Slides

When I was in 6th grade I had an Art teacher whose name was Mr Shadrin. It was the 1st time in my school career that I failed Art repeatedly. Since this was in 1972 or so...no one really became concerned that I was failing my favorite subject. It was Art after all, not important. Not that Mr Shadrin was a bad teacher, I just didn't understand what was happening. His field really was Media Art and I did not grasp it at all. He wanted us to think abstract.. I couldn't. Affixing feathers to microscope slides to put under a projector was not the way I felt Art was. I am pretty sure (in retrospect) that Mr. Shadrin was enjoying his share of after school LSD and Marijuana when he thought up the projects for us. At the time, I just thought there was something wrong with him.
I try to think abstract.. it is still very hard. When I placed feathers between microscope slides I could not help but think of Mr Shadrin and his strange mind, although at this point in life it does not seem strange at all.
My plan had been to have all the elements of the 2 pictures all together. Once I began creating a frame to hold the slides I realized that all together would be just way too much. It was nice to then come up with 2 separate pendants from one idea.
The framed feathers, it is the 1st time that I have seriously used wire work to stabilize an object without holes for use as a pendant. While I admire the work of other artists who successfully cage cabochons and the like I have not had an interest in using a similar technique. This technique uses smaller sections of wire together to achieve a sturdy frame, it just works better with my hands and brain to do it this way.
I am grateful this evening for taking the wire frame plunge, and for thoughts of Mr. Shadrin who I hope is doing very well and creating lots of interesting Art.