Enshrined

Today would have been my dad's 94th birthday, so it seemed a good day to post my shrine!

First, the back-story -- several months ago (well, more like six), my friends Kate, Jane and I gathered to begin making shrines. Mine was to be for/about my dad.

It's finally finished!

The base is a metal shadowbox that I bought at one of Jane's remarkable garage sales, with a heavy emphasis on art supplies! It was probably tin-burnished-copper. I added a few rub-on metallic highlights in turquoise and green to bring out the patina. I'm not sure you can really tell here, but it does show up. Subtle, but there. And it made an enormous difference!

The focal point is a photo of my dad from his army days, surrounded by various memorabilia representing some of the more significant interests in his life.

He was stationed in India, which he spoke of often, so I included a map of India, some postage stamps and war ribbons.

Another passion was ham radio, so the photo in the lower corner is Dad at the radio, and nearby are his license and a photo of the radio.

(All the photos are elevated on pop-dots for dimension).

Another love was fishing. The upper left photo is one of dad's fishing poses, along with a fly from his collection.


Of course, the biggest loves of his life were family. His parents are represented ...

As are my mom --

And me!

His medals and pins from the war provided color and balance at the top of the shrine...

I decided to hang Grandpa's watch from the bottom. I suspect I may modify the attachment; this doesn't seem too secure and the glue I put to secure it looks ugly!

Finally done! Is there one for mom on the way?

(On Chopsticks and String, I have posted an essay I wrote for a competition about "When Did You Realize You Were a Grown-Up." I'm not as grown-up as I thought, because I missed the deadline to submit it! But since it relates to my dad and a pretty critical moment in my life as well, I thought I would put it there. Please stop by if you are interested.)

A New Kind of Shriner, Part One

The week before my surgery, I had a wonderful evening with two art friends, Jane Rosemont and my pal Kate.

Our task: to plan the shrines we would create when Jane returned from Bali and I had two arms!

Jane is delightfully eclectic -- her photography is amazing -- eloquent and filled with soul. Her portraits of people being people (doing what they do, being as they are, not studio portraits) are fabulous, with great depth and she is adept at catching every kind of image from graceful architecture to a moving scene. (Actually, her studio portraits are pretty cool, too!)

Jane came from a strong Roman Catholic background and has the best nun collection of anyone I know. Her travels and life experiences have expanded her scope and her deep sense of soul and spirit, life and whimsy, courage and grace -- and yes, color! -- always makes me smile and feel grateful I came to know her.

Her work (as seen on her website and blog) covers all sorts of media -- photography, mixed media, painting and assemblage. I had taken one shrine class from her before, and made this wee Stimpy from a mint tin.

Above, you see the front and one side -- the tin "sun" at the top is a tuna can, the beads are cat-oriented and the side has some of his beloved shrimp shells. The fibers are from one of the fiber-snakes he liked to play with, made from my leftover yarn. Because Stimpy lived for his Fancy Feast, a label and a photo of his bowl are mounted. The cat at the top is an repurposed button cover.

On the opposite side, his name is in wooden letters. The tin was "rusted" using an acrylic paint and dabbing technique.

But I digress. I was ready for more.

So, Jane was our leader. Kate and I came armed with our ideas and some supplies to play with.


You won't see finished work here -- that'll have to wait for another month or so.

But Jane talked about containers -- which run the gamut from mint tins to boxes to nichos to old Barbie doll cases to anything with sides that works.

And she has a good collection of things to put in these containers!

Like this sweet faced Madonna -- a doll head and body.

I have a nicho (I think that's right -- a tin shrine thing, for sure) and my theme is my dad.

I picked background papers and some of the bits for the "holes" (spaces) on the front -- a photo of dad, a bit from an old postcard my mom wrote, a stamp from India, some of his ham radio licenses, some army medals, that sort of thing.

I may use this India map as part of the background.

Kate decided to make a shrine to color.

Her structure is a small black box with compartments. She then began cutting up the pantone book in the teeniest squares. Some of these will hang, like mobile pieces.

Keep watching for our shrine adventures, part two!