Susan Livengood

I am generating the documentation to send to the RAPG,  a requirement for the grant money.  It has been an interesting instruction.  I’m trying to explain my process and decisions, and I see that I skip a lot, assuming that you know what I’m thinking.  I’m having several people help proof read, so hopefully it will make some sense.

I have the broad strokes done on “Chemo Today”.  So many ideas, and deciding how to represent them.  The words on the “altar of the triptych” have been wrenching, the medical words in red, and the personal ones in gray.   The prayer boxes as a symbol have to be explained, whereas I hope the references to time are obvious.  Claiming this piece to be a triptych may seem a stretch, but the front doors shelter the altar, until you open it.

Lights, Please.  If you see this installation, please pull the chain for the light.  I even added a little sign.  I want people to move the scarves aside to discover details.  Any ideas on how I can INVITE people to touch the art?

An element that I have used in my paintings are small boxes floating about.  I think of them as prayers.  Since Chemo Today is 3D, I have made boxes and am hanging them from the ceiling.  First I used recycled cardboard, old cracker and kleenex cartons.  There is sooo much color going on in this closet, I changed to plain white.  Now I’ve thrown in a few pastels.  I’m also considering putting words on the boxes that would refer to the prayer.  Gregg says the boxes are empty, as soon as we offer them they reach their source.  Not destination, I really do mean source.  Faster than a T-1 line!

I touched up the back of this screen today.  It had a few boo-boos from moving it around.  I hope to show it (and sell it!) at Art on Depot.

There are two layers of words on the back of the closet.  The big scary red letters are all of the medical jargon.  The smaller gray type are the words that express the humanity of our woman.

I have painted a portrait of the woman looking in the mirror, with the shattered shards of the mirror exploding from it.

I’m glad to get over the words.  They were a very hard part of this project.

I am actually enjoying our spring snowstorm.  It comes every year, and I’d worry more about global warming if it hadn’t come.  It was 80 Sunday and supposed to be 50 tomorrow.   This is Mother Nature flipping her white coat at us as she puts it away for her spring wardrobe.

We are just looking!  We tried BofA in Chemo Today.  Stressed woman in closet, right?  RAPG thinks there are no artists in Haywood!  I got their money, what do I care?

I needed to paint today.  Chemo Today is more about gathering elements to tell the story of one day.  So I took a break and worked some more on Melting, and BofA, Destroyer of America.

No pix today.  I’ve painted the inside doors (like painting the rooms in WindDancers, not arty) , finished the pull chain for the light(is it too long?) and thought about the medical words.  Gregg did the ceiling and the trim.   Donna brought a sheer curtain, I thought that would soften the words.  We are trying printing them in colors, rather than black on white.  The words are like the thoughts swirling around her, a new language that is very hard to learn.

Oh, and the Oxymoronsnc.com are funny!  After seven years we saw their live performance last night.

I am working on Chemo Today again, and getting a lot of collaboration input.  This is what a prayer box looks like before it’s folded into the box.  I learned the technique while studying handmade books.   I made a bunch from recycled boxes, but they seemed gaudy.  Now I’ve done a bunch in white.  I may have people sign them with words that summarize what the prayer was for.   Gregg thinks the boxes are empty, the prayers have been sent on.

I came up with an idea for the sense sound.  I will put in a kazoo, for music.  It will be more upbeat than an ominously ticking clock, which was my first idea.

We took some time away to recuperate after Bobbi’s death.   I discovered the artist Ed Kienholz.   The closet was intimidating, just as a blank canvas is intimidating.  So you start somewhere.  This may look like a regression, but I pulled everything out of the closet so that I can be sure that what is included has a purpose, not just because I had a lot of stuff and shoved it all in.