One person's garbage.....

I keep forgetting to take photos. Or, I'm not good at keeping the camera handy to take photos. Or something.

So you'll just have to trust me that I'm creating. Sunday evening, when I got home from a second long weekend of tech rehearsals, this time for "Laughter on the 23rd Floor", I found that J. needed some serious help finishing a 3-D art project. She's been "working" on this for several weeks, slowly collecting trash and recyclables and planning - kind of. I did alot of the planning with her, making suggestions, helping her think outside the box - or inside the box, in this case.

The assignment was to make an additive sculpture out of trash. Additive sculpture is pretty self-explanatory, you put things together to create the object, adding to the shape. (As opposed to subtractive sculpture, such as carving stone away to create the shape). We brainstormed about what she should make; she finally decided to make a refrigerator, with food items inside. A cardboard box, empty jars and boxes, paper bags, spray paint, milk jug handles - she did a great job with the individual elements! She made a loaf of bread in a pan, by painting the lower part of a strawberry container silver and covering the top with a brown lunch bag. She made a spray cheese can out of the empty spray paint can and making a new label for it. She made refrigerator magnets out of bottle caps and newspaper ads. She even made a phone list to put on the fridge!

Where did I come into this? I'm the owner/operator of the hot glue gun in our house. I attached the handles and the interior shelves. We used drinking straws as supports for the cardboard shelves. It was a strangely relaxing way to spend my evening, after spending the last 12 or so days inside of theaters. But, we didn't take photos, and I don't think she gets to bring this project home - I'll find out tomorrow at the Art Extravaganza at her school.

"An Absolute Turkey" has been getting wonderful reviews; one reviewer even commented on my costumes!

Next up, another pregnancy pad, an altered maternity dress, and MEAT FEAST. Stay tuned!

Art is Hard

This is embarrassing.

My theater has been taking so much time and energy (and another 5 lbs.! Yikes!), that I haven't been able to visit here. But I've been creating - shit, yeah, creating art and theater and wondrous things all over the place!

We did some publicity photos for "I Hate Hamlet", wherein I dressed the wonderful director/actor Peter Moore as John Barrymore as Hamlet - more precisely, as the ghost of John Barrymore as Hamlet. Add the skull of Yorick, and a handsome young actor (Brandon Ewald), and we have comedy gold.

The show is fantastic. It opened on April 20th, has been warmly received by audiences; unfortunately, they have been very small audiences. We're trying to get butts in the seats, but there were at least seven other theaters that opened shows on 4/20. Yeah, how stoned were all the theaters that decided on that particular date?? Hopefully, our second weekend will see an increase in ticket sales and word of mouth.

kinda like this

Some of my creations for the show itself: a hand-painted parquet floor on the entire stage (that took waaaaay too long, not the best idea I've had, especially when I'm doing so many other things with the show); a reproduction of Barrymore's Hamlet tunic for the above-mentioned Mr. Moore (who is giving a marvelous, brilliant performance as the slightly-drunk, ever-emoting John Barrymore); a phone intercom thingy that gets answered several times throughout the play, as people show up at the apartment; and a rigged archway curtain that "magically opens" when Barrymore first appears. I also made a stained glass window for a special lighting effect, where the profile of Barrymore (our own Mr. Moore, to be exact) appears in silhoutte.

Barrymore! Barrymore!

For my St. Kate's show, I finally have the dresses done (or almost, I will tomorrow) that I patterned earlier this month. Right now, I'm in the process of converting/creating a collar/lapel for a woman's jacket, to give it a little oomph and that great 1940's look. I'll also be adding some soutache trim and a decorative buckle.

At home, I gave the dog a much-needed haircut on Easter morning, after he had a little poop problem. And a bath. And I missed Easter lunch with the extended family.....Speaking of Easter, I created a lovely group Easter basket late Saturday night.

 I gave the kids The Hunger Games trilogy, in hardcover, as their big group present, and wrapped it up in almost an Easter Egg shape with tissue paper and wrapping paper and ribbon, then placed it in a big basket on the dining room table. 

I'll get pictures and better descriptions of these things, I just needed to make a list to remind myself of all I've been doing these last few weeks.