It is time for the annual blog! For the record, I never intended to create a daily, weekly, or even monthly blog when I started my website. I think once a year pretty much covers it.
Creating a single, small body of work each year generates a rhythm and pattern of existence that allows me to genuinely focus solely on the creative effort. Having a finite period with a firm deadline elevates the intensity and prevents me from overthinking. This is supposed to be pure fun, and it is. Once it isn’t, I will know I have reached the end, or at least a turning point. My work is never “inventory” or a “product” meant to fill a booth.
I have a lot of little missions when I dive in each year but mostly I indulge my interests in antiques, textiles, design work, sewing, carving, history, folklore, storytelling, and human nature. And it is perfectly OK with me if a lot of people who see my work see it only for the finished creation. Some people might see a doll, some people a soft sculpture, and a number of people can’t see any reason at all for these to exist. Those who end up taking my work home with them understand that these are a lot more than an object or a product and the connection is often driven by the stories and a healthy sense of humor.
Each year’s menagerie begins with the collection of wood I have gathered on walks throughout the year. When I pick up a piece of wood, it is with a sense of joyful recognition. “I know you!” When I am carving them into existence, it feels a little like I am uncovering someone I know one wood shaving at a time. Each step of the process is a deeper conversation about who this character is, like getting to know an acquaintance who quickly becomes a friend. By the time clothing comes into play, I know them well enough to gift them with antique treasures I have been saving just for this character, without really knowing when they would show up. There isn’t a lot of hemming and hawing. There is a mental click that isn’t unlike getting dressed to go out with a friend and knowing you have just the right thing to wear for the occasion if you can just remember which closet you stashed it in.
I try to pick a time period each year so that I can create a fairly cohesive group. This year, the late 18th century was on my mind and I chose a few garments and ideas to weave through their characters. I don’t try to recreate history or even aim for full historical accuracy, but I love to use bits of historical fashion, fabric, colors, and social norms enough for them to fit into a household setting that may have a combination of modern and old decor so they don’t look entirely out of their element wherever the next leg of their journey takes them.
Last year, I was very interested in the chemise and why it stuck around for so many centuries. This year I was thinking a lot about the people before and during the American Revolution and what they might have worn to make a statement if and when that was even allowed. Men’s waistcoats were a must, zippers didn’t exist, men wore kerchiefs because neckties in the way we know them didn’t exist yet, women’s clothing had no pockets and men’s had few so everyone carried a bag or basket of some sort. I like to portray the working people more than the upper class and I found several examples of men’s hats that stuck around in artwork and political satire for a very long time so I gave several of the male characters versions of those. Waistcoats and cutaway jackets were for all social classes. Because there was not yet a full battery of manufacturing available here and cotton wasn’t at full steam yet, people were wearing a lot of homespun, imported muslins, wool, and if they could afford it, silk. With our growing desire for independence, life was changing quickly around the colonies, tastes for imported clothing were switching to creating local sources of cloth, and fashion was becoming less rigidly driven by France. People who came here had lives that were incomparable to what they had in Europe and Britain and independence was not just a desire, but a necessity.
And on that note, I have derived a premise of existence for each of this year’s characters. I hope you enjoy them.
Lafayette Vernon, mule “You can waste a lot of time not trusting a mule” Words of wisdom I was given on a particularly daunting portion of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in my college years. Mules have played an enormous role in building this country. They can carry and pull exceptionally heavy loads all while navigating challenging terrain. George Washington created mule bloodlines that still exist at mule auctions and on Amish farms today. Lafayette Vernon descends from some of the Spanish and French stock gifted to President Washington by monarchs in the late 1700s.
Boris Lutra, otter Boris is a river otter. Where he acquired his 18th-century greatcoat and tricorn is anyone’s guess but after the Revolutionary War, river otters were nearly hunted to extinction for the European fur trade. As a gentleman of distinction, Boris likely plies his trade up and down the Ohio River Valley, carefully avoiding such a plight. With his fine waistcoat and striped silk kerchief, I can only guess his explorations and natural curiosity have netted him a fair share of fish. Some native legends describe otters as givers of fortune and in the spirit of this, Boris is known to be a philanthropist.
Dolly Salmo, fish Dolly is a fishwife, or a fishlass. The term was originally a literal one for the wives and daughters of fishermen but by the time of the Civil War Era the term often implied a foul-mouthed, crass, bold woman used in political satire as a contrast to weak, ineffective politicians of the day. Fishwives had to stand out and be bold and loud to sell their perishable wares that were identical to every other fishwife’s goods. (It is a cutthroat business) Her thick, colorful petticoat and bright clothing just might draw enough attention to her cockles and mussels that she can make it home “Alive, alive, O” to feed her hungry family.
Connery Buteo, hawk Hawks have the ability to rise above and see the world from a higher, clear-sighted perspective. This is what makes him an excellent scout and “fixer” for frontiersmen. He remains calm, and a bit superior, only occasionally needing to pull his dagger from its scabbard as he glides over unexplored territory surveying possibilities as our newly united states push into unknown territory.
Hinny Culper,donkey During the years leading up to the American Revolution, it was generally believed that women held the same political beliefs as their husbands, and they were easily dismissed, overlooked, and assumed powerless. This is why they made perfect spies. Perhaps Hinny is part of the Culper Ring, using ciphers to pass code along in the manner of Agent 355 to further the budding nation’s goals of Independence from Britain. Look twice at her sampler bag. Is there a code in there?
Bethany Loxodonta, elephant Not a lot is known about Bethanie’s Great Aunt Bet, the first known elephant to be captured and brought to the United States. It is thought she arrived in the Boston area in 1796 on the ship America. She is reportedly buried in Alfred, Maine and memorialized in Somers, NY. She was killed in 1816 by a man with a gun, distraught over losing his land. Old Bet was an innocent, but convenient bystander. RIP, Old Bet. At least elephants are no longer conscripted into work in this country. Bethany is a young ambassador for preservation. Did you know that female elephants have tusks? Poachers are causing a shift in available DNA by killing elephants with tusks leaving naturally tuskless elephants more chances to breed and create additional naturally tuskless elephants. Because tusks are necessary for survival, these offspring have a low life expectancy.
Jay Muttarid, camel has snuffed the candle and finished “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to rest his eyes and put up his slipper-clad feet. Will he dream of mischief, magical worlds, and things that are not always as they seem? He’ll probably never tell you if he did! Jay’s hat is very typical for all social classes in the 1700s (and earlier). It was acceptable in any casual situation to keep one’s hair soot-free and probably also to spare others from examining a head that was not washed frequently. He also wears a kerchief and waistcoat (vest) under his cutaway jacket as was fashionable for the times.
Ray Mycteria, American Woodstork In Greek mythology, storks were thought to steal babies. In Egyptian mythology, storks meant the return of a soul which could then be animated as another. In Norse mythology, storks represent family values and commitment. Storks are also known to migrate and return nine months later right around the Midsummer celebration which was a celebration of fertility, marriages, and courtship. So, it is an easy leap to use storks as a scapegoat to explain the arrival of babies to curious children too young to hear the real details. The 18th and 19th century images of storks delivering children would generally be a European stork but this American Wood Stork is delivering a fine, strapping baby to its new parents. American Woodstorks still exist and breed in the Southeastern US.
Homer Hippocampus, seahorse I am not sure how the ancient Greeks got anyone to believe that it was seahorses propelling Poseidon’s chariot. Have you ever watched them try to get anywhere under water? There are a few Native American tribes who give the seahorse traits such as persistence and patience to remind people to take their time on life’s journey no matter what the challenges may be. This makes more sense for my quizzical little seahorse who was called to duty to protect sailors far from his home and often finds himself feeling, well, like a fish out of water. In his bag he has letters from his family and a seashell so he can always hear the ocean even if duty pulls him away.
Roman Phakos, warthog Roman tucked his kerchief into his waistcoat and donned his finest suit to accept the keys to the city. He is only the symbolic mayor, but he earned his title well enough to be described by all as “affable, outgoing, winning, and kind”. Did you know that in a sounder of warthogs, if one of them raises their tail, the entire sounder does so as well? An upright tail is a beacon in tall grass so they can all find each other. If he is spreading kindness and congeniality, I plan to keep an eye out for that upright collection of tails and follow suit!
Kenney Bovidae, Mountain Goat Red caps would not have been uncommon before or during the Revolutionary War era as they were very symbolic of the struggle for freedom we were undertaking at that time. Mountain goats, if you have ever seen them in the Northern Rocky Mountains are lively examples of enjoying that freedom, conquering the highest mountains, and soaring with great ease over obstacles and through precarious circumstances. They aren’t actual goats. They are related to gazelles, antelope, and even cows, thus his family name, Bovidae. William Kenney used their image to advertise the Great Northern Railway in the 1940s perhaps because of the sturdy, confident, adventuresome nature they exude. The railway conquered the northern wilderness by completing a rail line in the late 1800s that led all the way to Seattle.
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