The Degenerate Art II Exhibition

 

(Above:  The Caution Tape Entry to the Degenerate Art II exhibit at Stormwater Studios in Columbia, SC.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I'm well overdue with the blog post but, honestly, I've been busy and more blog entries are soon to be written.  For now, however, I'm happy to report that the Degenerate Art II exhibit at Stormwater Studios in Columbia has seen plenty of traffic and sales!  It was my honor to be invited as the area's guest artist.  Why was I a guest artist?  Well ... apparently last year's show was by invitation only.  I was invited and created several pieces and my Reasons for Tears installation.  That show was also quite a success.  Jasper Project, the organization sponsoring this show were overwhelmed by local artists who weren't invited but would like to have been. They decided to make the second show a juried one ... only for artists living in the Midland counties of South Carolina.  I don't live there anymore. Yet, the group wanted an installation and knew I could create another one.  Thus, I was asked and became the "guest artist."  

 

(Above:  The Degenerates signing board and donation box just inside the Caution Tape Entry.)

This did present me with a unique challenge!  Create an installation.  Well ... I met the challenge and created two!  First was The Caution Tape Entry.  The show's title refers to "the Nazi Party’s 1937 Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition in Munich at which more than 650 pieces of Modernist art were haphazardly displayed alongside graffiti and mocking text labels with the goal of denigrating and ridiculing the art and artists."  My installation cautions people that they are entering such an exhibit!  Right inside the double glass doors is a box for donations and a signing board.  Everyone coming has the option of leaving their name as a "degenerate" (and leaving a dollar or more supporting the Jasper Project.)

 

(Above:  Middle Finger.)

I thought of the signing board shortly after making Middle Finger. The organization allowed artists to submit statements with their work.  This one (like all my other work for this show!) certainly didn't need any additional explanation.  I was thrilled to finally find a use for the skull embellished frame that I have saved for a couple years ... knowing something would finally be perfect of it.

 

(Above:  Trump is a Scrabble Game.)

The first piece I made (within an hour of receiving my invitation to be the show's guest artist) was Trump is a Scrabble Game.  It was made on a Wednesday after returning from the Pickens County flea market where I scored four, old Scrabble games!  Because I now live more than two hours from Columbia, Steve and I were unable to attend the opening reception, but I got a private Facebook message from the nice man who wanted to let me know that this one is now in his permanent collection!

 

(Above:  Democracy Endangered.)

Recently some vintage cross-stitch patterns were donated to my stash.  They're the kind that has little blue printed "X" marked on plain weave cotton.  One was this eagle.  I haven't stitched a counted cross stitch in decades.  I haven't stitched one of these printed cross stitch patterns since I was a Brownie Girl Scout in the first grade ... but I knew I could do something different!  The skull patch had to be ordered because it was "out of stock" at Walmart but it certainly changes it!  I carefully cut the semi-circle mat and then collaged the words using vintage and antique letters.

(Above:  VOTE !  Framed:  21 1/2" x 17 1/2".  Gelli-plate printed hand print with collaged letters.)

While stitching Democracy Endangered, I had plenty of time to think about what else I could make but ... more importantly ... what I really wanted to add to the conversation about our current political situation.  I asked myself if I were just complaining through my artwork.  What could I really do that might make a real difference?  The only thing I could think of was encouraging everyone ... no matter what their political feelings might be ... to VOTE!  So ... when playing around with my new Gelli plate, I used a pattern of my own hand print to print this piece. The paper was fused to thicker watercolor paper and the hand print's outline was free-motion stitched.  Finally, I collaged the word "VOTE" onto it.  Before framing, I scanned it.  By that time, I'd thought up a great installation!

(Above:  The two sides of each voting unit with more units drying on the floor of my sanctuary/studio.)

Last spring Evelyn Kochansky died just days shy of her 105th birthday.  Evelyn was a lifelong democrat, born the year women got the right to vote, and never missed casting a ballot.  Her daughter Ellen Kochansky gave her mother's very full drawer of gloves to me. I used almost all of them for this installation called Show of Hands.  Each one was gelled onto an 8" x 10" piece of mat board with a little sign urging people to vote.  The other side was a copy of my Gelli plate printed hand print.  American Girl pant/skirt hangers were used on the top.  (I originally bought the hangers for my 40th wedding anniversary show!  They were how I mounted the selfies I took in all forty collected wedding gowns!)  It didn't take much time to make sixty units.

 (Above:  Me installing Show of Hands at Stormwater Studios.)

It took several hours to install them in the same hallway that Reasons for Tears once hung! I'm very pleased with this work and hope that people seeing it will remember that the midterm elections are very, very important!  Below are additional photos of the installation.  CLICK HERE for a short video.