kirkdeford.com

Here is my latest collage of paper, feathers, metal, acrylic paint, and pastels.
This is “Feather Construction,” and is 16 by 12 inches on canvas.

I cut thin aluminum into leaf shapes (3 to 4 inches long), texture and crease each one, make sure the edges are not sharp, and then string the leaves on copper wire. These are perfect for decorating your home for the Holidays. These will be on sale during the Sidestreet Gallery December Holiday Art Show.

The Opening, with refreshments, is on Friday, December 2, a First Friday Art Event @ Sidestreet Gallery, and goes from 6 to 9 pm.

I just created this 31-inch high sculpture from about 17,000 old business cards. They are layered and attached with wire and staples over a wooden armature, and then painted white.

In 2006, when I worked for the Northwest Regional Laboratory (now Education Northwest), they were changing the logo for the company, and so I asked my 200 or so colleagues to give me all of their useless business cards, and I got about 50,000. What a deal, since you know how long it would take me to cut up that many small pieces of paper.

Now, to figure out if it needs wire hair.

Eight of my masks are in the October Sidestreet Gallery Group Show, here in Portland, Oregon.

              
Metal Guy            Green Guy         Scissor Bird      Nine Eyes

            
Long-Nosed Bird      Devil Mask         Scrappy Girl     Notch Brain

I have a War Memorial sculpture in my front yard that I put up two years ago, and that I change occasionally. Today I changed it, and added a Mourning Shroud. What began as the Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld War has turned into the Obama/Biden/Gates War, a war of extended timeframe, with little end in sight, regardless of what Obama said about a withdrawal time. Things change.

I have an informational plaque in the front for passers to read:

This is NOT a Happy Season!

How can I in my right mind put up bright celebration lights when there is Endless War

in Iraq & Afghanistan?

This Mourning Shroud is for

Those who have
sacrificed & WILL BE sacrificed–

American & other
Soldiers & Civilians—

Iraqi & Afghani—

All who die or are
harmed in this senseless war.
Join me & others in working for a
sustainable peace everywhere!

SPEAK OUT

FOR PEACE NOW!

This thing that I have set up IS a Blog, and most blogs are full of text. Mine isn’t. I created this originally to post my art and sculpture, and I have done that, though not very regularly. I still create a lot of art, though don’t sell much, probably because I don’t market my work very much or consistently.

So…this IS a Blog, and I am going to begin writing text…my thoughts about the world, America, and what is happening in our society.

First, I am appalled that there is still discussion about continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have made a sculptural statement in my front yard asking for the US to get OUT NOW.

My History
Back during the Viet Nam War days, I marched in many anti-war marches. In 1966 I sent my draft notice back after reading the entire thing, simply saying that I was not going to point a gun at anyone, much less pull the trigger. I had to go before a judge in Pasadena, California, who said, “You should not have done that!” (sent my draft notice back.) He took my case under consideration, and a month later I got a letter telling me that I would receive a new deferment classification from the local Draft Board. I was VERY lucky. I had friends who reluctantly had gone to war and come back un-whole, ruined, or not at all, not to mention the devastation wrought on their families and friends.

That post-combat devastation is not new. It is happening, as seen and reported across America, daily! With the deep pain and hurt for combatants, citizens, governments far and wide…people of all colors, persuasions, economic status, and political inclination, I wonder why we are warring so much all over this planet.

Even if it is true, as Claude Levi-Strauss said in Tristes Tropiques, that “The world began without the human race and will certainly end without it,” why are we so irresponsible, so un-caring of each other? (Re-quoted from the November 8, 2009 issue of the New York Times, “Week in Review,” p. 9.)

Do we just harbor a continuous “Dooms Day” mentality that we cannot shake…ever? I keep looking for explanations, and better ways…survival for us all.
Continue Reading »

I have added a special and important symbol to the Memorial Sculpture in my front yard for this American Day of Celebration…and Thought:

A Thoughtful 4th
As the war in Iraq appears to be ending, but another in Afghanistan rages on, I offer

A Tribute
To Those who have sacrificed:
American & other  Soldiers & Civilians;
Iraqi & Afghani…
All who have given their lives
in what they believe is a noble cause.

The flag draped here is a 48-star flag of unknown date and manufacture, though it was used sometime between 1912 and 1959. In 1912, two stars were added, representing Arizona and New Mexico, bringing the total number of stars to 48. In 1959 Alaska became the 49th star.

I bought the flag for $3.00 at a Yard Sale in the Sellwood neighborhood south of downtown Portland.
The seller said it is a “coffin flag,” and did not want to tell its history; a “sad” flag indeed!

Join me and others in working for a sustainable peace everywhere!

I wrote this originally in 2003, and it seems particularly pertinent now that I have been retimed for over two years.

See what you think, and post your comments and ideas; I look forward to hearing from you.

“I’m convinced that time has no existence in the mind at all. We partition time out of necessity….Civilization couldn’t function otherwise. But our minds are a swirling mass of images and recollections that are connected, and it’s the connections that count.”  Arthur Miller

So…you are ready to jump into the Big R…gulp…Retirement! I would suggest a different approach and perspective, a different set of connections not usual in our 21st Century society. I offer you a new concept and new word…RETIMEMENT, instead of retirement.

“Retirement” is a concept derived from a work ethic spawned by the Industrial Revolution, from back around the 1870’s. Most of us are brought up to accept a certain work ethic coming from that era that includes 8 or more hours on the job every day, 40 or more hours a week, for 50 or so weeks every year. Then, we get the opportunity to make up for those 50 weeks with a two-week “vacation.” Our time is not in our control; it is controlled externally.

The concept of “retirement age” was developed as part of Bismarck’s German government plan to financially take care of those who reach a certain age. Supposedly, in the last quarter of 19th century Germany, the economy at that time could only afford to support those 65 or older who would “retire,” due to the state of the economy. That standard has held through this day, though there is a movement in the US and in other Western countries to increase the retirement age. Many people are remaining healthy and active into their seventies and beyond.

So, after all of those years of work, and if you make it through age 60 or 62 or 65 (whatever “retirement” age has been set by the Federal Social Security system for folks born in your birth year,) you “get” to retire. If you have never captured your own time…retimed yourself, then that retirement may come as a huge change and possible let down.

Everyone supporting the workaday world loves this arrangement, however, because they profit from it. Allopathic medical practitioners, hospitals, mortuaries, cemeteries, insurance actuaries, retirement fund administrators, and similar industries unwittingly, for the most part, love this way of doing things; it provides their source of commercial and personal income. When you retire you become part of the “fix-it” model…or you just go away, making way for others to be fixed.

Are you in the grip of the Type A behavior and work mode that could render you unempowered as you move into “Retimement?” Perhaps you could begin to look at life in terms of a “personal domestic product” that has a specific process designed to identify for you certain, personal capacity-building opportunities as you re-claim your time. Ultimately, you might begin to look at a measure of your existence by what I call “Personal Domestic Pleasure.” Just think what we would gain by slowing down…taking over time and appreciating the moment. This would be simplifying life and making each moment and day a joy to experience.

Many people are thinking about their “time” and how it is “used” in this society. October 24 of every year is national “Take Back Your Time Day.” That date falls nine weeks before the end of the year, making the point that we Americans now work nine weeks more each year than Western Europeans do. This is a national initiative to draw attention to “time poverty,” which is rampant in American culture. It is also a time to invite conversation and reflection about restoring a work and life balance.

As Henry David Thoreau said in Walden, reciting a Chinese inscription, “Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.” The notion of “retimement” is not just for those reaching a certain age, but for everyone who wants to take control of their own time for a simpler, happier existence.

This makes sense for me, and I hope it is an idea you can consider.

Please join me for the 4th annual Mt. Tabor Art Walk from 11 am to 5 pm Saturday & Sunday May 16-17, 2009. This is a great way to see the work of neighborhood artists and experience the beauty of the Mt. Tabor neighborhood in Spring. Be sure to come by my site (#20 on the map) at 2345 SE 58th Ave. I will be doing a printmaking demonstration and you can get a FREE example of my art.

HERE are locations where you can pick up maps, or you can download a PDF of the map HERE.