Inspired by a show of Mexican papier-mâché (cartonería ) at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, Penny Cooper wanted a mask of herself.
While Mrs & Mrs went out exploring, I took a day at home to oblige.
BELOW: Penny Cooper got greased up, and then got molded with newspapers scraps soaked in flour & water.
It had been cold in NM, but that day it was hot in the sun, and Penny Cooper sat outside to bake her mask.
It was dry in an hour or so!
I gathered pine needles in the yard, for hair. Penny wanted her whole body painted too (with gouache--opaque watercolor). I was a little surprised, because she doesn't usually like to take her plaid dress off, but I think the spirit of the landscape inspired her.
The dry and prickly landscape reminded me of Sicily, and besides looking at Mexican mask designs, I also looked up the designs on Sicilian carts. (The mask nevertheless turned out a lot like Pikachu...)
The next day bink, Penny Cooper, and I hiked the mesa at Tsankawi, part of the Bandelier National Park:
BELOW: The Ancestral Pueblo people who'd lived there for hundreds of years wore footpaths into the soft rock. "Doll size!"
Penny wondered if the people had made doll-sized pottery.
Probably, she decided, "but the dolls have taken their dishes back into the earth with them."
BELOW: Me & bink with Penny on the mesa top.
I'm wearing Mrs Maura's cap from Meow Wolf . We'd gone to that "explorable art experience" on an earlier day, and I'd loved it: so fun, so imaginative--it was like falling down the rabbit hole!
Meow Wolf was part of the overall message I received on my trip:
MAKE STUFF!
The humans of all times like to make stuff.
BELOW: Bink raises her hand toward the petroglyph hand, above her to the right:
Note a HAZARD of visiting New Mexico:
A spaceship may try to fly up your nose!
Jealous of your trip and Penny Cooper's skills. MeowWolf on the bucket list, either NM or Vegas. You know which is preferable!! Make stuff, and then , there it is, what to do with it? Did Penny's blue come off?
ReplyDeleteThat looks so amazing- Penny is amazing! What a great early birthday celebration. Hope doll pox is under control now and that no one else has been infected.
OMG, LINDA SUE---take a trip to NM now!!! Or very soon.
ReplyDeleteSanta Fe had snow when I left, so maybe wait a minute...
Meow Wolf is very you, I think. Very handmade!
I can donate stuff I make to my store--I already put out that tiny dino with the doll head stuck on.
I priced it high, too:
$1.99!
Penny is waiting until after my birthday party in two week to wash off her costume--she wants everyone to see her! So if there's any way the blue can soak into her, it surely will have by then. :)
I couldn't find info on whether doll pox is an hazard to humans or if it spreads--I think not? But it just made me nervous...
Maybe what I have is doll pox and a lot of it.
ReplyDeletePlease don't snort that spaceship.
My granddaughter was playing with the Orphan that Linda Sue sent me and after carefully examining her said, "She could get a bath! Can we give her one?"
Luckily, there was no time because Maggie had to go to dance class.
Penny is most likely correct about the doll pottery.
MS MOON: Oh, I would delight in seeing pictures of Magnolia bathing an Orphan!!! They love to have baths--just try not to get water in their heads.
ReplyDelete(But you can take their heads off too, if you need to get water our---heat up the neck joint with a hair drier, and it will get soft (but not melty!) and you can pop it off. Easier to get back on even without heating.)
Amazing body art, and the photograph of PC walking the footpath is incredible.
ReplyDeleteThat was me, Michael L. I keep forgetting that it’s necessary to disable cross-site tracking to comment from the Blogger account.
ReplyDeleteFRESCA here.
ReplyDeleteThanks MICHAEL! PennyCooper is chuffed that you like her costume in action.
I need to figure out how to disable that —even on my own blog I have to comment anonymously sometimes!
this post is so amazing. penny cooper's mask adventure and body painting are phenomenal every time i look at the photos. the mask is stunning and the walking photo is so eye-catching.
ReplyDeleteisn't nm the appropriate place to get a saucer up the nose?
kirsten
ps when we lived in nm we used to go camping with other families in bandelier national park. that was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteone of my favorite memories was waking up to sourdough biscuits cooked in an iron skillet over a fire and one one of the park rangers giving a lecture at night.
kirsten