Sunday, May 11, 2025
Bird Bath Prototypes
Thursday, May 8, 2025
I Completed an AP Inquiry. Part Three.
My Imaginary AP Inquiry is about aging, and the feelings that accompany many of the changes in life as we age.
TOP LEFT: More thoughts about living alone. Can I do everything myself? Sometimes having a partner seems ideal. But, also I've been living alone so long now, that a partner might seem superfluous. The jury is still out on all of these thoughts of romance.
TOP RIGHT: My sister asked me to make a wreath for Barbara, and a wreath for Larry. She is hoping to put it on their grave. They were buried out of state, with my mom's family. This makes it difficult for me to visit the grave, and to leave flowers. So, this way, I can pay my respects from far away. I tried making these four times, until I finally got two wreaths that worked.
BOTTOM LEFT; This wreath is in cheery Spring colors. Times and seasons pass quickly, and this seasonal change is amplified by my profession. I look forward to Spring and Summer, as times to make artwork in my clay shed. Or, I can paint in my indoor studio.
BOTTOM RIGHT: This is a medicine cabinet that I refinished. I found it at an antique store, and painted it up to hold some giant donuts, teeth, and some large pills. Donuts are medicinal. But, now that I have diabetes, they are on the forbidden foods list. When my dad was living alone through covid, I would buy his groceries, wipe everything down, and then cook him a meal. I loved to buy him donuts, because I think that they were a guilty pleasure.
I Completed an AP Inquiry. Part Two.
I Completed an AP Inquiry. Part One.
I have been working on my own personal AP Inquiry, despite the fact that I am not going to get any AP credit. My inquiry relates to aging. My feelings about getting older are complicated. I've lost my parents, and I am living by myself, getting older by the minute.
TOP LEFT: These pieces are signs for the childhood farms of my parents. My father grew up on a sheep ranch, and my mother's family dry farmed hay and alfalfa. Both families worked very hard, and spent a great deal of time improving their homes, and their land. Both farms no longer exist. My mom's family sold the land, and it was paved over to build an office complex with a parking lot. I think of all of the time that my grandparents spent, tending to gardens. They picked and bottled fruit. There is nothing left. They took the land from the Ute tribe. Our property rights are questionable. We purchase homes and property, but it's not really ours in the long run.
TOP RIGHT: This is an homage to a true love. During college, he sent me a book from Paris. The inscription was signed with much love. The book was "Les Braves Gens Ne Courent Pas Les Rues, et Autres Nouvelles". The phrase "much love" always reminds me of longing, and of long distance love. It reminds me of a marriage that I refused.
BOTTOM LEFT: Getting old means that you have to take a large assortment of medications. Also, your dental care isn't covered by insurance. I made a medicine cabinet to house ceramic pills, and lost teeth. I am now diabetic, which means I have to inject my body with insulin on a regular basis. I also take sleeping pills during the school year.
BOTTOM RIGHT: I never married. It is a cause for wonder. Would my life have been different if I would have married my college boyfriend? Undoubtedly, it would have been completely different.
Bird Bath Prototypes
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I have been working on my own personal AP Inquiry, despite the fact that I am not going to get any AP credit. My inquiry relates to aging....