Sandwich as Muse

What is your muse?
 
Hmmm, for me it’s hard to narrow it down to one as I am inspired by many things.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I started out life as a potter, so rusty, crusty, earthy textures make my heart race. And old, decaying things too.
 
Text of any kind does the same. Which is why it can be found on almost all of my work. That could stem from graffiti, or billboards, or t-shirts which have turned us into walking billboards. Or maybe it is just the simple beauty of the line a letter or word makes that captivates me.
 
I am not sure.
 
But a sandwich has never been among the items on my list.
 
Which is why the Cuban Sandwich Show conceived by David Audet of the Artist and Writers Group and the Festival of Moving Image, is appealing to me.
 
A formal prospectus will be out soon, but in the meantime, David sent out this brief description of the show.

"All the art, in all mediums, has to be about Tampa AND/OR Cuban Sandwiches. Thus, whether the art form is visual, film, dance, theater, music, cuisine, poetry, literature, the root subject is somehow about Tampa, past, present, future."

A Cuban Sandwich Show.  Fantastic.  I shall chew on that subject (pun intended) for many days to come.

Makes me yearn for a good Cuban sandwich too.

And makes me wonder if it is all of our experiences that become our muses?

What do you think?

Whatever form your muse takes, may she keep you moving forward on your path.

Have a great one!

An Artful Life

I think I could cycle back to the questionnaire from Cloth Paper Scissors magazine over and over and still never complete it. I see a question, ponder it, and arrive at an answer only to have it evolve into another answer and then prompt another thought and continue to evolve as the days go by.

The one question I have been thinking about repeatedly this holiday season is:

• Where do you find ideas for your work?

If I could push it one step further, I would ask:

• How does your art find its way into your life?

And this year, I can say my holiday decorations where definitely inspired by the decorations used in the altar the Artist Advisory Committee made for the Day of the Dead show at Tampa Museum of Art this past October. (Whew, that is a mouth full.)

I don’t have pix of the altar, but it is the white pom pom flowers on my tree that were inspired by the multicolored ones we used in October.

Must be a week of dogs; I see a poodle tail on the top of my tree!

May your holidays be happy and your troubles few.

I’ll talk to you in a few days.

Happy, happy, merry, merry!

Pix from TAPAS

Well, the TAPAS show was fantastic though LOTS of work, which is why I haven’t posted pix until now. But here is a peek at the visual arts. We couldn’t do photos during the performances as the flash could potentially interrupt and startle the dancers, singers, and poets, but rest assured, they were GREAT. For a visual artist that labors long and hard to make a piece and then hang it, it was so refreshing to see visual performers that get instant gratification. Yes, yes, yes, I know they have done MUCH work to get to that point, it just feels different to what we visual folks get. I mean, has anybody given you a standing ovation? See what I mean. It’s just different. And bravo to you if you HAVE received a standing ovation at one of your shows. WHOO HOO to you!!!! The visual artists included in the show were: Jeremy Chandler, Suzanne Camp Crosby, Jason Fondren , Taylor Ikin, Phyllis McEwen, Donna Duke Morrison, Kim Radatz, Jon Rodriguez.

Getting ready for the TAPAS show

We, the Artist Advisory Committee of Hillsborough County, are in the last minute flurry of details that always happen at the last minute. Not big stuff, just a little change here, and another one there, good changes, that let you know you are tweaking the show to perfection. Well, maybe not quite perfection, but as Vince Lombardi said, “We are going to relentlessly seek perfection knowing full well that we will not find it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly seek it, because in the process we will find excellence.” So there you have it. It might not be a perfect show, but I’m betting it’ll be an excellent one. Come see for yourself.

Sunday, January 31, 3:00, HCC Ybor 2112 N. 15th Street, Ybor City, Tampa.

See more info on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&gid=59044364683