Catching Up - Cave of Pages

I mentioned a class I had taken, taking a cigar box and turning it into a 'Cave of Pages', here are some pics of the project. It was very fun to take all sorts of materials, having no idea of where it would end up, and pulling it all together in a day long workshop. I had a few bits heading into the project that I knew I wanted to use, an old photo of a pretty dapper looking bloke which I copied in two sizes, some pages from old medical books including a Polish pediatric text book (thanks to my friend Mary, a medical librarian, who knows my penchant for wierd old books), an altoid tin, a watch crystal, and the inner workings of an old clock. Where on earth did my stack of cigar boxes go?? Never mind, stop at the smoke shop on the way down the hill - bingo, a 'Romeo y Julietta' cigar box, the only empty one for sale, $3.00 - score! The edges were too pretty to cover up, so you can still see them on the finished project.

Along the way I found more old bits in the way that you do when the planets are aligned and karma is delivering the universe on a plate - an ephemera pack that the kind Zinnia folks gave us at the class had a medical diagram in it, one of the people I was sharing a table with gave me a 'frozen charlotte' doll (she was perfectly broken, he had bought a whole suitcase of them on Ebay, they arrived from Dresden with the dirt still on them, having been dug up from the back lot of the old factory where they were made), a little piece found in Zinnia before the class, some treasures found in little tins from a secret sister swap (thanks Kris!). The 'cave' is made by cutting foamboard to fit inside the box in layers, then cutting out peepholes to see through, very fun!Paint and glue, drills and wire, hammers and nails, screws and more glue - it all started to come together. I had just finished reading an astounding book called "My Lobotomy" by Howard Dully, the true story of how he was subjected to a lobotomy at the age of 12 - yes, 12 years old! This book was much on my mind, more particularly power and the abuse of it that can happen in the medical world, and how children can be the helpless pawns in the process. Twisted, dark, that's just how it all worked out, I was skipping along a sunny path to the class when it all went a little south. So with the Polish pediatric text, and the broken china doll from Germany, and that photo of the dapper gent, it somehow became about the medical tests and experiments that were done on children in WWII. Mind you, Howard Dully's case was right here in the USA, these things can happen just anywhere you care to name.

Back into the sunshine - the workshop was a wonderful experience, sharing a day making art with a group of like-minded individuals, the generosity and insight of our fearless leader Michael de Meng, and the end-of-the-day review of everyone's work, it's incredible what a range of fabulous projects came out of the group. Thank you universe for another great experience, and many thanks my family for giving me the class as my birthday gift.