This is one of the pieces I’ll be showing in the Artful Codgers show whose opening reception will be held on Saturday, February 8, in the Cultural Center in the Ajijic Plaza between 4 and 6:30 PM. . The show will be open until February 17. The name of the piece is “Circus Muses.” Its explanation is given below the piece.

Circus Muses

In the tiny notebook which the animals are jumping out of is written the story of this piece, which I have copied below:

Did I ever have a fantasy of running away to join the circus? I did. The small town traveling circuses of my American 50’s youth still exist in Mexico, so maybe in running away to Mexico, I’ve finally come closer again to that childhood. For thirteen years, I traveled around the USA doing arts and crafts shows. Putting up and tearing down the tents, creating a new world every weekend, I felt that I’d finally joined the circus. What I learned was that circuses are hard work, but still carry magic. It’s getting increasingly easier to move away to Mexico and never really leave the States, but the mystery is still here, and some of it assembles itself overnight in empty lots in small towns all over Mexico. I try to keep that mystery in my writing and my art by being more led by intuition than by logic; but in addition to this spontaneity, I also need the preciseness of repeated rituals. The circus only works if the tent stays up!!!

 The beginning of this piece was the assembled image of the woman muse.  At first, she had the face of my mother, which I copied onto white cotton and glued over the face of the  old ceramic doll form.  I know that much of my creativity comes from early writing sessions with my mother.  The creativity which she chose not to pursue was handed on to me, and I wished to honor her.  While I was working on this piece, however, Frida kept creeping in and trying to take over. I glued her face over that of my mother, then peeled it off, then glued on another and peeled it off.  In the end, I covered all the layers with a mask, but later chose to raise the mask which now resides perched over one eye. What we do to expand the themes and techniques and legends of those who come before us needs to rise above imitation. What we can bring that is both authentic and new is the constant task of the artist. The painter clown, who is trying to paint something original, keeps ending up duplicating Frida’s face and her cast-off images lie crumpled up and discarded on the floor.

Around her waist, the muse wears a bag woven of morning glory vines which contains a tiny paintbrush.  In her hand is a small pair of silver scissors.  The jewel in her necklace is one of a pair of tiny silver dice.  The background picture of the blue lady is from a work by Ana Oneglia, my favorite  Santa Cruz, CA artist. There are many more secrets hidden in this piece. Yours to decipher.

P.S. I see that in this photo the mask has slipped down to cover the face. I have fastened it up again, so the face of Frida Kahlo in addition to a second face partially peeled off may be seen under the mask.