Category Archives: What I’m Making

Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs, What I'm Making

Reclaiming My Time

RECLAIMING MY TIME for Maxine Waters. You can purchase this design as a print, magnet, sticker, or greeting card here.

There’s so much to make art about right now. Sigh.

“I thank you for your compliments about how great I am but I don’t want to waste my time on me.”
“The time belongs to the gentlelady from California.”

I’ve wanted to do a piece on Maxine Waters for a while but I’ve been waiting for a copy-able image of her looking over her reading glasses. The best one (not available for reuse) was by Alex Wong for gettyimages. But now I’ve made an illustration based on the video feed from the House Financial Services Committee meeting of July 27, 2017. Christine Emba of the Washington Post writes: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was testifying before the committee about the state of the international finance system when Waters, the committee’s ranking Democrat, asked why his office had not responded to a letter from her regarding President Trump’s financial ties to Russia. Mnuchin tried to sidestep the question with platitudes and compliments, apparently attempting to run out the clock on her questioning. It didn’t work. Waters shut down his rambling and redirected him to her question again and again with the phrase “Reclaiming my time,” a stone-faced invocation of House procedural rules.”

When I first started researching Maxine Waters and her questioning of Mnuchin, I was discouraged to see that the right’s painting of her as an “unhinged liberal” claimed the top three search results. When I went back to get the exact words for the background text in this design, I saw that the search results have been seized by the progressives because of the meme-ing phrase “reclaiming my time” and the amazing viral song produced by Mykal Kilgore. (You have to watch it!)

Seize the narrative.

From Wikipedia:
Maxine Moore Waters (born August 15, 1938) is an American politician, serving as the U.S. Representative for California’s 43rd congressional district, and previously the 35th and 29th districts, serving since 1991. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the most senior of the 12 black women currently serving in the United States Congress, and is a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before becoming a member of Congress she served in the California Assembly, to which she was first elected in 1976. As an Assembly member, Waters advocated for divestment from South Africa’s apartheid regime. In Congress, she is an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War and Donald Trump.

Waters was born in 1938 in Kinloch, Missouri. Fifth out of thirteen children, Waters was raised by her single mother once her father left the family when Maxine was two. She graduated from High School in St. Louis, and moved with her family to Los Angeles, California, in 1961. She worked in a garment factory and as a telephone operator before being hired as an assistant teacher with the Head Start program at Watts in 1966. She later enrolled at Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles) and graduated with a sociology degree in 1970. In 1973, she went to work as chief deputy to a Los Angeles City Councilman, and in 1976 she launched her political career in the California State Assembly.

#ReclaimingMyTime

Assemblage Sculpture, Female Power Project, What I'm Making

PRESENCE: assembling the shards (Female Power Project)

Here are some process images of the piece I have in the EMULSION 2017 exhibition opening Friday, March 3 and closing March 16, 2017. I will be participating in an informal discussion on this piece on Thursday, March 9 sometime between 6:00 and 7:30pm. https://www.facebook.com/events/380502832306923/

The piece is a ladder holding 10 containers (re)constructed from shards of broken vessels, arranged on seven levels in three columns. Inspired by concepts found in the Jewish mystical tradition, the piece comes from the conviction that something fundamentally destructive has happened and a rebuilding must be undertaken. The shard vessels are strange and the original vessels—from which the shards came—are prosaic, kitschy, and often ugly. There is no pattern to follow to create the repair except for failed traditions and institutions, but still, something must be done. There is a pathetic absurdity to the objects and the enterprise; still, the stakes are high and humans must continue to be present and act in the world even when the presence of good is hidden. In the Jewish tradition this imperative is called Tikkun Olam, or “Repair the World.”

Nice shadows! "PRESENCE: assembling the shards" in the PEPCO Edison Place Gallery at 702 8th Street NW, Washington DC
Nice shadows! “PRESENCE: assembling the shards” in the PEPCO Edison Place Gallery at 702 8th Street NW, Washington DC

Starting with thrift store knick knacks. In the Jewish tradition, creation was a "Shattering of the Vessels" when the originating power (in a "Big Bang") could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world. For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.
Starting with thrift store knick knacks.
In the Jewish tradition, creation was a “Shattering of the Vessels” when the originating power (in a “Big Bang”) could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world.
For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.

Starting with thrift store knick knacks. In the Jewish tradition, creation was a "Shattering of the Vessels" when the originating power (in a "Big Bang") could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world. For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.
Shards. The vessels were simpler to destroy than to assemble. The shards, themselves polluted, are said to function as containers to protect the sparks of power scattered in the world. For more about “shards” in Kabbalah (Qliphoth) see this article.

Creating vessels from the shards. I combined shards from different vessels to make the new vessels.
Creating vessels from the shards. I combined shards from different vessels to make the new vessels.

Building in stages. I experimented with different adhesives. I didn't try to make them look perfect. I felt like the enterprise was pathetic. I matched up similar edges.
Building in stages. I experimented with different adhesives. I didn’t try to make them look perfect. I felt like the enterprise was pathetic. I matched up similar edges.

I scribed words into lead sheets scavenged from wine bottles. There is a long tradition, most evident in ancient Roman archeology, of magic words being written on lead sheets and thrown into wells and other contained spaces.
I scribed words into lead sheets scavenged from wine bottles.
There is a long tradition, most evident in ancient Roman archeology, of magic words being written on lead sheets and thrown into wells and other contained spaces.

There are ten aspects to the sparks hidden in the world, along with ten opposites that stand in tension with them. These aspects are represented by the words scribed into the lead and attached with a chain to their opposite inside the vessel, hanging inside and out in a similar way to how a label connects to a tea bag.
There are ten aspects to the sparks hidden in the world, along with ten opposites that stand in tension with them. These aspects are represented by the words scribed into the lead and attached with a chain to their opposite inside the vessel, hanging inside and out in a similar way to how a label connects to a tea bag.

The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel.
The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel.

The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel. In this way the good power in the world is shielded by the deformed vessels.
In this way the good power in the world is shielded by the deformed vessels.

The ten aspects are traditionally depicted aligned in three columns with seven levels, as they are in the sculpture. The aspects are called "sefirot" and their arrangement is called the tree of life.
The ten aspects are traditionally depicted aligned in three columns with seven levels, as they are in the sculpture. The aspects are called “sefirot” and their arrangement is called the tree of life.

In this sculpture I arranged the sefirot like this, from top to bottom. 1. Error (Division Based on False Knowledge) encloses UNITY 2. Confusion encloses WISDOM 3. Secrecy encloses UNDERSTANDING 4. (Greed and) Waste encloses ABUNDANCE 5. Domination encloses STRENGTH 6. Blame encloses BEAUTY 7. Hatred encloses LOVE 8. Failure encloses SPLENDOUR 9. Pollution encloses CLARITY 10. Fear encloses ACTION
In this sculpture I arranged the sefirot like this, from top to bottom.
1. Error (Division Based on False Knowledge) encloses UNITY
2. Confusion encloses WISDOM
3. Secrecy encloses UNDERSTANDING
4. (Greed and) Waste encloses ABUNDANCE
5. Domination encloses STRENGTH
6. Blame encloses BEAUTY
7. Hatred encloses LOVE
8. Failure encloses SPLENDOUR
9. Pollution encloses CLARITY
10. Fear encloses ACTION

I was struck by how the words describing the divine and its opposite relate to the ideas of the #resistance
I was struck by how the words describing the divine and its opposite relate to the ideas of the #resistance

In the Jewish tradition, humans are tasked with the project of "Repairing the World." This involves being present (“Here I Am,” says Abraham) with the holy presence of the sparks. The goal is to reunite the scattered sparks with the original power. The sparks are said to be the feminine aspect of the original, undifferentiated, power. This is how “Assembling the Shards” relates to the #FemalePowerProject.
In the Jewish tradition, humans are tasked with the project of “Repairing the World.” This involves, along with proper actions, a being-present (“Here I Am,” says Abraham) with the holy presence of the sparks. The goal is to reunite the scattered sparks with the original power. The sparks are said to be the feminine aspect of the original, undifferentiated, power. This is how “Assembling the Shards” relates to the #FemalePowerProject.

The viewer of the sculpture is prompted to mark her own presence by taking a pebble from the bucket and placing it on the ladder. This is a practice relating to another Jewish tradition of placing a pebble on the tombstone when visiting a grave.
The viewer of the sculpture is prompted to mark her own presence by taking a pebble from the bucket and placing it on the ladder. This is a practice relating to another Jewish tradition of placing a pebble on the tombstone when visiting a grave.

I assembled "Assembling" in the gallery last Wednesday. On March 9, sometime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm, I will give an informal 5 minute talk about this sculpture. I hope I don't sound like a crazy person. I am not a Jewish mystic. I am an artist.
I assembled “Assembling” in the gallery last Wednesday. On March 9, sometime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm, I will give an informal 5 minute talk about this sculpture. I hope I don’t sound like a crazy person. I am not a Jewish mystic. I am an atheist artist of Jewish ethnicity. (A distinction without a difference?)

Come and see this, Female Power Project, What I'm Making

PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans

PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (Female Power Project)
PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (Female Power Project)

Here is the most recent addition to the #FemalePowerProject, a multi-media triptych called PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans. This is one of two pieces with “PRESENCE” in its title. I will post about the other soon.

Now showing in the studio windows at Black Lab, you can view these works any time of the day or night (until I decide to take them down or show them somewhere else) at 716 Monroe Street NE, Studio 16, Washington, DC.

The three panels, based on a striking photograph by Jonathan Bachman, honor Ieshia Evans who was arrested in Baton Rouge on 7/10/16 protesting the murder of Alton Sterling. The writing on the pieces quotes parts of an interview with Ieshia Evans in which she describes her thoughts and feelings surrounding the event captured in the photograph. Her physical presence in the image holds immense power. I felt that this event and this person should be memorialized in some way since “viral” images have a tendency to be forgotten, their memory eroded by time and replaced by new viral images.

Mixed medium assemblage and collage, triptych. The three images (below) show the left, middle, and right panels of the triptych. All pieces are collage, spray paint, painting, and drawing on museum board nailed to painted plywood with plaster decorative molding and writing in silver ink.

Left 18” x 24” x 2.5”
Text says: I’m a woman. I’m Here. I love my people.

Middle 18” x 24” x 1.5”
Text says: Ieshia Evans was arrested in Baton Rouge protesting the murder of Alton Sterling by police. “I’m human. I’m a woman. I’m a mom. I’m a nurse. I could be your nurse. I could be taking care of you. You know? I’m here. We all matter. We don’t have to beg to matter. We do matter … I never really considered myself to be in the definition of brave. But sometimes, jobs are given to you that you’re not really—you didn’t apply for. You know?” (Based on a photo by Jonathan Bachman)

Right 18” x 25.5” x 1.5”
Text says: 7/10/2016 – It is more than me, it is more than myself. So here I am, I have a responsibility to do something.

$750 each panel

Here they are in a gallery. Click to see a larger picture of each panel.

About the Female Power Project

The Female Power Project is a multi-media performance and series of physical expressions (shawls, scarves, pins, prints, multi-media wall pieces, assemblage sculpture, photographs, and—coming soon—assemblage boxes, a print publication, video…) I’ve created these objects and designs inspired by the power of women, both human and mythological. I’ve asked friends and strangers about their female heroes and deities. I’ve researched these females and tried to find the center point of their power or gift. I document this process here on this blog. In each piece I have tried not only to represent the person, but to represent the attributes and message—the power—of the person (or spirit) in words and/or in images. The females represented so far: The Virgin of Guadalupe; Malala Yousafzai; Harriet Tubman; Maya Angelou; Erzulie (the Haitian spirit of love); and Marie Curie. Coming up next: Frida Kahlo; Virginia Woolf; Aun Sang Suu Kyi; Rachel Carson; Nellie Bly; Simone DeBeauvoir; Rosie the Riveter; Ruth Bader Ginsburg…

Information on how to order pieces in the Female Power Project

You can order them directly from me! Just send me a message here to discuss your request (include your name, email, and the address you want me to ship to, as well as which pieces you would like to buy) and I will send you information and/or a Paypal invoice which will include the shipping cost (likely to be $5.00 for scarves and shawls and pins for U.S. destinations). I will ship when your payment goes through. If you are interested in purchasing a Female Power Pin ($48, some are $38) let me know and I will email you a picture of the ones I have in the studio right now. These are one-of-a-kind, so there’s no other way of telling what designs I will have when you want to get one.