimes, the best way to 'safe' one's precious possessions is to give them a chance with someone else".  So, I've been "letting go" of plenty of things.  

Yet, I couldn't "give away" my piano.  No one wanted it.  Of course no one wanted it.  It was big, heavy, and unfortunately had a broken sound board which prevented it from being successfully brought up to perfect pitch.  I learned all about such problems while stitching Found Object CXI, the Steinway Mandala.  I learned that even a Steinway is more expensive to repair when its sound board is cracked than to replace.  My piano certainly wasn't a Steinway ... and I have to admit that I haven't played it in years (and I was never very talented!)  As sentimental as my piano is to me (which is a long, sad story of a lonely teenager finding solace in the basement playing my piano), it made no sense to move it to the church.  (Bill Mishoe's auction refuses to accept pianos on consignment; they just don't sell and no one wants them "for free" either.)  

So, I decided that I would dismantle my piano on Christmas Day.  It was actually fun to do!  Each flat head screw led to another flat head screw until I had lots of parts!  Because I had already dismantled the Steinway, I knew it would take most of the day.  I streamed Christmas music and by that evening was already stitching parts to this Found Object Mandala!  My piano now has a "second life" as ART, and there will be more parts in future pieces!