Desert Art – Chihuly Night Show at Desert Botanical Gardens

Red Reeds at Twilight

Red Reeds at Twilight © 2014 Bo Mackison

Chihuly’s art glass on exhibit at Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix.

After dark, the installations are illuminated , and offer a totally different viewing experience.

Illuminated Purple Reeds

Illuminated Purple Reeds © 2014 Bo Mackison

Summer Sun by Chihuly, Night

Summer Sun by Chihuly, Night © 2014 Bo Mackison

Yellow Octopi in the Cacti

Yellow Octopi in the Cacti © 2014 Bo Mackison

Blue Sapphire Star at Night

Blue Sapphire Star at Night © 2014 Bo Mackison

 

Writing Your Life Story Part 4: Why Write Your Story?

Polyvitro Chandelier and Tower

Polyvitro Chandelier and Tower © 2014 Bo Mackison

Friends, family, even strangers ask: “Why should I write down my life story?” “I haven’t anything important to share.” “Who would want to read about my life?”

So . . . why write my life story or memoir?

Different writers have different reasons, but here are a few:

Memoir writing can be therapeutic.

Writing your way through a difficult period of life, or writing about the learning of a challenging life lesson can help put the experience into perspective.

Memoirs provide teaching moments.

A good memoir focuses on an event or series of events that evoke a change in the author — perhaps a change of view, a change of feelings, a change for better (or worse.)

Memoirs provide for personal sharing and keep moments alive.

This sharing need not be for a large audience; the writing may only be written for family members or friends. It is a way of documenting a part of their lives, too. I recalled a poem I recently read that described a moment by a writer as he watched his words being read by another.

A day will come I’ll watch you reading this.
I’ll look up from these words I’m writing now—
this line I’m standing on, I’ll be right here,
alive again. I’ll breathe on you this breath.
~~ excerpt from the poem The One Certain Thing by Peter Cooley

Ask yourself. Why write about your life, your memories?

This makes a great writing prompt. Are you writing to resolve an old issue? Are you writing to share a major shift in your actions or way of thinking? Or like the poet, are you writing your story, even in a small way, for posterity?

Consider writing down your reasons and making it a part of your memoir collection.

Next: Part 5, The Perfect Container

Desert Art – Blue Fiori Sun

Blue Fiori Sun, 2013

Blue Fiori Sun ©2014 Bo Mackison

Chihuly in the Garden is the second exhibit of glass artist Dale Chihuly held at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Gardens.

I was lucky enough to attend Chihuly’s first exhibit, The Nature of Glass, in the winter of 2008. I fell in love with his signature hand-blown glass art sculptures. When I discovered a second Chihuly exhibit was returning this winter/spring, I knew I would be back, too.

This time I went better prepared, with six more years of experience with photography, and the proper equipment — a tripod — to handle low light, long exposures. (Still processing the night photos — coming soon!)

Blue Fiori Sun, 2013

Blue Fiori Sun Amid the Desert Green © 2014 Bo Mackison

This exhibit is Chihuly’s twelfth installation in an outdoor botanical garden setting.

There are 21 installations in the Phoenix exhibition. I saw 16 of them in a whirlwind 4 hours. I wasn’t planning on making the trip to Phoenix again, and so I tried to see as much as I could — not the way I prefer to see art in any setting. I did take extra time at each installation,  just to take in the art glass in desert surroundings, but I seldom had as much time as I would have liked.

Now I’m planning a return visit, determined to build more time into the visit for pure appreciation.

Blue Fiori Sun, 2013

Blue Fiori Sun ©2014 Bo Mackison

The exhibition is strategically placed on  55 acres of the 140 acre garden.

There are 21 installations. Major installations are at the entrance, groupings of slender reeds follow pathways, and large works of art highlight the desert landscape. The Blue Fiori Sun, completed in 2013, is one of two major installations at the entrance.

A 2010 creation, Sapphire Sun, greets all visitors as they walk through the gates.  Just beyond that global wonder in the Blue Fiori Sun set amid cholla, barrel cacti, and yucca.

Blue Fiori Sun, 2013

Close Up Blue, Fiori Sun © 2014 Bo Mackison

[Chihuly] “produces the psychedelic experience of a magical, glowing, and sparkling, brilliantly alive panorama without drugs. This enchanted glass world has as much to do with Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz as it does with the great Renaissance and Baroque festivals that sovereigns arranged to entertain their courts and subjects.”
Barbara Rose, Dale Chihuly’s Paradise Regained

Blue Fiori Sun, 2013

Blue Fiori Sun ©2014 Bo Mackison

 I love how the glass art nestles into the nearby landscape, giving it the appearance of a desert life form.

A highly unlikely blue color, but still, the art looked as if it truly belonged there, as if it had grown organically from the desert ground. I love the natural desert, solitary walks in the wilderness desert, but Chihuly offers a unique, mind-stretching experience in a desert based garden.

More Chihuly: The Night Show

Writing Your Life Story Part 3: How to Create A Photo Keepsake Booklet

Grandma and Brother © 2010 Bo Mackison

This is the third post in the Memoir Project, a series on documenting your life story. The first two projects in the Memoir Project were writing projects. Now is a good time to branch out and add a multimedia touch.

Let’s add an easy photography project.

No need to have an expensive camera or a camera with fancy settings unless that is the kind of camera you love to use. A basic camera is fine. Or a phone camera. Or a three dollar disposable camera from the corner store.

We often annotate our photographs when we organize them.

We take photos. Then we add information on the back — date, place, names. Important information. However in this project, the photographs are not the only part of the project. The writing is just as important.

My photo booklet — in the photograph below — focuses on an important person in my life.

You may want to do a similar project with the focus on a person, or you may want to feature your favorite books, art, foods. You can photograph the place where you live, including details that make your house a special place. You can do a photo shoot documenting your typical activities on a typical day. You are limited in subject matter only by your imagination!

Grandma Lillian © 2010 Bo Mackison

I chose to write about my grandmother, one of the more influential women in my life, who lived to be 91 years old. I have many fond memories of my grandmother — I lived with her until I left home to attend college — but I wanted to write about her using a multifaceted approach.

I chose to do a project about objects and mementos she had given me, both as a child and as an adult. I photographed these items and included them in a booklet, using each photo as an evocative prompt for writing. Here are the directions for making a similar booklet. You can adapt the directions to your own project.

How-To Directions for Turning a Photo Booklet into a Memoir Keepsake:

1. I only have a few things from my grandmother. I went through my home collecting those items. In ten minutes, I’d found several pieces of jewelry, a collectible miniature shoe, a lucky buckeye, and my most beloved treasure, a gravy bowl that my grandparents had received as a wedding gift.

2. I took photos of each object. Again, nothing fancy. Try to use natural lighting if possible–set the items up on a table near a window, or even outside, but don’t photograph items in direct sunlight. A shaded area is fine. It is also better to avoid flash if you shoot indoors, but don’t get hung up on the photography. Just take the photos. Take several photos of each item, so you can choose the best photo of each item.

3. Make prints of a photograph of each object.

4. Mount the photographs on a backing paper. You can use a variety of papers, a heavy weight paper works best. I used a decorative paper from a local arts and crafts store.

Remembering GrandmaSentimental Objects © 2010 Bo Mackison

5. I created a front and back page for the booklet. I photocopied a vintage photo of my grandmother — don’t use an original! — and glued it to the front of the booklet. Use any photograph, drawing, or title that captures the focus and spirit of your book.

6. Punch a hole in the top left corner of each photo and the cover pages.

7. Tie the two covers and all the photographs together with a ribbon or use a metal binder ring (can be purchased at an office store.)

8. Once you complete your booklet, the writing begins. (Or sooner, if you are inspired.) When using photographs of special objects, thinking about the memorabilia will bring back many memories. Write whatever comes to mind on the back of each photograph. No over-thinking, just a quick written sketch will do.

9. Keep the booklet handy. You can add information as you recall more details. Once in a while I find another item from my grandmother. (Just last week, I realized my rolling-pin had come from her kitchen.) Take photographs and update the booklet as needed.

Here is a sample of the quick writing I did on the back of the photograph of the gravy boat.

This is my favorite object I have from Grandma. It’s a Noritake china gravy bowl with a matching saucer.  My favorite part is the elegant but tiny matching ladle. She and Grandpa Harry received it from his great-aunt when they married in 1919. I remember using it on special occasions such as Thanksgiving dinner. I always loved it, and Grandma gave it to Robert and me the summer we planned our own wedding.

In our family we used the gravy bowl frequently while the kids were growing up. I think whenever we had gravy with a meal, one of the children would ask if we could “please use Great Grandma’s bowl.” The kids used the bowl and tiny ladle while I cautioned them to be careful–I couldn’t help but utter words of warning!–but all three kids, from the time they were barely in school, ladled their own gravy onto their mashed potatoes from the precious china bowl.

We use it to this day, and everyone thinks of it as one of our more valuable family heirlooms.

In the next project, we’ll explore another quick writing prompt and discuss methods for storing your growing memoir stash!

Next: Part 4, Why Write Your Life Story?

Desert Art – Chihuly’s Cattails in the Garden

Chihuly Cattails

Chihuly Cattails in the Desert Garden © 2104 Bo Mackison

I never met a color I didn’t like. ~ Dale Chihuly

Another stroll through the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.

This time focusing on these stunning red and orange cattails – swirling, curving, shimmering in the sunlight. The individual pieces are set amongst the succulents and desert trees .

Chihuly Cattails

Curving Cattails © 2104 Bo Mackison

[I want the glass] “to appear like it came from nature—so that if someone found it on a beach or in the forest, they might think it belonged there.” ~ Dale Chihuly

Chihuly Cattails

Red Cattails, Blue Agave

As an artist, Chihuly has always been a scavenger of images and ideas. He’s known for translating forms and patterns from nature and other media into glass: the designs of Native American blankets, the undulating shapes of sea creatures, the orbs of Japanese glass floats. ~ Sheila Farr, Seattle Times

This installation of cattails inspired by the plant world are interspersed with blue agave and yucca.

The blue-green plants provide a stunning background for the brightly colored, complementary glass art. The color play is striking, and as the sun lowers in the sky, and first twilight, and finally dark appear, the gardens and art take on new expressions.

Chihuly Cattails

Chihuly Close Up © 2104 Bo Mackison

A close up of the glass show the many color varieties, even in the simplest of pieces.

Though Chihuly no longer blows his own glass — he suffered a vision loss in an accident, and then a subsequent shoulder injury in the 1970s — he closely supervises his team of nearly 100 glass blowers. When one looks at the enormity of the show, it is understandable that one man could not produce all the blown glass pieces, though it is evident that Chihuly’s artistic vision is the cohesion in the show.

The exhibit is stunning placed amidst the desert habitations. It is a place I will visit repeatedly — the show is open daily through mid-May — and I’m sure to see a different perspective with every visit.

More Chihuly: Blue Fiori Sun