The Invention of Wings

I recently finished Sue Monk Kidd's book, The Invention of Wings. It was horrible and fascinating, and I could scarcely put it down. The story spans the years 1803 - 1838, beginning in a Charleston home, with its well-to-do family and their slaves. The two central characters are Hetty Handful Grimké and Sarah Grimké.

These protagonists are introduced to us along with harsh realities. Ten-year-old Hetty enumerates Missus's "list of slave sins, which we knew by heart. Number one: stealing. Number two: disobedience. Number three: laziness. Number four: noise. A slave was supposed to be like the Holy Ghost - don't see it, don't hear it, but it's always hovering round on ready."

Eleven-year-old Sarah recounts her earliest memory: watching a slave being whipped. And now, on her eleventh birthday, she is given Hetty, to be her "very own waiting maid."

From there, the narration alternates between the perspective of the two girls (women, by the book's end). Sarah opposes the slavery that is a staple of her society, and imagines she will become a lawyer, like her father. She struggles to find her voice in a world that doesn't recognize the value of either blacks or women. Hetty struggles with her own rebellions. She wrote "mauma had found the part of herself that refused to bow and scrape, and once you find that, you got trouble breathing on your neck."

Somehow, I didn't recognize that this work was based on real characters, and real history. The name Grimké was familiar to me, and I eventually realized that I'd learned of the Grimkés on the PBS show The Abolitionists, along with William Lloyd Garrison, who also figures in Kidd's book. Denmark Vesey, Lucretia Mott, Theodore Weld are among other real persons who appear in these pages.

The cruel and cold treatment of the slaves was appalling, and perhaps the hardest part of reading this narrative. It is hard for me to fathom that such behavior was ever condoned.

The writing sometimes seemed stilted to me, but I attributed this to an effort to remain true to the language and style appropriate for the time period. Aside from that, I can recommend this book without reservation.

In an author's note to the book, Kidd explains that she stumbled across the names of Sarah and Angelina Grimké while viewing The Dinner Party, a work of art by Judy Chicago. This would be something to see. It is housed at the Brooklyn Museum, whose website explains:

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago is an icon of feminist art, which represents 1,038 women in history—39 women are represented by place settings and another 999 names are inscribed in the Heritage Floor on which the table rests. This monumental work of art is comprised of a triangular table divided by three wings, each 48 feet long.

The information at the Brooklyn Museum's site is pretty comprehensive; I think I could spend a good while sifting through the names and stories represented there.

Stories Cut from Paper

Balloon Houses

This has been sitting in my draft folder for ages. It is a scene from a TED talk by Beatrice Coron: Stories Cut From Paper. Coron is delightful - she tells a bit of her story, what she did before she became an artist, how she creates her cut stories - and shares some of her art. I recommend her talk. (And I would love to travel around to see her installations!)

Talking about her Balloon Houses, she says "It's all if. So what if we were living in balloon houses? It would make a very uplifting world. And we would leave a very low footprint on the planet. It would be so light."

Here are three more pieces, from her talk, that I liked. This one is in a station in the south side of Chicago:

Seeds of the Future are Planted Today

This was on the subway in New York:

All Around Town

And finally, in Paris:

Rue des Prairies

Coron closes with this idea:

. . . everybody's a narrator, because everybody has a story to tell. But more important is everybody has to make a story to make sense of the world.

BAG and SOFA

Our nephew Chris recently assisted in the creation of the exhibit Bags Across the Globe (BAG). The installation was exhibited at SOFA Chicago, so Jim and I were able to see both Chris and BAG, along with other awesomeness.

The plastic bag at the top is made of 350 typical bags - the average number used by a person during one year.

The reusable bags were made by students from discarded fabric swatches. Each cloth bag is estimated to replace 1000 plastic bags.

Jim, Robin, and Chris

Jim and I spent most of the day looking at the displays, along with Jon. We took breaks to visit with Chris, and had lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern. We watched part of the Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Roadshow. But mostly we looked at the artwork. At the end of the day, we gave Chris a lift to Dave and Joyce's house, and enjoyed pizza with them, and with Jon & Laura and Paul & Rachelle (and two delightful little boys).

SOFA stands for "Sculpture Objects Functional Art." We didn't see much Function in most of the pieces we admired, but we did see lots of beautiful and lovely and interesting pieces. Here are some of my favorites.

I love the colors in this piece by Lesley Nolan, and the sense of happiness and camaraderie:

Lesley Nolan - Memories of the Dance
Fused glass panel

Marc Petrovic displayed a number of wonderful sculpted glass birds. He had a video running in his booth, showing how he made the birds - amazing work.

Marc Petrovic
Sculpted glass bird

Claire Brewster cut these birds were cut out of old maps:

Claire Brewster
Hand cut map

Courtney Timmermans had several pieces made with air rifle BBs, which I found fascinating. The texture appealed to me; I wanted to reach out and pet the bear (I restrained myself).

Courtney Timmermans - Urban Herd: Bear
Air rifle BBs, cast resin, mixed media

I noted that this sculpture is by Marta Klonowska, but I neglected to record a title. Apparently Klonowska is known for canine figures; I'm guessing this fellow is a fox!

Marta Klonowska
Sculpture - Glass on metal framework

These two pieces I liked for their texture and color. The first piece is by Michael Behrens.

Michael Behrens - Seaforms 2012
Kiln cast glass

And the second is by Toots Zynsky; the texture on this was marvelous (and wouldn't this be a delicious colorway for yarn?).

Toots Zynsky
Fused and thermo formed color glass threads

This piece by Toland Sand caught the light so beautifully:

Toland Sand
Dichroic glass sculpture

Kirra Galleries sponsored several artists that impressed us. We also were able to chat with the artists, who were delightful (love those Australian accents). Harriet Schwarzrock created these glass pieces:

Harriet Schwartrock
Glass and stainless steel

Rob Wynne showed us how he makes the designs on his glass bowls. Basically, there is a layer of glass and then a layer of iridescent metal. He covers parts of that metal with vinyl (the parts he wants to remain iridescent), and sandblasts the rest away. What remains is the colored glass and the iridescent design. (Of course, it's much more involved than this explanation - and quite amazing.) (Wynne also happened to be the demonstrating artist when we stopped to watch the Corning Roadshow.)

Rob Wynne
Glass and surface decoration

And look at these pieces by Richard Ritter. I wanted to touch these, too (I refrained).

Richard Ritter - Les Pommes Verre
Blown, etched glass and murrini

I have no idea who created this owl - we couldn't find a name anywhere - and frankly, we thought the face was a bit weird. Still, it is an owl, so I snapped a quick photo (actually, I think Jim took the photo; it was mounted too high for me!):

Last but not least - I think this is my second favorite piece - a sculpture by Giuseppe Palumbo. I love the whimsy in these sheep!

Giuseppe Palumbo - All Together Now
Bronze

It was a great day!