A Year with Marie

[cheryl penn]

I OFTEN quote The Waste Land – its one of my favorite poems by T S Eliot – and yip, I’m doing it again in light of the FAB work I received from Marie.  It’s the new year you see, and when Marie is not sending out dragons, she sends out mail like this. And here I have an extra  reason to use FAB too - even SCIENTISTS use FAB! 

Burial of the Dead. 2011?

 “My cousin (s) he took me out on a sled

And I was frightened. He said, Marie,

Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.

In the mountains, there you feel free.

I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.”

Before opening, the year is trapped in a plastic case, as Marie of the poem feels when she is not in the mountains. 

 

But the artist Marie? Her year can be taken out, spread open, enjoyed –

“I will show you something different”

Come on a tour of Marie’s year,   there may be regeneration of the barren waste land.  Eliot uses “hyacinths” – symbolic of resurrection.  Marie uses color, and beauty and paper and stitching.

I sort of got stuck here for a while. T S Elliot didn't fit anymore. So I had to free-wheel. Only until I took out the book I am making of Marie's work. I have been working  on it for about as long as I've known Marie, adding each of the artworks she sends. Its time to finish it - something like the old year.  

Re-reading was a contemplative exercise. The earthquake in Japan suddenly came to the fore again. The flight to Hiroshima, the toxicity of her situation. It all came flooding back. Last year was not such a good year.

So I took out March, and thought I’d have to Beware its Ides, especially with Marie’s reference to Mars – but no, she is thinking of spring now. I think this is better: - Emily Dickinson -

Dear March, come in!


How glad I am!


I looked for you before.
Put down your hat–


You must have walked–


How out of breath you are!


Dear March, how are you?


And the rest?


Did you leave Nature well?


Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,


I have so much to tell!

And by May, everything SEEMS normal again.

And the year continuously rolls itself out -  again.

So when i look back - or forwards I have to look again at the year, carefully stitched together. I was struck by contrasts - when I am hot, Marie is cold. While her December is Cold White, mine is Red Hot. "Its a strange strange world we live in Master Jack". 

But still she weaves her magic.

So you see why Marie sent me a collage made from an old Japanese  magazine cover - she's got the year covered  - in triplicate - AG! I mean in triptych.  Petit Pea - again - THANK YOU!!!   :-) X

P.S. I've asked permission - so if you see these images in one or another format, altered or not in you mail box - I made use of these X

[cheryl penn]

I'm LAUGHING - GOOD SHOT :-)))! Nice pair too :-))X

[Marie Wintzer]

it comes with matching restaurant shoes

[cheryl penn]

Compression dawned slowly. Despite the green party frock. She was tense with expectation, wondering what would happen next. 

[Marie Wintzer]

It's not a gown it's a frock

[cheryl penn]

I KNOW its not Wastelands!!! :-)) - it was about the year coming full circle by the same poet - ok - gold star for spotting seeing as they are currently beg handed out...

No, I still have a full gown :-) X

[De Villo Sloan]

That's not "The Wasteland."

And after a year, she doesn't have a "Shred of Dignity" left.

[cheryl penn]

We shall not cease from exploration 
And the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started 
And know the place for the first time.

[De Villo Sloan]

This is really fantastic! I keep coming back to it. Retrospectives like this really put things in perspective. I don't think of it as a wasteland, though.

[Marie Wintzer]

Thanks everyone! As usual you are way too kind! Glad you liked the fallen leftover cheese crackers :-)) Sorry for the terribly tight envelope, I made the same mistake for Karen, arggg... that mouse is super cute!!

[De Villo Sloan]

OMG - one of the legendary "Minxus is dead!" envelopes.