Raoul Dufy Exhibit in Jackson, Mississippi

Last weekend, I went to Jackson, Mississippi to see the Raoul Dufy exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art.  I also invited my mom and my sister to come – kind of a girls’ weekend.  As usual, nothing could be that simple.  First of all, Mom decided to take advantage of some days off to precede the rendez-vous with a visit to my sister’s family in Covington, Louisiana.  That, in itself, is not a problem:  Covington is about 2 1/2 hours south of Jackson, so Mom and Sis could drive up and meet me, then I would take Mom back to Atlanta.

My husband, in the meantime, had an opportunity to go to NearFest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that same weekend.  That meant coordinating dog boarding not only for my dog, Lupita, but also for my mother’s dog, Poppy, because we were also taking care of her while Mom was in Louisiana.  I keep Lupita at Man’s Best Friend up here in Norcross, so I just had to make sure her shots were up to date and drop her off.  Poppy was a bit more tricky.  She’s only about 7 months old and has never been boarded.  I had already made reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn in Madison, Mississippi and they do not accept pets.

I hesitated to also board Mom’s baby at MBF because they have a bit of paperwork to fill out.   Also, Poppy is only a 10 pound puppy (and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – princess…) and she could not just stay anywhere.  So, after a brief websearch, I found the Chateau La Pooch just down the road from the hotel in Madison.  Perfect solution!  So, Poppy was going to ride with me to Madison on Saturday and stay at the CLP for two nights, then ride home with Mom and me on Monday.

The drive over was 6 1/2 hours – I had my trusty Garmin GPS to guide me.  I really only stopped a few times – picked up a book on CD at Cracker Barrel, and did drive-thru for lunch.  I didn’t want to leave Poppy in the car – even in the shade – for long because it was HOT!  This wasn’t a problem until I got to the Mississippi Tourist rest stop and decided I wanted to look at a map – one thing about the GPS is that it doesn’t give you the big picture.  Surely we were almost to Jackson!  So, after walking the dog, I picked her up and walked into the Welcome Center to find a Mississippi map.  After I did that, I walked back out.  Her feet never touched the ground, although I did try to get her to drink from the water fountain (which she declined to do…)

As I walked out, the kindly security guy came up to me and said, “Ma’am, we try to keep the dogs out on the grass…”  So, I looked at him pleasantly and explained my dilemma:  Leave a puppy in the car and have someone report me for animal cruelty, tie her outside (where someone might snatch her – I didn’t say that), or carry her in just for a moment to look at the map.  He told me that Jackson was not far away – I knew that already… and we said our good-byes.

After I dropped her off at the “chateau”, I went to the hotel.  Mom and Sis were not coming until Sunday, so I had the evening by myself.  I used my laptop to search for shopping options (if there’s a Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, TJMaxx, or Tuesday Morning in the area, I like to check it out.), and drove out to shop.  I didn’t find too much, but stopped at a Stein Mart and bought a dress and a new top.  Then, after searching up and down the frontage road of I-55, I decided to try Raising Cane’s, a chicken finger restaurant.  Then, I went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Part Two later!

Perfect for the “faux catholique”…

A couple of years ago for spring break, my husband and I went to Saint Augustine, Florida.  We stayed in a cute B & B, walked around the old town, visited the fort, ate at the newer Columbia Restaurant, and I think we went to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum.

There is also a holy place there, The Mission of Nombre de Dios and The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche.    They have a great gift shop where I scored four cute little volumes called Miniature Stories of the Saints.  Here is a place where you can buy the set for $7.80.  The stories are short and simple, but the main reason I bought them was for the illustrations.  I eventually plan on using them in collages and shrines.

Here is a sample story I found on a different website.  It is about Saint Barbara:

Saint Barbara the Brave Martyr

When Barbara was a little girl, her wicked father imprisoned her in a high tower. So Barbara lived in the tower with only the servants who cared for her. And she was very good. One day a priest passed under her tower. He was singing about Jesus Christ. Barbara heard him. She asked him about his song. He told her all about the Savior. Barbara was overjoyed. “I love Jesus too,” she cried. “I am a Christian.”

When her father heard this, he was furious. In those days, it was against the law to love Jesus or to be a Christian. So this cruel father dragged his own daughter to the judge. “My daughter is a Christian,” he cried. “She is not my daughter any longer.” “What shall we do with her?” the judge asked. For he saw that Barbara was good and pure.

“Do what the law orders,” her father shouted. “Beat her until she is almost dead. Then chop off her head.”

So the soldiers carried out that cruel order. But suddenly they saw angels coming. The angels carried the soul of Barbara to heaven. And a terrible flash of lightning struck her cruel father and killed him where he stood. Her Feast is December 4th.

Go here to read the others online:

• Saint Agatha the Pure Virgin
• Saint Angela Friend of Girls
• Saint Brigid of Ireland
• Saint Catherine of Siena the Dominican
• Saint Clotilde Queen of France
• Saint Colette the Franciscan
• Saint Mary of Egypt who had been a Sinner
• Saint Ursula and her Companions

Whew!

Well, I have accomplished my first two projects of the summer:  going to the John C. Campbell Folk School for one week was the first one.  The second one, I was kind of dragging my feet on, but thanks to my Mom’s encouragement and help, I got ‘er done.

The Atlanta Collage Society was accepting member entries for a show at the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  I’ve known about it for a while, and figured I could always enter the two framed pieces I have if I don’t get around to framing any others.  I gave one of my pieces – Butterfly Girl – to my sister for Christmas – it was framed, too.  The two remaining, A Winged Mother and Hail Mary, were ready to go.

After I got back from “camp”, Mom offered to help me pick out frames and mats for more pictures to frame.  For this show, they didn’t want small pieces, so the two little ones I framed would not do.  We finally decided upon Lost My Head, Montgolfier Milagro, and a new unfinished piece I had in one of my sketchbooks.

My mother is an artist and a master “matter”, but my pieces were a challenge to frame.  Lost My Head is a strange size and Montgolfier was on canvas board.  The unfinished piece had no background, so I had to painstakingly pry all of the paper off and re-glue the elements on a background of hand-made paper.  I called it “Oasis“.  All three of them look awesome, but it was not easy.  My Mom rocks!

The show will be from June 20 through July 18 and the reception is supposed to be June 27th.  Blue Ridge is not far from the John C. Campbell Folk School, so I may take my husband, spend the night, and visit the area for the weekend.

Day Three at the Campbell School

Today marked my third day of classes.  I have been going almost non-stop, with my basic schedule being:

• 8:00 – last to roll out of bed – I am sharing a dorm room with 4 other ladies.
• 8:15 – get in line for breakfast at the dining hall
• 9:00 – 12:00 – class
• 12:00 – get in line for lunch
• 1:00 – 4:00 – class
• 4:00 – 6:00 – still staying after class – catching up and waiting for the dinner bell
• 6:00 – get in line for dinner
• 6:30 – go upstairs and check e-mail; take a walk
• 7:30 – 10:30 – go back to class and finish up any project I haven’t finished yet
• 10:30 – get ready for bed; check e-mail
• 11:00ish – go to sleep

Meals are served family style – we go through a line to get our drinks (or cereal for breakfast), then find an empty seat at one of the tables.  You really need to be on time, because they have a routine: song or grace, trays come around with serving dishes, pass everything around. After dinner, someone gathers up the plates and takes them back to the kitchen.  Only then will they hand over dessert. On the way out, you clean up any other dishes used. If you are late, you risk your table running out of food, and you have to go begging to another table or to the kitchen.  Some people raid the vegetarian buffet.

I made a run to WalMart on Monday and came back with Diet Cokes.  There is an ice machine adjacent to the book arts classroom, so I just bring one bottle down in the morning and one down in the afternoon.  Of course, several people have told me how bad Diet Coke is for me. As if this were news to me… I promised I would try and give it up soon.

So far, we have made 2 books, with boxes or sleeves to put them in. First, however, we carve a block print to contribute to each classmate’s book.  Monday, I carved a Mexican ex voto heart design into a block made of eraser gum like material.  Tuesday, I carved an image of a little Mexican goat onto my first linoleum block.  They came out okay, but I really have to learn to use a lighter touch.  On both, I ended up carving away too big of a chunk in at least one place.  So, being the perfectionist that I am, I took my paintbrush markers and very carefully added texture back to my prints.

We sign and number each one of our prints and collect a set from everyone in the class, including the instructors.  So far, we have made a 5 by 5 inch accordion book with hard binding and a box with a top to put it in.  Our second project was a 6 by 8 inch “stab bound” book, where we learned how to use a drill and how to sew the book together.  I just finished the slipcase for the book tonight.

Tomorrow, we will make what is also called an accordion book, but it just refers to the accordion spine that you attach the pages to.  For that book, the class decided on a theme: borders.  We each made a border or letterhead for a 6 by 6 page. That way, the rest of the page is blank for journalling. I did a pretty fair flourish inspired by the borders on a Mexican amate painting I had.  I really like it.  The accordion spine was a pain to fold – I’ve done them before for my gift card books, but those were only 7 folds: this one was 13!

Okay, time for bed. I did not bring the cable to upload my photos, but I will upload them when I get home.