tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74202011318887924902024-03-19T04:59:50.296-07:00a hand upon the latchMary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-87586417667988510172014-07-06T15:13:00.004-07:002014-07-06T15:21:05.186-07:00Look right, keep left, and listen up.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDD5cZZzP00DRe_Yy_yjJmfQDDOGolEKhqXn4MoQnJdJunNSYSLNsTTIfg4p-ECGQxbp6NuuXJiQf01MBLN_hmz3wbvturr7ZNBgOk_0YXsd9PIdFb48_UE1rsrtVw7eUP1GSA0nDNFR_/s640/blogger-image--949508152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDD5cZZzP00DRe_Yy_yjJmfQDDOGolEKhqXn4MoQnJdJunNSYSLNsTTIfg4p-ECGQxbp6NuuXJiQf01MBLN_hmz3wbvturr7ZNBgOk_0YXsd9PIdFb48_UE1rsrtVw7eUP1GSA0nDNFR_/s640/blogger-image--949508152.jpg"></a></div><br></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alan Morrison, Fellow at Westminster University and our lead faculty member for this JHU Graduate Seminar.</td></tr>
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Captain, my captain...this man is our fearless leader for the next two weeks and I'm already in love. There's a twinkle in his eye and a hop in his step that truly defies description. There are those who tried to tell me, but I had no idea what they were trying to say. Today was wonderful. Clear enough skies and not bad crowds...and...well, nobody was run over trying to keep up with the gent. <br>
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We saw the influence on London architecture of John Nash and the (at times) bombastic architectural metaphor that makes so much of these places what they are. Today conjured up some things that I know from my former studies (art & architecture), as well as my current pursuits and I really found myself wishing someone would pinch me at times.<br>
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Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste...they were all stimulated today. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.<br>
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<br>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-88699943439030722602014-06-28T17:42:00.000-07:002014-06-29T09:49:27.344-07:00Puddle Jumping<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Mubp5znEU5_GIdvxPv8eH05vXoxBaokbVk713N6Aqn2yvLaNVd92P-lSWT8ThJblY0VUspUOET1dntBTV7vtKde72H5_CY_zHh8CzgRUaAbVQWWUgR9yByVPdhtbZIzhf6waMaJd1f_H/s1600/10380032_10203753849506643_8625285601188489930_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Mubp5znEU5_GIdvxPv8eH05vXoxBaokbVk713N6Aqn2yvLaNVd92P-lSWT8ThJblY0VUspUOET1dntBTV7vtKde72H5_CY_zHh8CzgRUaAbVQWWUgR9yByVPdhtbZIzhf6waMaJd1f_H/s1600/10380032_10203753849506643_8625285601188489930_o.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Mary Mikel Stump | <i>That's The Way</i> | 2009 | screenprint | 22 x 28 inches</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm going to London. In fact, I'm going on a trip of a lifetime to study behind the scenes of many of the major museums in London...and two in Oxford, just in case I thought I wasn't dreaming. As I am to write reflections each night as part of my coursework, I thought I'd do the same here. I started this blog as really more of a journal for myself and to share with anyone who cared to read it, which may be limited to my mother and, well, that may be it. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That said, I haven't really shared here at all since starting my MA in Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins 3 years ago. For me, I took the tortoise route, doing one class per semester (alongside a more than full time job) and taking summers off from school to enjoy being a mom with my boys (still alongside a more than full time job). Now, I find myself at the "capstone" of the Hopkins Museum Studies program. At first, I thought I'd do the domestic Seminar. It is in Philadelphia this summer and looks to be amazing. I mean who wouldn't kill to go behind the scenes at the </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://muttermuseum.org/" target="_blank"><span class="st">Mütter</span> Museum</a>? Okay, maybe not the best choice of words, there, but I digress. When Hopkins' foreign seminar in Barcelona fell through and they changed it to London, all bets were off. I talked it over with my husband, Marty, and we both agreed that I had to go. I mean, the UK is the virtual birthplace of museums, don'tcha know. We concurred that I'd never have this opportunity again. So, on July 4th, I will eschew my annual viewing of <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds4dv4IS0PM" target="_blank">1776</a> </i>for a view of fireworks from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgoOwtnAAR0" target="_blank">British Airways' Boeing 787 Dreamliner</a>. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Excited doesn't begin to cover how I'm feeling. I'm thrilled to the point of nausea, for so many reasons. So, instead of talking about all that is obvious, I'll just move on to the class itinerary. I'll be doing extra things, as well: I'm going to see the final performance of <a href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-drowned-man-a-hollywood-fable" target="_blank">PunchDrunk Theater's The Drowned Man</a>, as well as a tour of <a href="http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dennis Severs' House</a>-both of which are most definitely on my personal bucket list. I'll also be co-presenting at the <a href="http://www.eva-london.org/eva-london-2014/programme/programme" target="_blank">EVA Conference (Electronic Visualisation in the Arts) </a>on the app that I partnered to develop for <a href="http://txstgalleries.org/" target="_blank">The University Galleries at Texas State University</a>. Finally, I'll be turning (to quote Sally O'Mally) the big five-O while I'm gone. So, this is a big trip in so many ways. Most of all, it signals the beginning of the end for this degree, which is a long awaited completion (for all of my family and friends!). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, stay tuned and come along with me, if you are so inclined. Here is "our" itinerary...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Johns Hopkins
MA Museum Studies – London Onsite Seminar 2014</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></b></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Programme</span></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">12 –
4<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Meet 12.00
noon, Foyer, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.
Get-to-know and introductions. Brief tour of University area. West End “cultural
walk”, Regent Street to Trafalgar Square.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 10<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Breakfast and formal
induction programme – Boardroom, 309 Regent St. Outline main seminar themes,
seminar structure, day-by-day schedule, assessment, and group work
instructions. London Living issues.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
11<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The Education of the Eye”:
early history of the University of Westminster – the Royal Polytechnic
Institution. Anna McNally and Claire Brunnen, University Archive Team.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">11 –
4.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Site Visit, British Museum.
The Encyclopaedic Museum – history and contemporary mission. Viewing of selected
galleries, including the Enlightenment Gallery, the Parthenon/Elgin Marbles, Living
and Dying, and exhibition “Ancient Lives, New Discoveries”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">7 –
8.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Welcome Reception. Welcome
by Professor Alexandra Warwick, Head of Department of English, Linguistics and
Cultural Studies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">7.00am<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Deadline 1<sup>st</sup> journal
entry</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Annotation 2 instructions.
Site visit review presentation. Introduction to the day ahead: “Collecting
London”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">9.30
– 10.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>World War I and the Regent
Street Polytechnic. Material in the University Archives. Archive Team.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10.30
– 5.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Site Visit, Museum of London.
Exploring the collection, including London and World Wars I and II displays.
Staff discussion led by Dr Cathy Ross. See appended detailed programme for this
visit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">5.30
– 6.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tour of London’s Roman Wall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">6.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pub meal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Wednesday 9 July</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 9.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Site visit review
presentation. Introduction to the day ahead: “The Great Exhibition and the establishment
of the South Kensington Museums.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
4.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Site Visit, Victoria &
Albert Museum: Art and Design for All. Exploring the collection. Visit
exhibitions “The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014” and “William Kent:
Designing Georgian Britain”. Discussion with Johanna Banham, Head of Public
Programmes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">6.00<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>JHU and University of
Westminster Public Seminar: “The multi-modal museum: new initiatives on access
programmes for Visually Impaired people and multisensory provision in museums”.
Speakers include Marcus Dickey Horley, Curator, Access and Special Projects,
Tate; Dr Alison Eardley, University of Westminster. Boardroom, 309 Regent
Street.<br />
6.00 Tea/Coffee; 6.30–8.30 Seminar; 8.30 Drinks Reception.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Thursday 10 July</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 9.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Site visit review
presentation. Introduction to the Day Ahead: “Georgian London” High Culture and
Low Life: Hogarth vs. Kent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
12.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>South Kensington Museums
continued. Visit to “Wedding Dresses” exhibition at the V&A.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2 – 5<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Foundling Museum. Explore
collection. View exhibition “Progress”: four contemporary artists’ responses to
Hogarth. Discussion with Collections Manager Alison Duke. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><span lang="EN-GB">Evening
free.</span></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Friday 11 July</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 9.30 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Onsite review
presentation. Introduction to the day ahead. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
3 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Site visit: National
Portrait Gallery. The Pantheon concept. Representing British identity. History
and contemporary celebrity culture.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">3 – 5
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Project work.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><span lang="EN-GB">Evening
free.</span></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Saturday 12 July</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
12<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Queen’s Gallery,
Buckingham Palace. “The First Georgians: Art and Monarch, 1714 – 1760”.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">1 – 6<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Project work.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><span lang="EN-GB">Evening
free.</span></u><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sunday 13 July – Free.</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Monday 14 July </span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 9.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Final Paper topics
published. Site visit review presentation. Introduction to the Day Ahead: The
Two Tates: History and modernity.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10.00
– 1<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tate Modern: Explore
collection and view Matisse exhibition.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">1 – 2
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lunch, and Tate Boat to
Tate Britain.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2 – 5<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tate Britain. Explore collection
and view exhibition “Kenneth Clark: Looking for Civilization”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><span lang="EN-GB">Evening
Free</span></u><span lang="EN-GB">. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">12
midnight: Annotation 2 submission deadline.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Tuesday 15 July</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Day trip to Oxford</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Meet
8 a.m. at Victoria tube station.</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Further details to
follow.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 -
1<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>V</b>isit
to the Ashmolean Museum: “Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time”. Discussion with Dr
Giovanna Vitelli, Director of the University Engagement Mellon Project. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">1 – 2
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lunch at the Lamb &
Flag pub.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2 – 4
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Visit to the Pitt Rivers
Museum. Discussion with Hannah Eastwood, Education department.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">4 – 5
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Visit to the Museum of the
History of Science. Viewing of exhibition “Geek is Good” and discussion with
staff.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">5 – <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oxford walk, dinner and
return.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Wednesday 16 July</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">9 – 12
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion.
Site review presentation – double session (Two Tates and Oxford). Project
discussion. Museum policy seminar.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">12 –
5 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Visit to Horniman Museum
and gardens. Explore collection. Staff discussion in the Handling Collection
base, led by Abigail Hinton, Schools Liaison Officer.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Thursday 17 July</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8.30
– 9.30<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Discussion. Site review
presentation. Outline of Day Ahead</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">10 –
12.30 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Florence Nightingale Museum.
Explore collection and exhibition “The Hospital in the Oatfield – the Art of
Nursing in the First World War”, new exhibition to honour nurses in the First
World War; and discussion with exhibition curator Holly Carter-Chappell.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">p.m.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Project</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Friday 18 July</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">7
a.m.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Last Journal Entry
deadline</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">9 – 2
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Project Presentations (with
breaks!)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2.30
– 4 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Final seminar review</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">7.30 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Seminar dinner, Portrait
Restaurant, National Portrait Gallery.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 70.9pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 70.9pt; text-indent: -70.9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Saturday/Sunday...explore on my own</span></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Monday, July 21 HOMEWARD BOUND</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-40391281365818291732014-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:002014-01-08T11:34:22.181-08:00fill your cup.<h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">"Let yourselves be emptied and transformed in order to fill the cup of your heart to its fullest, then you in turn will be able to give in abundance." </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">-Mother Teresa</span></span></h3>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVXqYfJbZ4OQXakMshaqH8PEneX4HZwYgdGZcIZtkVmcy07jcIS_YWoOge5a8borodQNKRnRMmkjtNTw15hrhMLqfor923KBM6Bft-uGKlIaFSESCps6vPbFXhPiUHPUfjLzxk6QwELKG/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-08+at+1.27.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVXqYfJbZ4OQXakMshaqH8PEneX4HZwYgdGZcIZtkVmcy07jcIS_YWoOge5a8borodQNKRnRMmkjtNTw15hrhMLqfor923KBM6Bft-uGKlIaFSESCps6vPbFXhPiUHPUfjLzxk6QwELKG/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-08+at+1.27.02+PM.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Cups are interesting things, really. They can be as earnest as simply putting your two hands together or they can be as lavish as hand painted china with gold leaf. They can carry the sentiments of grandchildren or they can campaign for a local politician. They are, whatever their form, ultimately meant to hold that which sustains us and can't be filled unless they are emptied from time to time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When I was a new mother, I read the most meaningful book of my young parenthood titled, "Are We Having Fun Yet? The 16 Secrets of Happy Parenting" by Kay Willis and Maryann Bucknum Brinley. In it, these two wise women talk about the importance for parents (and moms, specifically) to fill their cup once in a while. This comes from putting yourself first and doing something that is related to your personal needs, desires, and interests.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This was transforming to me as a parent and as an individual. I had never thought about it that way, but now it's part of my parenting practice and my boys are better for it. In so doing, I've modeled for them that it's important to allow and encourage that in their relationships. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And, as an aside, yes...we are definitely having fun. </span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-39696774537948859362012-01-24T06:24:00.000-08:002012-01-24T08:01:31.378-08:00permission granted.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzXwnCyPg9fUv8EcTXDLEv9iyWwbVRyOqc8YPbvioIwO-z5_-D4Cf3NgScgNsdE-pUORstw4U_K1JEhPhvdF9saNrRjMPqvi_TzR4GXVCFcKQeL1e9p89i4LoCTLWOwfJIvGGdXRZ54HD/s1600/Marcosini%2527sTally.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 363px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzXwnCyPg9fUv8EcTXDLEv9iyWwbVRyOqc8YPbvioIwO-z5_-D4Cf3NgScgNsdE-pUORstw4U_K1JEhPhvdF9saNrRjMPqvi_TzR4GXVCFcKQeL1e9p89i4LoCTLWOwfJIvGGdXRZ54HD/s400/Marcosini%2527sTally.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701213118505008130" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mary Mikel Stump</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />Marcosini's Tally</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />2012<br />found object, alkyd enamel, gold leaf, antique<br />lace, map pins, graphite<br />20 x 22 x 2 inches<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is a long drawn out tale of things discarded, tallies kept and the sentimental response to both.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">I ask for your patience.</span></span><br /><br />I first heard of "Baaaaalzac" in a reference to "dirty books" in this musical number from The Music Man <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhnRuJBHLs">[click here]</a>. I think I was about 8 years old and from that point on, I kept my distance from that ever-so-randy Honore'...until last year when I was given a small book of stories written by none other than Honore' de Balzac. This short novella,<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Unknown Masterpiece</span>, is a story that has inspired Cezanne and Picasso alike.<br /><br />I will say that it inspired me too, but the real treat was the added story, <span style="font-style: italic;">Gambara</span>, which is included alongside <span style="font-style: italic;">TUM</span> in this particular print edition. <span style="font-style: italic;">Gambara</span> is not for the faint of heart. It is a story of obsession, lust, battling one's demons and ultimately failing at all of that.<br /><br />And so the story goes:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A Milanese nobleman, Count Andrea Marcosini, spies in a crowd the extraordinary face of a woman with fiery eyes. She escapes him, but not before he chases her as far as a sordid alley behind the Palais-Royal where she disappears. If he is "attached to the step of a woman whose costume announced a deep, radical, ancient, inveterate misery, who was no fairer than so many others he saw each night at the Opéra", it was his eye that was literally spellbound. Marcosini investigates and finds that her name is Mariana and that she is married to Gambara, a composer, performer, instrument-maker and expert on music theory. Gambara's genius is his curse, as it is only when he is drunk that he's able to make beautiful music. Mariana works in humble jobs to pay for Gambara's practice, for she strongly believes in her husband's misunderstood genius. Seeing Gambara's support as a means to gain access to his desired Mariana, Marcosini supplies Gambara with money as well as drink to encourage his success. Finally, the count takes the beautiful Mariana from her husband but once conquered, soon abandons her for a dancer. Crushed by her abandonment, Mariana then goes back to her husband, more miserable than ever and so ends the tragic tale.</span><br /><br />Meanwhile, back at the ranch...<br /><br />It's been over a year since I took a workshop on Assemblage with artist Beverly Mangum. The ever-gracious queen of the Eye of the Dog Art Center led us all to a magical room filled with found objects from which we could select anything we liked. In the corner was a dirt-dobber filled dusty contraption with a broken leather handle that was used for I don't know what, but it seemed to be that its life had been in the realm of counting things. I grabbed it - not sure why - but it just seemed like something I should have: it had all the required elements of wood, old leather and a certain amount of degradation. I didn't use it for that day's workshop, but Beverly let me take it anyway. After a year of living with this wonderful object, I was ready to do something with it. Inspired by the story of Mariana and the way in which she had been added to Marcosini's tally of women desired and conquered, I set out to abstractly illustrate this story by the use of a "count"ing apparatus, numbering, lace and map pins.<br /><br />So, things are not always as they appear. A work of art that would - from its use of found objects and antique lace - seem sentimental is really a sordid story of lust and conquest. I was reluctant to use materials of this nature because I have often run from the "s" word that so often finds itself attached to my work. However, I learned a valuable lesson with this one - which is the ultimate point of this circuitous post. A cherished friend who is also a highly respected artist told me that when he makes work and has to make decisions about such things, he always goes for the most emotionally impactful punch.<br /><br />There it was: <span style="font-style: italic;">Permission Granted</span>.<br /><br />It was a date that I noted in my calendar because it was the date that I moved away from the worry of the <span style="font-style: italic;">sentimental</span> label and fully embraced it. Afterall, if art is a reflection of the one who makes it, then it would stand to reason that everything that comes from my hand will have some sort of lace in it...even it if it's simply implied.Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-50072170857985439432010-10-03T13:42:00.000-07:002010-10-03T14:09:14.434-07:00dilettante, devotee, amateur.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHgB_zn6wwBjMfTB11khq_VB-CAdrhEB6y9RUwNkseo6S-3NJyrI1AE8xjJ9lZlTxdHx7feMKFvqzE27HOiLjUprPdppgUBERCFylp_S738kQWqJ-u8FpCNeGVX9p40YQw3usB9cvaw7_A/s1600/sticks+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHgB_zn6wwBjMfTB11khq_VB-CAdrhEB6y9RUwNkseo6S-3NJyrI1AE8xjJ9lZlTxdHx7feMKFvqzE27HOiLjUprPdppgUBERCFylp_S738kQWqJ-u8FpCNeGVX9p40YQw3usB9cvaw7_A/s400/sticks+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523923376685195186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:180%;">I </span>make art not because I am a degreed artist nor because I am a curator. I make art because I have a love and admiration of it and - by the word's pure definition - I am an <span style="font-style: italic;">amateur</span>.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNPJAEJSpW60i0h83TKhVK3YaiA7kCfZUxjsCTPvwSo9qyoLfGoyZZyVdZhWbgFnALzwtSyO6o1QcYNag7eU9wH-6FUJ73w988WPHNpbkku9GENfHQVUaeo4lm-e9bn_lF4jTknft-5Ca/s1600/sticks2small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNPJAEJSpW60i0h83TKhVK3YaiA7kCfZUxjsCTPvwSo9qyoLfGoyZZyVdZhWbgFnALzwtSyO6o1QcYNag7eU9wH-6FUJ73w988WPHNpbkku9GENfHQVUaeo4lm-e9bn_lF4jTknft-5Ca/s400/sticks2small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523923371951413666" border="0" /></a><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword"><span style="font-size:180%;"><br />T</span>hese photos are of bits and pieces of a work in progress. This work, tentatively called <span style="font-style: italic;">Weft/Warp </span>is made from the comb like parts of old looms which, originally, are wood with metal tines and are used with the open side facing down. However, once they enter my realm, they quickly abandon their original function; they are turned on end and meant to be seen as the independent objects that I saw when I first laid eyes on them. What struck me about these things as objects were the regimental way in which their individual parts could be seen as a whole if viewed from the proper angle. I continued that exploration by painting each of the tines a bright "fashion color" - a topic about which I am very curious. Once assigned a color, the individuals stand out when viewed from front on, but when looked at from an increasingly oblique angle, they "fall in" to their line and quickly are read as one solid form, as the spaces between are foreshortened and therefore become imperceptible. This implied whole made of individuals separated by color is an obvious metaphorical response to so many issues in our world today. I don't have to be didactic here for you to perhaps get what I'm implying. In fact, for once, the inference is of no interest to me. I hope it's clear, but if not, that's okay. This work functions on a lot of levels and for that I'm happy. Ultimately, I like the resulting form and the colors please me. I used to criticize such a shallow response to art. No longer.<br /><br />I get it.<br /><br /><br /></span></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-19738334236677186242010-09-07T05:17:00.000-07:002010-09-07T07:24:00.376-07:00let's start at the very beginning...So, it all started here.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZDHfVitXLQ&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZDHfVitXLQ&feature=related</a><br /><br />Well, actually, it started when Maria von Trapp sold her story to a German publisher for $9,000 and signed away all rights to it. Her story, which varied greatly from the eventual musical, was made into a film in Germany in 1956 which, in turn, was dubbed in English here in the United States. It was this film that caught Mary Martin's eye and that led her to bring the story to musical theater through the music of Rogers and Hamerstein. From that stage show, came what we now know as the Sound of Music. Interesting how similar this film seems to the mega-hit we know today.<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZDHfVitXLQ&feature=related"><br /></a>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-56221514030244059102010-09-06T23:04:00.000-07:002010-09-07T05:51:15.039-07:00my favorite things.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWDepeP45utlaazFjZbpO9_KQjRrLYbaFbVF6AK_xqY997b-5LyuT22ruqMcjrL8JhfuQ2MHVVE0wP_NEOHtLkwx2DLxqfUdW0YV03j_ID2l4AWU1lQKYk3k7AuCskihNsgzzGixYYM4nW/s1600/sound-of-music-andrews_l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWDepeP45utlaazFjZbpO9_KQjRrLYbaFbVF6AK_xqY997b-5LyuT22ruqMcjrL8JhfuQ2MHVVE0wP_NEOHtLkwx2DLxqfUdW0YV03j_ID2l4AWU1lQKYk3k7AuCskihNsgzzGixYYM4nW/s400/sound-of-music-andrews_l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514144347271568002" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">movie still from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Sound of Music</span>, 1964</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zQMYGkYuKE7SlhnwA2T0rChlcNro2TluDbqC11meTAoSUJa_c9Txi4E3f_7OrYRf7hDai2Q3_E-CiiYqAOH7tubIkHsgzEA3CmYnm0rhlnYUkXIbxYq1lXf5qf8Bm-3gAyXxEW_9hodR/s1600/som.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zQMYGkYuKE7SlhnwA2T0rChlcNro2TluDbqC11meTAoSUJa_c9Txi4E3f_7OrYRf7hDai2Q3_E-CiiYqAOH7tubIkHsgzEA3CmYnm0rhlnYUkXIbxYq1lXf5qf8Bm-3gAyXxEW_9hodR/s400/som.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514048675825395522" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">album cover from the RCA Victor original soundtrack</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">of <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The Sound of Music,</span> 1964</span><br /><br />I am about to reveal one of the biggest pet peeves of my childhood. Although it wasn't big to anyone else, it sheds light on the kinds of things that I spent my time thinking about and just exactly what kind of adult I would become. It has to do with this album cover and what I saw as the dishonesty of the graphic representation of the characters portrayed there.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Sound of Music.</span> I was obsessed with it. I listened to it repeatedly on the "Hi-Fi" in our downstairs family room. I portrayed the entire story in puppets (which was no easy matter when it came to the puppet show portion of the story...think puppets doing puppets...I only have two hands). I knew every single word by heart. I still do.<br /><br />So, imagine the heartbreak I felt when I realized that the marketing department of RCA Victor had desecrated my beloved Maria, the Captain and those 7 dahhhling children for a sexier, more modern color palette on the original soundtrack album cover. Hello? Maria never wore a pink dress. The Captain would have never worn a khaki jacket with offset lapels, let alone contrasting trousers. And the children, oh, the children. Well, suffice it to say that those drapes from which their play clothes were made were not, I repeat, not a color that might have been called "Banan-appeal"...what was this, the Sound of Music Vegas Revue?<br /><br />This was, however, my first introduction to creative license and the steps that companies will take to make things more attractive to the buying public - not that that musical needed it. I suppose that in 1964, when the film was made, it might have seemed too sentimental or traditional for some record buyers. I can just hear the discussion in the meeting right now:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">First Record Executive:</span> "So, let me get this straight. We're going to have this chick on the cover running up a hill with 7 children behind her?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span> "uh...Yes, that's right."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Second Record Executive:</span> "Hmmm...and you say she's holding a guitar?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>"Yes, in one hand and...um...and a carpet bag in the other."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">First Record Executive:</span> "A carpet bag? You've got to be kidding. A carpet bag and a guitar, isn't that a little 'folksy'? Where'd she come from, a nunnery? Is the chick at least a looker? I mean, does she have nice legs...anything we can work with, here?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span> </span>"Well, you don't <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> see her legs in the movie, so I don't know, but I suppose we could..."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Third Record Executive:</span> "Nevermind about that for now. What about the guy? Where's the guy in the picture?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span> </span>"Well, he's sort of over off to the side...looking stern."<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Second Record Executive:</span> </span>"Stern? People don't want stern. People want happy. This is really not good. um...What are they wearing?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span> "Well, the girl is wearing a brown jumper, the man is wearing a grey Austrian suit with loden green lapels and the children...you're gonna love this...the children are wearing play clothes that the governess girl - you know the one with the guitar? - made out of green and white patterned drapes! Isn't that just too much?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">First Record Executive: </span>"It's not too much...in fact, it's not enough."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Second Record Executive:</span> "He's right...this is definitely NOT groovy enough for our time. People want something hip, something sexy. They don't want children dressed in upholstery."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Third Record Executive:</span> "Okay...here's what we're going to do. Make the chick's dress bright pink and try to accentuate her curves. And raise the hem on her dress. Let's see a little leg."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">First Record Executive:</span> "I like it. And the guy...well, let's give him a bit of style, too. Something...I don't know...think 'Elvis'. But that still leaves the kids. What to do about the kids?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Second Record Executive:</span> "Well, the oldest is a beauty and has a great little figure. Let's put all of the other kids downhill from her, put her front and center with her arms back so we see...well, so that she's the one we see. And, PLEASE, don't use the patterned curtains on the clothes - even if that <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>how the costumer designed them. Let's change the color. Let's change it to...hmmm...I know - change it to the color of the sun...people are really diggin' the sun these days."<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Graphic Artist:</span> "But, excuse me...um...sirs...that's not the way the movie looks and this IS, afterall, the soundtrack for the movie, isn't it?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">First Record Executive:</span> "Don't get wrapped up in the details, kid. People will never notice. Well, most people won't...unless you're some third grade girl in Texas who becomes obsessed with the movie...but how many of those could there be?"<br />[everybody laughs]Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-20823351397833390692010-09-04T18:52:00.001-07:002010-09-05T08:11:30.669-07:00enter.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHMvLT8akzvXnYboow4ZSxDcN0CtuHM1T8yhVQZV5db8tnDUnU4NKPS_xs8kUcwVg4pRqUn2eMVIud__Dz6OJT_JBfjWIA9D35h8g01U9Kgk_CH-D9XVPyaWDRZm_YIr-PL86dHynxSW4F/s1600/_MG_1504.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHMvLT8akzvXnYboow4ZSxDcN0CtuHM1T8yhVQZV5db8tnDUnU4NKPS_xs8kUcwVg4pRqUn2eMVIud__Dz6OJT_JBfjWIA9D35h8g01U9Kgk_CH-D9XVPyaWDRZm_YIr-PL86dHynxSW4F/s400/_MG_1504.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513436415215270754" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHheRcHFs2sK3dYgVBgjk-RmCII0ZAeF17QnbydK-mSIfo72f2YiyJ-wObqGnen2Axn2fY1huUc9utPnzioVoELQAD1fUlQFDlFk0L___o2FAcqMQ04dLBQNdAdNiPzx-jGolwPGdUjpr/s1600/_MG_1510.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHheRcHFs2sK3dYgVBgjk-RmCII0ZAeF17QnbydK-mSIfo72f2YiyJ-wObqGnen2Axn2fY1huUc9utPnzioVoELQAD1fUlQFDlFk0L___o2FAcqMQ04dLBQNdAdNiPzx-jGolwPGdUjpr/s400/_MG_1510.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513436410690090594" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mary Mikel Stump<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">post/lintel</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">wood, gesso, graphite, acrylic paint, plumb-bob, string, branch, metal tubing</span><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8v9VMDmLLGbyw0ysf_mYiKEYlqlAvFTwxMfrQgJK9zyhj9WG1jCtYNtagu6NGsLsCZh-Kn8q7_2sMS7SApqf9VcexBasOUfzzHvOJPSyNnSvLuPqxC2pax8VRiya1E1FyhTPpuYMFtBX/s1600/post_lintel_detail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 374px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8v9VMDmLLGbyw0ysf_mYiKEYlqlAvFTwxMfrQgJK9zyhj9WG1jCtYNtagu6NGsLsCZh-Kn8q7_2sMS7SApqf9VcexBasOUfzzHvOJPSyNnSvLuPqxC2pax8VRiya1E1FyhTPpuYMFtBX/s400/post_lintel_detail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513436406646735314" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">enter. (verb)</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" class="pg" ><span id="hotword"> </span></span><div style="font-style: italic;" class="luna-Ent"><span style="font-size:130%;">1. to</span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:130%;"> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">go</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">in.</span></span><div class="dndata"><span class="ital-inline" style="font-size:130%;"><span id="hotword"> </span></span></div></div> <div style="font-style: italic;" class="luna-Ent"><span class="dnindex" style="font-size:130%;"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">2.</span></span></span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:130%;"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);"> to</span> be <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">admitted</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">into</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">school,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">competition,</span> <span style="cursor: default;color:transparent;" id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);" >etc.</span></span><div class="dndata"><span class="ital-inline" style="font-size:130%;"><span id="hotword"> </span></span></div></div><div class="luna-Ent"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" class="dnindex" ><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">3.</span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" id="hotword" ><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);"> to</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">make</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">a beginning</span>.</span><div class="dndata"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" class="labset" ><span class="ital-inline"><span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">4. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" id="hotword" ><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">to</span> move <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">upon</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">the</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">stage</span> (as <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">stage</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">directions</span>.)</span><br /></div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Well, there you have it. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >ENTER</span><span style="font-size:100%;">. The word itself implies moving through some sort of portal, be it real or metaphor. That one little word is my own personal battle cry for this, my 46th year on the earth. As an artist who practices in quasi-obscurity, it's hard to not seek solace in the saying, "</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >...if you build it, they will come</span><span style="font-size:100%;">." Guess what? It just isn't so.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">After subtle encouragement from the universe, I have promised myself that I would make efforts to show more often and respond to more Call for Entries. Whether the work is accepted or not is insignificant. This is about setting goals and carrying through. This is about doing the things that it will take to encourage myself to continue to grow as an artist. This is about looking at the work through a critical eye - either mine or the eye of the critic or curator who accepts or denies it. This, ultimately, is about what Robert Henri called <span style="font-style: italic;">The Art Spirit.</span> Henri (1865 - 1929), who led the Ashcan School movement in art, and attracted a large, intensely personal group of followers, would not relate directly to his students while they were working; instead he would return to the classroom when it was empty, observe the various works of his students, and leave them notes to encourage and give direction to their work. Mostly these notes were poetic, metaphorical, oblique to the actual work. That is what we cannot give ourselves when we try to be our own critics. So instead, I have set forth on a course that I hope will give me small "notes" by which I can navigate my creative practice.<br /><br />I decided to start by entering the work pictured here, <span style="font-style: italic;">post/lintel</span>, which is by far the most formal of the body of work from which it comes. It refers to the most basic of structural relationships in architecture - and metaphorically, the most basic of human relationships in society. The post and lintel system is one in which two upright members, the posts, hold up a third member, the lintel, laid horizontally across their top surfaces. The lintel must bear loads that rest on it as well as its own load without deforming or breaking. It also refers to our ever changing relationship to the natural world, as we change our perceptions of nature by the ways in which we increasingly view it through our manipulation of the world, manifested in the built form. I could go on and on about what the work means - illuminating each little detail. I could talk about how the use of white obscures the detail of the built form and reduces it to a mere series of subtly changing values. I could talk about the colors selected and the way they layer upon each other on a basic tool of construction like the plumb-bob speaks to the thickening of our influence based on the next "trend in building." I could talk about the relationship between that plumb-bob that exists in the "interior" space of the work and it's physical connection to the "exterior" in the way it "pours" out the back of the sculptural structure. However, when it is all said and done, my descriptions, explanations and justifications matter not if those things are not apparent to the viewer.<br /><br />And so it goes...my experiment to put myself...uh, I mean my work...out there to see what is resonant and what is not. It's an exciting practice.<br />I can't wait to see what comes of it.</span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-63787063155922992832010-08-08T15:24:00.000-07:002010-08-08T16:13:05.976-07:00Know Thyself.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCT13VCYVjJtO7Eh6piNfyhvBEShySHHMUCT7qxbF7idZVPyLojhH-rFgwqB-4iehGYk5jV9DxbBFFAhT9nek0xQVTb8ebYT6H-rcd_otOUpPJRvziajjHSLUVDToOrxVSfxVTe_uj9y4V/s1600/CorsicanaHomeforwidowsandorphans.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCT13VCYVjJtO7Eh6piNfyhvBEShySHHMUCT7qxbF7idZVPyLojhH-rFgwqB-4iehGYk5jV9DxbBFFAhT9nek0xQVTb8ebYT6H-rcd_otOUpPJRvziajjHSLUVDToOrxVSfxVTe_uj9y4V/s400/CorsicanaHomeforwidowsandorphans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503169333802215938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv5hZoFHcwACO8vVK9LdWC3dqMat7a_bS9rReSicliawEoyrdg9jctMRDt2GSGsdZV5Kw8bnXR2m5sipNxUHEgs2jYbfPWK0b54dh_UWNP-qv6wY5VrlkeW_dd_PtEvBgOs-Ifg6W2_pO/s1600/CHFWandO%5Bdetail1%5D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv5hZoFHcwACO8vVK9LdWC3dqMat7a_bS9rReSicliawEoyrdg9jctMRDt2GSGsdZV5Kw8bnXR2m5sipNxUHEgs2jYbfPWK0b54dh_UWNP-qv6wY5VrlkeW_dd_PtEvBgOs-Ifg6W2_pO/s400/CHFWandO%5Bdetail1%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503169329529964258" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtsEbrCL9g9fVVwfbOivSvgBU91blTXb0IbPfxGW7GrrU7VnJO4XqDvmjJQmCglvwJTTKuGMAL-xQjMbKa6sXzyR6C9Y3u6xJpcysUZQ-WgPZ0awKxxt262rMtVlHr4TCTR2QTjJBXRp7/s1600/CHFWandO%5Bdetail2%5D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtsEbrCL9g9fVVwfbOivSvgBU91blTXb0IbPfxGW7GrrU7VnJO4XqDvmjJQmCglvwJTTKuGMAL-xQjMbKa6sXzyR6C9Y3u6xJpcysUZQ-WgPZ0awKxxt262rMtVlHr4TCTR2QTjJBXRp7/s400/CHFWandO%5Bdetail2%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503168695015526578" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Mary Mikel Stump<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Corsicana Home for Widows & Orphans</span><br />2005</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">wood, glass, thread, wooden spools, wire, found photographs</span><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />[details] </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Know thyself'? If I knew myself, I'd run away!"<br />— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<br /><br />My grandmother was an orphan. Having lost their parents at a young age, she and her sister grew up in a home for widows and orphans in a small east Texas town. This work is about them.<br /><br />She used to speak of blowing bubbles out of wooden spools as a source of entertainment, as toys were scarce there and when I found these photos from a girls' school in San Antonio, it made me think of how odd it is that these photographs - tangible residue of memorable experiences - were then abandoned and left to decay on the shelf of a junk store.<br />Memories are like that, really. They are held dearly, then let go - as ephemeral and fragile as the bubble in which they reside.<br /><br />It is through the practice of art-making that I come the closest to knowing myself. Not the "self" that I want others to see, but the honest bits of self to which even I don't have access. Is it the fact that we are not self conscious during the creative practice or that we are so distracted by the task that we don't notice it coming out?<br />Either way, I'm grateful for the portal in and the time and inclination to go through it.Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-6849451163305028372010-06-27T10:15:00.000-07:002010-06-27T17:56:19.399-07:00hallowed halls.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKGH-zqamWwseCKOmqfzm9kM9IfYhcObsLLDcglZOKs2uVDGLfk-EclJss0dmKnSub-T8uX0ZLEUGAdNFhuufQcV4aoZAu6xLw553vJhfvYzY88RmUe4ePr4lyZ7iVwO83vCyG-x3yCUc/s1600/halllowres.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 310px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKGH-zqamWwseCKOmqfzm9kM9IfYhcObsLLDcglZOKs2uVDGLfk-EclJss0dmKnSub-T8uX0ZLEUGAdNFhuufQcV4aoZAu6xLw553vJhfvYzY88RmUe4ePr4lyZ7iVwO83vCyG-x3yCUc/s400/halllowres.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487515804766881090" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><blockquote><br /></blockquote></span><div class="body"><div class="pbk"><div class="luna-Ent"><span style="cursor: default;font-size:180%;color:transparent;" id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);" ><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span><div class="dndata"><span id="hotword" style="font-size:180%;"> </span></div><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-size:180%;" > </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);">hall by any other name would be:</span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;"><span id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><br />anteroom,</span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">entrance</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" id="hotword" name="hotword" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='default'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='transparent'" onclick="this.style.backgroundColor='#b5d5ff';return hotWord(this);">hall, lobby, reception,</span></span><span id="hotword"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);font-size:100%;" > corridor,</span> </span></span>and my personal favorite [*she plants tongue in cheek here*] -<span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" >foyer</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span>(especially when it's pronounced,</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="pronset"><span class="show_spellpr" style="display: inline;"><span class="pron"><span class="boldface"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>"foi</span>yay"</span></span></span></span>).<br /></div> </div> </div><div class="sep_top shd_hdr pb7"><div class="KonaBody"><div class="lunatext results_content"><div class="luna-Ent"><div class="ety"><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;"><br />The word foyer came into vogue circa 1855 and it referred to the use of the fireplace or hearth in the anterooms of theaters where patrons would go in between acts to get/stay warm. Charming.<br /><br />One of the things I love the most about our antique house is its central hall - or <span style="font-style: italic;">foyer</span>, if you will. This space, which will from this point on be referred to as the Entry Hall (because I just can't do the "F" word), is literally the backbone of our house. </span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;">In their day, not only did these halls provide for the circulation of people that would be separate from the formal living spaces, so as to not interrupt the social gathering taking place in parlors and dining rooms,</span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;"> they were once "central" in the ventilation of these old homes. In today's homes, the large central hall might seem like an extraneous or even extravagant "waste" of precious square feet, but historically they were designed as an open corridor from the front of the house to the back, aligning with a central front and rear door that provided increased air flow and ventilation in the hot and humid Southern climate.<br /><br />I recently finished reading </span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Bucolic Plague, </span><span>by </span></span><span id="hotword" style="font-size:100%;">Josh Kilmer-Purcell about his transplanted "Best Life" in Sharon Springs, New York. The Beekman Mansion, which he and his partner purchased in 2007, was built in 1802 and the author goes into great detail about the life they are living there. I have to say I was disappointed he didn't describe, in detail, the house itself. Kilmer-Purcell's brevity aside, he did provide copious details about the Entry and the cross axis of the central halls...one that runs North & South and one that runs East & West. That's when it hit me. What originally sold me on our house - built over 100 years after the Beekman - was the dynamic energy provided by the Entry Hall and stairwell. It is still one of my favorite "rooms" and it isn't even a room. It is precisely this type of space in these vintage homes that provide a graciousness that doesn't happen in the architecture of suburbia now. For example, if our cone of vision is between 40 and 60 degrees, that means that we are not really experiencing a space until we are 5 feet into it, as we cannot see the things in our peripheral vision. What that <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> means to us is that a tiny little entry area that is only 5 feet long might as well not even be there, since as soon as we come through the door we are already in the next space, visually speaking.<br /><br />When we look at these spaces through our "21st century, air-conditioned and heated modern- convenienced glasses", we judge these spaces as expendable. However, if we look at them as they were intended to function through "new-fangled pursuit of sustainability glasses", what we see is that the sometimes-architects-but-more-often-carpenters who built these homes knew exactly what they were doing - that everything had a purpose and was deliberately placed...either for social or operational mechanisms.<br />They just <span style="font-style: italic;">got it</span>.<br /><br />Each morning while I'm having my coffee in our northeast facing breakfast room, I think to myself how lovely the light is. The cleverness of the Fourqurean family and J.W. McBride, the carpenter who built this place for them in 1921, is not lost on me 89 years later.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></div><div class="tail"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-86146055175338785172010-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:002010-05-19T09:41:13.039-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqfVH-i22VNs2rnuwvsPpnPO3RFtdkEg0O5reaZeMzjbuokuLc6rPw3bhGVwPT55FDx_Erjydvsk7_JS_g386ksb8o6swLAgYWKrM_DtzIEw9_fa87UmQ5rO783oh0wqwFNBlcK9ObC99/s1600/whim.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 276px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqfVH-i22VNs2rnuwvsPpnPO3RFtdkEg0O5reaZeMzjbuokuLc6rPw3bhGVwPT55FDx_Erjydvsk7_JS_g386ksb8o6swLAgYWKrM_DtzIEw9_fa87UmQ5rO783oh0wqwFNBlcK9ObC99/s400/whim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473018615117628722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius....I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door post, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style="font-style: italic;">Whim</i></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation." </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>- </b>Emerson, <i>Self-Reliance</i></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />Mary Mikel Stump<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Whim</span><br />[2002]</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">old window, paint, prismacolor pencil, candle, found objects</span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-76179171383571521772010-05-19T07:55:00.000-07:002010-05-19T09:03:32.604-07:00admitting you've got a problem is the first step.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvRakR7oDi22sfrqp6rLSEgZGjLTI6y4JlFNcau9odhml1xctAho60BfQX7-R8D0jHNOYe-NRze1jOEZpYktQf9Ygz7f0Cpma_CnG547DhagnF7auVXrzEO81UGolRb1H4VIxsdMLbYut/s1600/birds1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvRakR7oDi22sfrqp6rLSEgZGjLTI6y4JlFNcau9odhml1xctAho60BfQX7-R8D0jHNOYe-NRze1jOEZpYktQf9Ygz7f0Cpma_CnG547DhagnF7auVXrzEO81UGolRb1H4VIxsdMLbYut/s400/birds1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472996887340678594" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >me:</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">My name is Mary Mikel and I am addicted to birds.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">imaginary 12 Step group:</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >[in unison]</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Hi, Mary Mikel</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">This is how the beginnings of my 12 Step Program of choice would go. Well, actually, you could insert the word "lamps", "chairs", "tables" or "unnecessary objects" for the word "birds" and it would pretty much go the same way.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">I must confess it, though...of all my vices, birds would be the hardest habit to kick.<br /><br />I guess it started early for me. I've got a lot of connections with the bird form. I'm not proud: I'll admit to playing that John Denver/Olivia Newton John song, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >Fly Away </span><span style="font-size:100%;">on my record player over and over again</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />When I need support or guidance, my grandmother comes to me in the form of a roadrunner. My spirit guide is a raven. I love the sound of the doves and owls that live in our back yard...and even the grackles that perform what my son used to call the "afternoon bird show" in our town.<br /><br />When I had a hard time getting pregnant and staying pregnant, it was the sparrow who had made a nest for her eggs in my gardening clog that first told me that "this one would stick" - and she came back again when I was pregnant with my second son.<br /><br />It's ironic, really, because I don't even like to fly, so it's not that I'm wishing to leave the nest, it's just that there's something so magical about birds. These tiny little creatures who can go higher and farther on their wings than we can on our feet. They signal the passing of the seasons when they fly in formation overhead. They give us hope each spring and their nests are some of the most beautiful sculptural forms that I've seen.<br /><br />There's little more that you need for entertainment than a bird bath and a bird feeder. Those two things make for the best people watching that birds can provide. Truth be told, the more I know of people, the better I like birds.<br />They may fly in and out of your life, but they are nothing if not consistent.</span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-37766929062325247562010-05-19T06:31:00.000-07:002010-05-19T07:25:37.015-07:00running with scissors.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfV16iIvMRi7yZSqE-DFv5uVoOtKCYfWQcRAii7QEK84ZYuxbTsY2a7-XE1FVp6qDWYOPUn7x0ahnvIalmKtpERaP4HMVHGZjKY0PUjdY02Xk7mN08sCZRGzQbG7DTQQrqcUPBGyz42Yn/s1600/HCApapercut.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 253px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfV16iIvMRi7yZSqE-DFv5uVoOtKCYfWQcRAii7QEK84ZYuxbTsY2a7-XE1FVp6qDWYOPUn7x0ahnvIalmKtpERaP4HMVHGZjKY0PUjdY02Xk7mN08sCZRGzQbG7DTQQrqcUPBGyz42Yn/s320/HCApapercut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472976998997728690" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLvDcohkhq9lQgzx72bRcpnTDDMOCYZXrw2_RKfwtAOL-_0ZtXmZL6CN2g8wq9SCxOt_crOCM2FJpYPYWmEhrKTudHa35AtY_6o_TiKWdIONGpark3BOoGiRruhbsHmjdiV2KSlhVg_DL/s1600/3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLvDcohkhq9lQgzx72bRcpnTDDMOCYZXrw2_RKfwtAOL-_0ZtXmZL6CN2g8wq9SCxOt_crOCM2FJpYPYWmEhrKTudHa35AtY_6o_TiKWdIONGpark3BOoGiRruhbsHmjdiV2KSlhVg_DL/s320/3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472976994221019810" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7pArhLtPxtpX26ZJM2cFuorhCvyd2Q57X5HOjn3UWwelObKauiYi3zsc4govdfHApHuFOU8nNdRr0RfRUIzjO6YtO1Sgo6SZhIJ1UMu199l3DdHFD-5tzb5q23jKExsbsc6cXtwmAGtB/s1600/2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7pArhLtPxtpX26ZJM2cFuorhCvyd2Q57X5HOjn3UWwelObKauiYi3zsc4govdfHApHuFOU8nNdRr0RfRUIzjO6YtO1Sgo6SZhIJ1UMu199l3DdHFD-5tzb5q23jKExsbsc6cXtwmAGtB/s320/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472976987378824082" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71cPrJN2q2S4kRvkcLEhINNzJ9FONHCvR7V1PIA_SlcZLcElVN4Jg3VQe5FdeMM_AqSjX5r2f3QLncFXp6o8O2LQQOJd5s28TGW5ZLbhHWhZ7KWI-j7VLd1vMUhY5RMoX15vjyqDyS_VF/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71cPrJN2q2S4kRvkcLEhINNzJ9FONHCvR7V1PIA_SlcZLcElVN4Jg3VQe5FdeMM_AqSjX5r2f3QLncFXp6o8O2LQQOJd5s28TGW5ZLbhHWhZ7KWI-j7VLd1vMUhY5RMoX15vjyqDyS_VF/s320/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472976980709488994" border="0" /></a>A few years ago, a friend gave me this little book of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Amazing Paper Cuttings of Hans Christian Andersen</span> for Christmas and it has become one of my favorites. I can't imagine making one of these with hours of concentration and planning, let alone doing it spontaneously while I tell a story. Andersen, the Danish storyteller who is best known for writing fairy tales such as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes </span>and<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Steadfast Tin Soldier</span>, also made hundreds - perhaps thousands - of paper cuttings. Often he made the cuttings while he was telling a fairy tale, then gave them to the children listening to him. Although he would not use the papercuts as a means of illustrating the story he was telling, Andersen employed the same imagery found in his stories - that of swans, clowns, toy theaters, windmills, angels and other whimsical images. It's hard to know how many of these jewels he actually made, since many were not completed and many did not survive...due to not only the fragility of the medium (paper) but also the playful nature of the recipients.<br />So, this is what they did for entertainment in the evenings in the mid 1800's. This is how they entertained and occupied their children. hmmm...I'm inspired.Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-38437671946496515492010-05-18T05:31:00.000-07:002010-06-27T15:18:08.574-07:00PEEL : BANANA : SHELL : ______<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa24RWJbqFwYkNuNwWB_iUcFRpJAy_4cC3BslkwbnqiCygT_DxrLcB3y9InkCd94_C8WjCRvw7rD54II1ee_c3z5VFNY1HQESndc1r1gWWKQOnVtwtWqAa7Xlx4HppzPeR5SgsRN0xSND/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa24RWJbqFwYkNuNwWB_iUcFRpJAy_4cC3BslkwbnqiCygT_DxrLcB3y9InkCd94_C8WjCRvw7rD54II1ee_c3z5VFNY1HQESndc1r1gWWKQOnVtwtWqAa7Xlx4HppzPeR5SgsRN0xSND/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472594022663713538" border="0" /></a><div class="storycontent"><div class="snap_preview"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home."</span><br />- Sigmund Freud<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">drawing by my son, Whitaker Reid, Fourth Grade</span><br /><br />It's that time of year. The time of year when every teacher across the state hands the standardized tests to their students and just crosses their fingers that some-how,way or where their students were listening throughout the previous 9 months. Now, I've learned that analogies have found their way into said testing. I don't remember being tested on analogies - if I had been, I would have loved it. These little word puzzles are the way I do my communicating about 85% of the time. It's hard to get through a conversation with me without being subjected to at least one, "It's like..." It's the only way I know to make sense of situations. Freud's right - it doesn't really solve anything, but it sure makes the conversation feel like home. It's kind of like...oh well, nevermind. Below, you'll find some winners from a Washington Post humor contest of a decade ago...enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.</span><br /><br /><p style="font-style: italic;">Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.</p> <p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;">The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.</p> <p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;">John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.</p> <p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.</p><br /><p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> </div></div>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-70238814383236926972010-05-17T05:32:00.000-07:002010-06-27T15:19:47.201-07:00the house I live in is delight.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ONUpku5beBwWKeO-367ADOoMgf6nQdWNOunHU9tFs2qoVc6YYj2laaywu_NSz0UO8B7XCVNVCUVPompAdrHcrt6EaBMt-rcgAXAfPc3tAqt3aAQ2c9QKubal24-P3A8eAqP7mhcyFdQJ/s1600/breakfastroom.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ONUpku5beBwWKeO-367ADOoMgf6nQdWNOunHU9tFs2qoVc6YYj2laaywu_NSz0UO8B7XCVNVCUVPompAdrHcrt6EaBMt-rcgAXAfPc3tAqt3aAQ2c9QKubal24-P3A8eAqP7mhcyFdQJ/s400/breakfastroom.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472236076151783938" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">breakfast room,<br />7:40 a.m.</span><br /><br /><br /><br />WITHOUT </span><span style="font-style: italic;">PROPERTY </span><span style="font-style: italic;">CAN </span><span style="font-style: italic;">WE </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">BE </span><span style="font-style: italic;">REAL?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">How can we feel</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">the unknown facets</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of ourselves</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">without a parcel</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of hard property?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Look there's a tanager</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and also indigo buntings</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">in the sunset!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Waterfalls</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">cataract</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">upon the mind.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">See,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">the star</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">that touches us</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">with hands of light.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The house we live in</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">is delight.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />[<span style="font-style: italic;">Emily Dickinson's House (for Sam and Ann)</span> by Michael McClure]</span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-12316258667863287982010-05-13T15:37:00.000-07:002010-05-16T10:31:38.704-07:00rejection is not fatal: how applying for and not getting a job gave me the perspective I need to bloom where I'm planted.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWSbUPhH_QYCiREqRmkgpzIvZAy02O1TNjZBmsOOaouVQGjTwklrQoLjayrnPekug7o_qjEgYeT9UBRY-ur_lgA0EJrGb0KU0pgLy8PcnZDMk8CC_LeNalLFzMAZW6EIE3z4yQXoove_0/s1600/disney_rejection_letter(1).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWSbUPhH_QYCiREqRmkgpzIvZAy02O1TNjZBmsOOaouVQGjTwklrQoLjayrnPekug7o_qjEgYeT9UBRY-ur_lgA0EJrGb0KU0pgLy8PcnZDMk8CC_LeNalLFzMAZW6EIE3z4yQXoove_0/s400/disney_rejection_letter(1).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471124736087285042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We had an astonishing number of qualified applicants and I thoroughly reviewed each submission. Although your candidacy was impressive, the competition was intense; I regret to inform you that you were not selected as a finalist for the position."</span><br />[rejection letter, 2010]<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Well, there it was...my first rejection letter in 20 years from the first job application in the same. My best friend has a theory that life really boils down to that <span>Cheap Trick</span> song, <span style="font-style: italic;">I Want You To Want Me.</span> It's so true. I had all but formally pulled my materials from the application process, having decided that I didn't even want the job, but somehow seeing it in writing...the fact that I was not selected really hit me hard. NOT SELECTED. What? I wanted to be the one to say, "Thank you for thinking of me, but I've decided that I'm really better off and happiest right where I am." In the time it took me to gather my materials, craft my resume' and even seek out the special square paperclips I ordered to match the formatting that a brilliant friend of mine designed for my packet (it's a sickness, really, this detail thing), I came to the conclusion that in reality, the grass is not always greener. At one moment I asked myself if the situation were reversed and I was in that job and the one I have became available, would I apply. My answer to myself was a resounding "yes!" and that's all I needed to know. The truth, or rather Truth, is that my work life is ideal...a creative job with autonomy and supportive colleagues is something that I'm darned lucky to have and that there's value in the non-tangible things associated with it. Was I crazy to even think about going somewhere else? Yeppers, I think so.<br />But wait, there's more...I learned the final lesson when I was looking for an image to put with this post. In my search, I came across this image of a rejection letter from the Walt Disney Studios dated 1938 and realized that we have, indeed, come a long way, baby. I couldn't believe what I read there:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">"Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men.... The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with Indian ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions."</span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> [rejection letter, 1938]</span><br /><br />Hmmm...if this was 1938, I wouldn't have even been able to apply. Now in 2010, I can be rejected based on the contents, or lack thereof, of my resume' and not my gender. I am free to make the choice of where and how I want to work, without any thought as to whether or not I could gain access to the boy's club. It's unbelievable, really, to read the words and realize that some studio executive actually had the nerve to dictate that to the poor woman from the Steno pool who had to type it. What a time we live in...and what a time we've outgrown...which brings me back to the whole lesson that this has taught me, anyway. Rejection - the valid kind - is not fatal. The challenge is to find the lesson that lies within it.Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-53274440102711636792010-05-12T07:15:00.000-07:002010-06-27T15:56:30.557-07:00flash.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOt91JfiJnL15tj9m545xSWGqs55rqR8kOxt0X-k-dGxuRCLEIYJzIBAx1pjx4GXvzB1RwkzuweiFoBpMsYIwoLcTvX7pfHWPvLF-H_8pFqmDjlOHU3RF7nynr9zcKPAHE5d0IR4PlGjJ0/s1600/Seatflashcard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 103px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOt91JfiJnL15tj9m545xSWGqs55rqR8kOxt0X-k-dGxuRCLEIYJzIBAx1pjx4GXvzB1RwkzuweiFoBpMsYIwoLcTvX7pfHWPvLF-H_8pFqmDjlOHU3RF7nynr9zcKPAHE5d0IR4PlGjJ0/s400/Seatflashcard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470419457095211202" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMJw0FMU4l3OkpPERlZhadJLrGAV2ihyphenhyphenS7oBVA9frsRfDm5iA5MXOHgWB1p-OD5rOOq0SreqowmYCLFZxJx45U08_GT3TKSpM6VX_VWRHmronB1gkTZDyuNI1BgexUthBPIcBZUU83Eve/s1600/grewflashcard+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 102px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMJw0FMU4l3OkpPERlZhadJLrGAV2ihyphenhyphenS7oBVA9frsRfDm5iA5MXOHgWB1p-OD5rOOq0SreqowmYCLFZxJx45U08_GT3TKSpM6VX_VWRHmronB1gkTZDyuNI1BgexUthBPIcBZUU83Eve/s400/grewflashcard+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470419453237996626" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBj-kFkyVG3iLXTlPaYa_DyxQI2G7sRN9o0tkkTsj5Zz64LPNIpQGHOa8z3okvgVHQfbWtyzC9CZqYixoRpfTxPEqbdIhyphenhyphenYK-CNPs741UbmoWmGynji8prbwCUKsvyrEncXbSC82C6bde/s1600/Downflashcard+copy+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBj-kFkyVG3iLXTlPaYa_DyxQI2G7sRN9o0tkkTsj5Zz64LPNIpQGHOa8z3okvgVHQfbWtyzC9CZqYixoRpfTxPEqbdIhyphenhyphenYK-CNPs741UbmoWmGynji8prbwCUKsvyrEncXbSC82C6bde/s400/Downflashcard+copy+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470419450443082546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A picture's worth a thousand words, or in the case of a flash card, simply one.<br />Each year, as my husband and I make our annual trip to his home state of Washington, I make my pilgrimage to a little store in Sumner, just down the road from his folks' place. This is the spot where they sell things that I didn't know I can't live without. Like these flash cards. Upon discovering them, the conversation went something like this:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > me: "OH! Look at THESE! I NEED THESE!"<br />mother-in-law: "What in the world are you going to do with those?"<br />me: "Um...well...I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something."<br />mother-in-law: "hmmm. okay."</span><br /><br />I did think of something when I was taking a watercolor class and I was looking for something to do. These little paintings practically jumped out of my head and onto the flash cards. Painting them gave me the same feeling that I get from washing dishes. You know what I mean...immediate gratification. That's me - an immediate gratification kind of girl.<br />In my upstairs studio - a retrofitted sleeping porch in our antique house - lay the many things that "I couldn't live without." 26 small ciphering chalkboards, untold amounts of abandoned buttons, dismantled antique windows, 73 clear empty glass ornaments, 13 sheets of unseparated twist ties, a seemingly endless supply of old discarded keys, a box of celluloid charms, candy boxes, vintage calendars, and the list goes on. What am I going to do with those?<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Um...well...I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.</span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-9821273636883855462010-05-12T05:10:00.000-07:002010-05-12T05:26:47.151-07:00we remember the moments, not the days.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15EGlCxpkCmCd6M4t4LfT-nMSRI8D8wKrIK2e7Q3EVV5V487xUbc27TVbUTa6D_uOzUJ3z3ZkP28dDrPn_o9ckjbsBC8SM7IXTpWOHI6N4_u0Jvlx6BX6MbAZgr7gMzVahgAsJ3ASlqWE/s1600/orchid2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15EGlCxpkCmCd6M4t4LfT-nMSRI8D8wKrIK2e7Q3EVV5V487xUbc27TVbUTa6D_uOzUJ3z3ZkP28dDrPn_o9ckjbsBC8SM7IXTpWOHI6N4_u0Jvlx6BX6MbAZgr7gMzVahgAsJ3ASlqWE/s320/orchid2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470356429059341794" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"You can't have a light without</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">a dark to stick it</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> in."</span><br />- Arlo Guthrie<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Remembering a dear friend's Daddy today. Remembering what a great man he was. Remembering what a great daughter he taught her to be. Remembering how well she cared for him. Remembering how the circumstance of his life brought out the most caring part of her. Remembering how very much she will miss him.<br /><br />Remembering her today, too.<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-12167316473046036812010-05-11T10:50:00.000-07:002010-06-27T15:58:57.308-07:00one man's trash.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29cT90m-QFPYuN3q9gI503qPhSV2sJqagJ3CmKSxo_YttiFCYtcegcUCzCH7pzaJtv-lEBWU-qnjNp8lQyQ77I93pXqF5TmWZQSe3UGt2mQHI7m-w_9C_zHjFo-nSVH71FxY0Z8ShAE2f/s1600/living1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29cT90m-QFPYuN3q9gI503qPhSV2sJqagJ3CmKSxo_YttiFCYtcegcUCzCH7pzaJtv-lEBWU-qnjNp8lQyQ77I93pXqF5TmWZQSe3UGt2mQHI7m-w_9C_zHjFo-nSVH71FxY0Z8ShAE2f/s320/living1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470073941929407458" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_6e6viI3Z3639pYE5PvNXgpW1HdHZubF8FM8Pz0IrBs5mQGl0HuYWRDxO1wbZK73UD6A4ALe58QabssySZ9gbI2BHew-0UiUKQHkHpRjID0gkWq4PfCEHbCWEImgzJ7fHwMHoeyFqm4G/s1600/dining2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_6e6viI3Z3639pYE5PvNXgpW1HdHZubF8FM8Pz0IrBs5mQGl0HuYWRDxO1wbZK73UD6A4ALe58QabssySZ9gbI2BHew-0UiUKQHkHpRjID0gkWq4PfCEHbCWEImgzJ7fHwMHoeyFqm4G/s320/dining2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470073934740985266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:180%;">It</span>'s amazing to me how wonderful the most ordinary things can become when married to each other. Each little object has a story to tell, but when put together, they become something else, altogether. It takes effort to see things not as they are, but how they can be. The lace "curtain" you see here is actually an unfinished cross-stitch that had been long since tossed out and the oval frame behind it is a rough-carved piece of tramp art. The artifacts on the small dresser below it are simply twigs bundled with jute, but when placed next to the carved wooden bird, they take on a new meaning.<br />The collection pictured in the top image makes the sublime out of ordinary things, too: toy chairs under a glass dome elevates them to the rare and special things that they are and 4 porcelain wheels from the very dresser upon which they sit become unique specimens loved for their sculptural form. The artwork on the wall is by Texas artist Brandon Petree and is comprised of individual ledger sheets, tiled and put together, in an artful way, with numbers stenciled on it.<br />The lesson here is this: one man's trash is another man's work of art. Be careful what you so willingly discard.</span> I just might be there to get it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_6e6viI3Z3639pYE5PvNXgpW1HdHZubF8FM8Pz0IrBs5mQGl0HuYWRDxO1wbZK73UD6A4ALe58QabssySZ9gbI2BHew-0UiUKQHkHpRjID0gkWq4PfCEHbCWEImgzJ7fHwMHoeyFqm4G/s1600/dining2.jpg"><br /></a>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-16852657008394697442010-05-11T09:25:00.000-07:002010-06-27T15:23:59.685-07:00seasoned wisdom from a side show sage.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfpxQ7NbCF_zKd8noc9epsu3jT4vt8LZ8r4JO908zBS423FB5thZJGNXTVrb_EHPuGIySxu_KS36KYEtoB_JHdA8pShkrT62xusdjE3k89uLZE1F4NCqcDpEMvUoee-nusBt3N8I_zmIq/s1600/circustentwithblueladder.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfpxQ7NbCF_zKd8noc9epsu3jT4vt8LZ8r4JO908zBS423FB5thZJGNXTVrb_EHPuGIySxu_KS36KYEtoB_JHdA8pShkrT62xusdjE3k89uLZE1F4NCqcDpEMvUoee-nusBt3N8I_zmIq/s400/circustentwithblueladder.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470051976364837842" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="body"><br />"Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now.</span>"<br /><span class="body"><blockquote>- P.T. Barnum<span class="body"><br /></span></blockquote></span><span class="body"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Mary Mikel Stump<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">circus tent with ladder</span><br />2009<br />digital photo<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">[taken at The Transportation Museum, Roanoake, VA ]</span></span><br /><span class="body"><br /></span><br /><span class="bodybold"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-34683846595420723422010-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:002010-05-11T09:14:14.562-07:00still life with wallpaper<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0BhoXMjKo0cIgGfTIXNt_h1sD1xsCkhhG52LJVlYpLgUAPACHiS87T9bFXzjDLNRoyhAzPl4opeJIOWpwCJ3rGgUJeoF0c0m-req_qJFr4DLL4ca00miolFgoiwVb1LL1mZY2enOQXa0/s1600/F.O.(keys).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0BhoXMjKo0cIgGfTIXNt_h1sD1xsCkhhG52LJVlYpLgUAPACHiS87T9bFXzjDLNRoyhAzPl4opeJIOWpwCJ3rGgUJeoF0c0m-req_qJFr4DLL4ca00miolFgoiwVb1LL1mZY2enOQXa0/s200/F.O.(keys).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470045675386657090" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-clSZYrwzg_2P5pxkZ3OQHT_wcFYZfMOIrg2nHfES4TqYDuk_YYTr1vXYaoFdISQsWNOnqqwRGjkmBUlAbxNid5gOToQe30OTrhTjLXUbhzZHPijqPzbt4YHYjmuSgy7QILBYBSiikLyU/s1600/F.O.(buttons).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-clSZYrwzg_2P5pxkZ3OQHT_wcFYZfMOIrg2nHfES4TqYDuk_YYTr1vXYaoFdISQsWNOnqqwRGjkmBUlAbxNid5gOToQe30OTrhTjLXUbhzZHPijqPzbt4YHYjmuSgy7QILBYBSiikLyU/s200/F.O.(buttons).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470045668096926274" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qHLtDJzjEQXn2OcDuqj34roExcYyjpo4DlPN-ZqlvbyNEyQzUNoUfx9axdeFNP7dL264_grkL2kUU8HARZfu6Bo-FbyhBiv6qzUaffA-38-Zq8pLjbPqbMJ5Uop9iBToAouthVGWeGcc/s1600/300.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qHLtDJzjEQXn2OcDuqj34roExcYyjpo4DlPN-ZqlvbyNEyQzUNoUfx9axdeFNP7dL264_grkL2kUU8HARZfu6Bo-FbyhBiv6qzUaffA-38-Zq8pLjbPqbMJ5Uop9iBToAouthVGWeGcc/s200/300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470044965176023234" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWR3DioSoM8WlegOPKmoBOrrJlHrHP_z8G_WnsHLrIVAAYD6rYL9YqRdTqm4TPIsmD2OKFSoCuRQ6IVDKKyoMBnIXTc0asO7LD-Shrz2MQH-3ItIi_ags8oCR2PEt9OR1ncR8b-MrO4Yi6/s1600/F.O.(pins).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWR3DioSoM8WlegOPKmoBOrrJlHrHP_z8G_WnsHLrIVAAYD6rYL9YqRdTqm4TPIsmD2OKFSoCuRQ6IVDKKyoMBnIXTc0asO7LD-Shrz2MQH-3ItIi_ags8oCR2PEt9OR1ncR8b-MrO4Yi6/s200/F.O.(pins).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470014463312696962" border="0" /></a><br /><br />want. want. want.<br />need. need. need.<br /><br /><br />These funky little drawings come from a<br />South Australian artist named Mandy Horne.<br />They can be found on her website:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Still Life With Wallpaper</span><br /><a href="http://withwallpaperwork.blogspot.com/">http://withwallpaperwork.blogspot.com/</a>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-89465929689365943422010-05-11T04:45:00.000-07:002010-05-12T10:28:56.527-07:00I, object.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3j130Tag82tWpr08hOj1VB2S9GLg7rCscPbW2IQMJGL4WKawglZSyh7lQ3TI-c69NBnVe-gSVm06ZjVbbe5URboG325dHK_u2C56Ub-KTFyf1dofNMhysIrw4abrRn3c2BDlCERPHIjjO/s1600/Objectsofouraffection.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3j130Tag82tWpr08hOj1VB2S9GLg7rCscPbW2IQMJGL4WKawglZSyh7lQ3TI-c69NBnVe-gSVm06ZjVbbe5URboG325dHK_u2C56Ub-KTFyf1dofNMhysIrw4abrRn3c2BDlCERPHIjjO/s320/Objectsofouraffection.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469986478952118898" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Too much furniture in one's living room<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Too many pens in a stand<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Too many children in a house<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Too many words when men meet<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Too many bookcases in a bookcase there can never be...</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"> <br /> </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > -Kenko (Fourteenth Century)<br /><br />These words are from the first few pages of <span style="font-style: italic;">Objects of Our Affection</span> by Lisa Tracy. My mother </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >recently told me about this book</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > during a conversation about the joys of stewarding family heirlooms and the interesting history they hold to one's past. I find solace in Kenko's words, as I have often wondered how a non-material person - who I hopefully consider myself to be - can have such a love of things. Not a passing fancy or flirtation, mind you...but a passionate desire and deep affection for certain objects that catch my eye. They exist on a grand sliding scale - things as precious as fine silver, china or crystal on one end and others as humble as a simple abandoned key or cabinet latch on the other. All the things, however, have one thing in common: they have an integrity about them that makes them absolutely irresistible. If there were a fire in my house, I'm really not certain what one thing I would grab.<br /><br />In the end, I might take nothing, for fear that I would take so long to decide that I'd go right along with them.<br /></span>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-88610169822569179242010-05-10T12:04:00.000-07:002010-05-10T12:04:07.476-07:00speaking of chocolate...don't all things, ultimately, get back to chocolate?<br /><br /><br /><object style="background-image: url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/7NNZ5Jo51Y8/hqdefault.jpg);" height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7NNZ5Jo51Y8&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7NNZ5Jo51Y8&hl=en_US&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-90864530750327343812010-05-10T08:37:00.000-07:002010-05-12T11:17:03.601-07:00for your viewing pleasure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1okW0TfEpfSx9fVBIYx7UJf83pfxesfdfm09imaPB73ud1cDAsELPaSx_v-BJXq_H0Y1rIvjkzpv9vgg0O0q2qvfsbKXq8lFyc2ZF0XCfVNNbvwBBK7ak0AvWqhRI67CLN1yO5A2z9g3/s1600/I-Love-Lucy-Poster-Card-C10204654.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1okW0TfEpfSx9fVBIYx7UJf83pfxesfdfm09imaPB73ud1cDAsELPaSx_v-BJXq_H0Y1rIvjkzpv9vgg0O0q2qvfsbKXq8lFyc2ZF0XCfVNNbvwBBK7ak0AvWqhRI67CLN1yO5A2z9g3/s320/I-Love-Lucy-Poster-Card-C10204654.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469668030280746354" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"...I think we're fighting a losing game." </span></span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-size:100%;" >- </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-size:100%;" >Lucy Ricardo</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Just in case you haven't see the Lucy episode to which I referred...<br />here it is:</span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wp3m1vg06Q">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wp3m1vg06Q</a>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420201131888792490.post-22290796927434477512010-05-10T07:22:00.000-07:002010-05-12T11:17:47.629-07:00nothing.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkby0ugQPpaJQlqdndXvrJ4NJe5PDYx_mNUD_jcdVjVt_6R2ORSwTV7V0_m7i2yw76Z3OeeZQU0NBvI4XD_zfOFK7a329ZF0Da6QSUuCBZilvlnNshms9hFyRaddhtMzl3FaZ37OsL-0f/s1600/n1230752196_30136068_9497.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkby0ugQPpaJQlqdndXvrJ4NJe5PDYx_mNUD_jcdVjVt_6R2ORSwTV7V0_m7i2yw76Z3OeeZQU0NBvI4XD_zfOFK7a329ZF0Da6QSUuCBZilvlnNshms9hFyRaddhtMzl3FaZ37OsL-0f/s320/n1230752196_30136068_9497.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469648034862484226" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" >Never underestimate the importance of learning to relax.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />“Nothing” is on the schedule for this week. You know you’ve fallen into bad habits when you have to write “nothing” across the day in your planner in order to have nothing to do. Through no fault of my own, I’ve become one of those people who doesn’t know how to relax. It took a broken bone to do it, but I am slowly learning the value of being still and the skill of doing nothing. As we move further and further into our adult lives, we pile on the commitments like the conveyor belt of candy on that episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel go to work in a candy factory. You know the one. Life is like that - just when you think you can handle the load, someone yells “speed it up” and before long, you’re stuffing the candy in your shirt, hat and mouth. Staying off your foot is harder than it seems and I’ve learned to appreciate really small but special things. Things like the subtle shift of light as the sun makes its way through the day. There’s something really humbling about staying in the same place as other things move around you. I urge you to do it sometime.<br /><div class="caption"><p>It’s hard work, this doing nothing, but oh so rewarding.</p> </div>Mary Mikel Stumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15136550384518398171noreply@blogger.com0