And Sunday’s Tarp is bonny and blithe and good and gay and DONE! Which means I have finally finished fabricating these wonders. The Seven Wonders of the polyvinyl and duck tape world.
Here ’tis, “Treehouses of the Rising Sun”…
Halle-freaking-lujah!
I’m either getting more poetic, or just plain punchy, as I close in on the finish line with the tarps picadas!
“Winter Trees’ Dreams of Spring” is the sixth:
Did you know they made white tarps? Pretty cool.
How about zebra striped duck tape?
Ok, back to work. Six down, one to go!
It’s come to my attention that some of you are worried about my ability to spell.
Well mom, all that money you and dad spent on my edumacation was not in fact wasted….
It really IS called “Duck” tape!
Ok, confession time. I have not managed to finish one tarp per day. If I had, I would now be relaxing with my feet up in traction in a comfy hospital bed at the nearest recovery center. Instead I am contemplating finishing my sixth today and embarking on the seventh tomorrow.
I do however have an excellent excuse:
We opened last night at the offices of Boise State Public Radio and had an excellent turnout. Sue Latta and I got the show hung on Wednesday. Well, I arranged it on Monday, Sue does the physical hanging and I follow her around like a chattering jackdaw putting up the labels.
Here’s a glimpse of the exhibit, though I highly recommend you drop by any weekday between 9:00 and 5:00 to take a look for yourself.
Some of the artists participating are Alize Norman and Lee Higman:
Carrol Elliot Smith and Theresa Burkes:
Betsie Richardson:
Mike Chambers, Kellie Cosho, and moi:
This is my piece, “City of Trees” which you will recognize as the paper cutouts I did in preparation for the Treefort tarps:
Kelli Kobe, Mo Mapes, and Bev Chick:
Theresa Burkes, Pam Demo and Andrea Harris:
Lee Higman and Karl LeClair:
John Killmaster, Jane Wilson, Dee Miller and Marilyn Cosho:
Lauren Johnson and Debi Bonsack:
Bonnie Peacher, Rose Elkovich, Patty Moseley, and Sherri Stehle:
There are several other artists whose work is not photographed here. See! You really do need to come see the show for yourself. It will be up until May 15th so it’s not like you don’t have time.
Speaking of, it’s time for me to get back to DUCK taping. Oy, my vack!
Five down, two to go. This one is called “Night and Day” for fairly obvious reasons.
Night:
and Day:
I’m hopeful that this tarp’s pink sky is one which brings delight rather than warning. There’s really only so much weather that these wonders can resist.
Here’s a picture of this tarp in my livingroom. I’m looking forward to having that room back for living in. Soon!
“Treefort Blues,” the second tarp I finished in my marathon race to complete these monsters, er,… pieces of ephemeral public art, is the tarp which will grace the cover of the Weekly on March 19th.
Jake Soper of Evermore Prints will photograph the tarp for the Weekly. Jake has done beautiful, meticulous work for Mike and me as well as tons of other artists in Boise, and I know his work on this photo will be great.
Jakes’s a bit worried about glare off that dagnabbed polyvinyl, but as the wise men say, “glare happens.”
Meanwhile I have been given the gift of more time — the tarps will be installed on Friday the 14th, which allows me four more days of breathing room than I had planned on, and believe me, I need them. Every day I do battle with these tarps and duck tape and actually survive to blog about it is a victory that is hard to describe.
Margaret Thatcher said “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” I wonder if she ever duck taped anything. I kind of doubt it. If she had she would know that duck tape actually wins more often than not, so her quote would have been more along the lines of “You may have to fight a battle more than a gazillion times to win it.”
I have proof:
I can only assume these people are smiling because like me they believe that art is worth it.
PHOTO BOOKS
Click the image to see the Tarpestry book
TARPS PICADAS: AN OVERVIEW
Treefort Tarps
