“Geppetto, In Memory of the Papa Some Boys Wanted But Never Had” Approx 8′x10′x4′ oil on wood, mixed media, assemblage
The piece “Geppetto, in Memory of The Papa that Many Boy’s Wanted But Never Had” is up and complete at the Chealem Cultural Center. Check it out in its entirety if you have a chance.
Here is the piece under construction. I wanted to create a series of shelves around the painting that all the little boys would sit upon.
Currently at the Chehalem Cultural Center I have a piece entitled “Geppetto; in memory of the papa some boys wanted but never had” as part of a “Day of the Dead” Exhibiton they have currently up. The show runs from September 20th to November 5th. The “celebration” is October 30th from 11-2pm (see you there!)
http://www.chehalemculturalcenter.org/
Above is a photo I took when constructing the work. What you see complted so far of the painting was actually painted in 1999 for an exhibition I was in at the airport in Phoenix. I unfortuantely at the time didn’t complete the work, but now was able to use the piece for something of similar intent.
I invited my sculpture class at George Fox Univeristy to each make a “Pinnochio” assemblage for the piece, those figures would represent a boy in need of a dad, below are some of them with their creations. I have only one male student in the class, so we had some very interesting talks about father and son relationships from their perspectives. They were a very insightful bunch and quite thoughtful in their constructions as to why they did certain things in order to communicate certain traits about their little boy. I’ll post soon what the end result looks like in the gallery- or you may go there yourself right now and see!
Here is the team (from left to right, me, Janelle, Ali, Karina, Seth, Leah, Meghan, and Morgan) in front of the majority of the mural when it was complete. Seth and Leah came up with the over all design of it.
A couple of weeks back I had the honor of heading up a team of wonderful students and some select employees from George Fox that went to downtown Portland’s Rescue Mission to help out with some service projects and also to paint a mural in the men’s rec room.
A detail of a fox I painted over on a side wall. We are George Fox you know, and I do have an affinity for these critters...
Every year George Fox sends out its entire campus population for a day do acts of service in the community. This is the seventh year I have participated in the event, and the third in which I was able to head up a group of art students that were able to use thier artistic skills in service to others. The team was able to crank out the mural in an impressive five hours at the Portland Rescue Mission on Burnside.
The folks working at the mission were an absolutley wonderful group of people (one of which I found out got his MFA in SanFransico). I was struck at the sense of mission, purpose, heart, tenacity, and clarity that they have as they serve the homeless in Portland. It was an honor to work with them for a day. Our hope is that the mural we created will provide a bit of refuge too for those in the community, it was a blessing to see a glimpse of the work they do.
Working away on the mural, we did have a very large water heater that was covered in scripture that we had to contend with. Some of us wondered if we could come back next year and paint it so it blends into the landscape we created on the wall.
Meghan signing the piece for all of us by some rabbits I painted in the mural.
Well, to be honest there are multiple reasons… Nothing like a delightful British woman who has devoted her life to prayer and art. In heaven I look forward to talking with her for some time.
I”m teaching a course on contemporary art this semester I recently showed this clip of Bill Moyers interviewing Sister Wendy. In it they were discussing Andres Serrano’s photograph “piss Christ,” and nudity in art. I love how she turns the tables upside-down in her remarks. Her dialog about art that is “comforting” is wonderful - Check it out.
“If people can look, and look, and always come away from a work of art enriched it is a great work of art.” Sister Wendy
Here is the last of the three boxes that potentially may be a book cover (keep those eyes peeled). With each my objective was to communicate some aspects of what it is to be a man, and the process of healing.
You saw parts of this in process through several posts- here is this work in complete form: (insert trumpet sound here…)
"Wisdom Teaches Without Speaking" Tim Timmerman; assemblage (baseball, marbles, toy soldier, metal with gold leaf), salvaged wood, pate de' verre, dalle de verre; August 2010
