Shoes Tell Stories. By John McMullen

Thank you Sher, for the invitation to show some of my shoe art!

When I moved to Illinois in 2007, I spent a year making a series of shoe-related sculptures.

I like the idea of marrying storytelling with art, and creating evocative pieces that encourage interpretation by viewers. Shoes are a terrific medium for this. For example, people can bring any of their own stories about separation, loss, and reunion to a piece such as "Coming Home":

Coming Home, 2008
Shoes, fabricated wood box, vinyl flooring, wallpaper, text, paint, adhesive. 36 x 24 x 8.25 in.

Likewise, with "Upwardly Mobile", a variety of interpretations can be made. Much of my art is a critique of consumerism and modern society, and this piece is one example.

Upwardly Mobile, 2008
Shoes, fabricated wood box, nails, plastic screen, text, paint. 24 x 20.25 x 4.25 in.

"Three Families" and "Base Pairs" are statements on equality. What is a family? Whatever we want it to be. "Three Families" addresses diversity, but also reinforces commonalities across families (e.g., shoes are worn by all, regardless of sexual orientation). Looking at the shoes, one may begin to imagine the complex lives of the people and relationships they represent.

Three Families, 2008
Shoes, fabricated wood box, text, paint, adhesive. 47.75 x 36 x 6 in.

Like "Three Families", the monumental "Base Pairs" illustrates the idea that variations in pairs create diversity, with the pairs representing the nucleotide bases of DNA. (Yes, that is more than 10 feet tall.)

Base Pairs, 2008
Shoes; PVC, PEX, and vinyl tubing; wood, steel rod, mechanical fasteners. 127 x 36 x 36 in.

Finally, I made a few souvenir maquettes from remaining shoes for supportive friends. For assemblage artist Michelle Stitzlein (who I'm glad I was able to help bring here as the featured artist for our Hatch creative reuse festival last spring), I made a piece called "Metallic Bonding" that includes text from a chemistry book, nails, and of course, bottle caps.

The day I visited Michelle's studio in Ohio to deliver the piece, she received a donation of various vintage furs and pelts, which she offered to me since I said my dear friend and radical taxidermist HK would enjoy them. I also made HK a shoe sculpture called "Trophy". The text is from "A Million Little Pieces" so that she could have a little piece of James Frey to mount on her wall.

There were other souvenirs, but most relevant here is "Cassie", which I made for our host, Sher, to honor her fierce, ass-kicking, ninja-artist ways. The name comes from the protagonist in the novel Something Rising, Light and Swift.

"Cassie" is as full of stories as its namesake, and the book itself is told in fragments and flashbacks. Sher once said that caring for family but also being criticized by them is “a hard line to walk”, and that “‘[l]ine’ by the way, is one of the main themes I see in SRLS.” I thought those comments were nicely consistent with the lines of the galvanized mesh on the base.

More images here. Comments and discussion welcome. ~wjohn

Where Are Your Steps Taking You?

After a few days of mulling over the first prompt, I feel compelled to talk about direction.  Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is follow everyone else, or just REPEAT the path we have already taken.  Duh, doesn't that mean we are LITERALLY running about hither and yon IN CIRCLES???

Plowing ahead with a new path (even when we don't have a map or guide) can be one of the most difficult, yet the most soul-rewarding and artistically-successful of adventures.  Consider each tiny thought you have (directed on the prompt) as steps, you might lose your way, backtrack a bit but just  check your inner compass (that intuition thing), and continue the journey.  Each thought, idea, collected object, discarded object, are leading to the decisions that will result in your final product.

Keep in mind that these are via points along the way as you learn to express your ideas, some of which you might not even recognize until they are concrete in the 3-D world.  Many times I make or write something that really doesn't make sense to my brain, but which feels in line with my intuition/soul.  I go with that.  I call it my 'creative impulse' and I trust it more than my brain BY FAR. 

How do you get to know your 'creative impulse'.  I think brainstorming, collecting words and objects that strike a cord with your intuition, and then by PLAYING with those items . . . move them around, look at them in different light, put some of them side by side and see if they like to play together.  You will find the more you practice with your creative impulse muscle, the easier and stronger it will become - it will speak louder to you because you are LISTENING for it.

So go ahead, play!!!!  You will find in the end that you have ARRIVED exactly where you were meant to be and that that destination will become the starting point of your next adventure.

Mommy, I need a new pair of shoes! by Lisa Frazeur

Sher has presented this first exercise prompt so beautifully!  I needed a project that could catapult me into a new journey.  As you may know, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2011 and went through a double mastectomy on Halloween of that year - how appropriately dated.  I finished chemotherapy in June of 2012, but the snowball rolling downhill didn't really collapse until November of last year when I finally lost my job.  I am no longer a cancer patient.  I am no longer a medical transcriptionist.  I feel like I have lost so much of my identity.  My confidence feels like mashed potatoes - but there is much more to me than what these last two years have shown.  I am an artist.  I am a writer.  I am a good mother.  I needed a reminder, a project like this TO GET ME BACK ON MY FEET!  I don't know what shoes I need to put on next.  I think they must be the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn - they must be healing, they must soften and smooth the pain of walking on burning coals for so long and, most importantly, I must quit re-igniting those same coals over and over again with all of my negative self talk, doubt and whining! I need a pair of shoes that will help me through the day instead of ones that weigh me down, continue to burn and scar me, destroying the beauty that awaits before me.  I have a feeling these new shoes will look pretty funny - and the thing that has been missing in my life for so, so long is a good sense of humor. I used to have one.  I would like to get it back!  I am so thankful for this new opportunity - a safe and encouraging place to JUMP!

First Prompt for Creative Introspection

It's here, it's here . . . we really did it . . . our first prompt!

Beginnings are so important, not only in our life (where we come from, our biography, and what we are made of, our biology), but, especially, in journeys.  You have to decide when to get away, where to go, how to get there, and, what exactly will you DO when you arrive?  Will you stay?  Will you leave?  If you leave, you have to START ALL OVER AGAIN!  Phew.  I'm tired already!

Let's focus for this prompt on HOW WE GET THERE.  Metaphorically, we take ONE STEP AT A TIME.  We take BABY STEPS.  We take TWO STEPS FORWARD, and ONE STEP BACK.

Shoes PROTECT.  Just a bit of brainstorming there . . . do we have someone walking IN STRIDE with our steps, or are they solitary steps?  And, aren't we always alone, anyway?  What prints do we leave behind  us? 

Here are some images about steps/shoes and a few poems and quotes about them:


Sole Mates, 1999, Mixed Media, Sher Fick




 

Step Lightly, Altered Wedding Shoe, Sher Fick, 2005



 

"It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed."   - Ram Dass

“There are no mistakes.  The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they are necessary to reach the places we have chosen to go."   - Richard Bach.

"Mistakes are merely steps up the ladder." - Paul Meyer

Baby steps are tiny.

Each little gain is applauded.

And when you fall

someone is there

to help you up.

No one seems to mind

that you didn't make it all the way.

In fact,

they're just happy that you tried.

You and I, we're grown up,

if only on the outside.

Doesn't anyone realize

that we are just like children inside?

It's ok;

take baby steps.

If you fall

I will be there to help you.

I don't mind if you don't make it all the way,

as long as you try.

hidden poet

 

So - take your FIRST BABY STEPS, or if you are a well-practiced sprinter in creative expression, we can't wait to see what you have to offer.  We want to hear about the ideas, the struggles as you create, and then see/read your final expression.

 

It is kind of like we are all on a hike together, we will leave no one behind!





Why Live An Introspective Life?

Many of us practice the tenet of introspection without being consciously aware of it.  When we are faced with situations/crisis and then reflect back on them and our actions, that IS introspection.  You are living a life of growth and your introspection will reflect itself when another such crisis appears.

For a perfect example, I want to share a recent interaction with my sister, Lisa Frazeur, the co-author of this blog (who has yet to appear)!  Rather than telling her story for you, I want to share her Artist Statement and the work to which it refers.

SUICIDE IDEATION

ARTIST STATEMENT OF LISA CREEKBAUM FRAZEUR

 Growing up, I was the writer and my sister was the artist.  Sibling rivalry prevailed over any common ground we could have shared as creative souls.  As adults, we have slowly and painfully become friends. 

Lines of poetry and art now constantly cross between us.  I remember reading an entry my sister made in a notebook very early on in her marriage, lines she wrote about trying to fly with a broken wing, and it broke my heart.  I thought to myself, “Oh my God, she’s a poet.”  Recently, she told me I needed to use an old box of razor blades - the ones I kept hidden for years in case of an emergency suicide - in a piece of artwork.  I thought to myself, “Oh my God, she thinks I’m an artist.” 

 In my most recent piece, a razor bracelet, I did not use the same razor blades my sister first suggested - The blades were large and rusted.  I thought “If I were going to commit suicide, it wouldn’t be as ugly as this. I would buy new blades; I wouldn’t use rusted ones.  I would use something more elegant.  And it most certainly would be a beautifully planned death so there would be no mistake it was what I wanted.”  Instead, I chose to create the razor bracelet out of blades we use as artists.  They are thin, light, and quite precise.

I think “normal” people perceive suicide as repulsive, something to run away from.  I have fantasized about it.  I have longed for it.  I have placed Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Path on pedestals I believed I could never reach.  But I have equally longed to lose this incessant desire to die.  It is a demon I have struggled with for twenty years.  The question I find myself asking these days is “What if Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath actually kept writing, kept creating through all of that pain?  What wisdom, what jewels could they have left behind for the rest of us who seem to be living the same nightmare day after day?  I want to become the woman each of them had the potential to become.  I don’t want to give up.   

Poetry and art allow me to say “This is what I struggle with.  It isn’t pretty.  In fact, it’s terrifying.”  When I am able to move that pain inside out and look it in the eyes, it no longer has any more power over me.   Then, somehow, razor blades - like my sister’s ceramic slugs - are transformed into something beautiful.

 

 

 

 

One little footnote . . . the piece she is referring to wherein I utilize slugs, is "SLUG FEST":

 



 

 

So, my dear ones, when have you unknowingly practiced introspection and can you pinpoint where it worked in your personal/creative growth?



 

Inspirational Thoughts for Your Introspection by Sher Fick

Last weekend, Lisa and I were in heavy brainstorming about what EXACTLY introspection is.

Here are a few of our conclusions:

You can't just dig into your past and DWELL there forever, the idea is to dig it out, sort through it - use some of the remnants to build something new, leave the rest where it belongs - in the past, in the refuse pile, or just BEHIND you.

Focusing on positive joy and growth is much more productive than miring ourselves in the nigrado* of our past.

Let's have fun, and laugh TOGETHER and with others - we can all heal and grow simultaneously.

There are also some GREAT quotes about Introspection:

“The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.”
― Aldous Huxley

“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.”
― Yvonne Woon, Dead Beautiful

“I stand in the mist and cry, thinking of myself standing in the mist and crying, and wondering if I will ever be able to use this experience in a book.”
― Erica Jong, Fear of Flying

What are your thoughts about INTROSPECTION, any examples of how it has worked in your life, realizations or anything you want to share? Also, introduce yourselves, who you are, what you do, how you know Lisa or myself . . .

And, WELCOME!!!! Spread the word to others you feel would be interested in either following us OR participating.

* Self-knowledge is an adventure that carries us unexpectedly far and deep. Even a moderately comprehensive knowledge of the shadow can cause a good deal of confusion and mental darkness, since it gives rise to personality problems which one had never remotely imagined before. For this reason alone we can understand why the alchemists called their nigrado melancholia, "a black blacker than black," night, an affliction of the soul, confusion, etc., or, more pointedly, the "black raven." For us the raven seems only a funny allegory, but for the medieval adept it was . . . a well-known allegory of the devil.[The Conjunction,"CW14, par. 741.]

Instrospectism - What is this all about????

My sister, Poet, Lisa Frazeur, and myself, Artist, Sher Fick, are thrilled to announce our joint venture:  the idea behind CREATIVE INTROPECTISM began around the time I was working on a retrospective exhibition at a mental facility (and, yes, that is the RIGHT place for me)!  During selections of the work and my approach for the Art Talk (view here), we worked closely together. 

Coping Skills at the Foundations Recovery
Network's Nashville Facility,
Meditation Room, Sher Fick, 2013

We worked through many of our own childhood and early adult issues through the use of creative  expressions in art and poetry, also short fiction and theatre.  It became clear to us at the exhibition that people were interested in our processes and, who knows why, what we had to say on the matter.  They then became really excited when we talked about a future BLOG in which we would offer monthly prompts/challenges and the 'group' could not only follow along, but work side-by-side with us, and we would all share and support each other from the alpha to the omega.

Suicide Ideation Bracelet, Lisa Frazeur, 2013

It is NOT our intention to 'teach' or to 'treat/therapy' - we simple believe in the power of creative introspection and want to help provide a forum and sanctuary for others to join us in the process.

We will have guest 'prompters' and special  'speakers' from time-to-time.  No rules (except we require kindness and empathy) and you can come and go as you please.

Lisa Ann & "Sissy Kay", approx. 1970, California
LIFE IS A MERRY-GO-ROUND, JUMP ON WITH US!!!

Join us for soul celebrating, introspective journeying through creative expression.