December 6, 2011 – Advent of Art

At this point in the 2011 Project it should be clear that I am interested in time as well as it’s connection to specific dates on a calendar. And you might remember that I also love chocolate. It should come as no surprise that I like advent calendars. A calendar with its 24 magic little doors that you open every day on the way to Christmas. And, behind each door a chocolate. It makes me think about other possible calendar treats. I consider today’s piece a prototype. I think combining the concept of the advent calendar with new art surprises behind each door could be in my future. Why it might be the advent of a new era in art.

September 6, 2011 – Sylvester

Do ya wanna funk? Won’t ya tell me now? If ya wanna funk, let me show ya how.

Gaze into the disco ball. If you’re blessed, you may have a vision of San Francisco’s legendary disco diva Sylvester smiling back at you on the dance floor. We lost Sylvester way too soon but his spirit still lives and watches over the City he loves. Today would have been Sylvester’s 64^th birthday, but he really wasn’t born until he came home to San Francisco back in 1967.

Sylvester said, “My life started when I moved to San Francisco.”

Many of us feel the same way in our magical city. We know it is where life really begins.

August 7, 2011 – Lucky Number 7

• 7 – The luckiest of numbers
• 7 – The number of Chakras
• 7 – Principal Islands of Atlantis
• 7 – Cities of Gold
• 7 – Candles on the Menorah
• 7 – Layers of Heaven
• 7 – Virtues and Deadly Sins (I kind of like to mix those up a bit)
• 7 – Seas
• 7 – Dwarves, Samurai and Magnificent ones
• 7 – Hills of Rome
• 7 x 7 Miles of San Francisco
• 7 – Shichi Fukujin (Lucky Gods) 七福神

June 18, 2011- Glitter

What if volcanoes spewed glitter instead of lava? The world would certainly be a more dazzling and glamorous place.

I realized the 2011 Project needed a piece dedicated specifically to glitter. It’s not quite lava, but glitter deserves to be categorized a “dangerous” art supply. It has a special way of getting into everything. You can be reminded days later that you were working with glitter. Little flecks of it are always showing up here and there. It’s no wonder that glitter has recently replaced the pie-in-the-face when “greeting” politicians. They can always clean up after a pie, but glitter will keep appearing for a while, reminding them that they got glittered.

Friday, May 13, 2011 – Good Luck

I adhere to certain superstitions, but I am perfectly okay with Friday the 13^th. I focus on my lucky days instead and my favorite numbers. As for other superstitions, I do love those lucky German pigs, the best Schwein Glück is always made of marzipan. I don’t walk under ladders and always pick up pennies. And of course a genuine Wild West lucky horseshoe hangs in the kitchen. The god’s eye over my door has been watching over my home since I was little. You also note the Three King’s initials marked in yellow chalk above the doorframe. So Happy Friday the 13^th and Good Luck!

May 3, 2011 – James Brown

The Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, the amazing James Brown! He is a mood-enhancing drug — if listening to James Brown can’t make your day better, all hope may be lost. And watching him is an experience you’ll never forget. I recently saw the documentary Soul Power. It’s a great film and worth watching just to see James Brown dance. I regret never having seen James Brown perform live.

Today is James Brown’s birthday. In the future it may be a national holiday honoring his contribution to American music. When James Brown Day becomes a holiday, we all have to dress up like James Brown for the day. Imagine stepping outside and seeing everyone looking fabulous with a big, big smile. Call my tailor — I want a blue velvet suit!

February 9, 2011 – Carmen Miranda

It’s Carmen Miranda’s Birthday! You would think it would be a national holiday in Brazil. Alas no, but at least she has a museum in Rio de Janeiro. It’s one of those places that I must visit someday. If anything, just to see the shoes. In my family we were raised to be fans, my mother even got to see her live at a nightclub. She was about 10. How very glamorous.

For many Americans, Carmen Miranda has been reduced to a kitsch icon. They often know her best from those old cartoon parodies. We have forgotten that she was Hollywood’s biggest box office draw during World War II. It’s no surprise she was so popular, her movies were silly, escapist and pure entertainment. I challenge anyone not to smile watching a Carmen Miranda movie. Her smile was infectious, she could dance, sing and the costumes, were, well, indescribable. The ability to make people laugh is gift and her gift was immense. One of the first things you see upon entering my apartment is the house altar. Carmen Miranda’s smile blesses me every time I return home.

February 6, 2011 – Outer Space

I spend a lot of time cutting up old atlases for my map art. I use the maps but never really use the illustrations at the beginning of the atlases. In the 1950’s and 1960’s you have these great “Man in Outer Space” illustrations where the science always borders a bit on science fiction. Since 1969 and the Apollo moon landings, it’s gotten rather dull in the front of atlases. Now it’s all satellite images, population maps, etc. You have got to go back about 50 years for the good stuff. Raised on corny sci-fi like Lost in Space and the Planet of Apes movies, this imagery brings back a lot of childhood memories.