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!
