Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sculpture of Two Women



Dear Art Lover,
     It is not often that I get to work with two models at the same time.  Many years ago, I ran a special “Open Studio” at the AVAA (Austin Visual Arts Association) studios in Austin, Texas.  I touted it as a session for sculptors in which painters and those drawing were welcome, as long as they do not complain about sculptors moving our stands of clay around the room as we deemed necessary.  It was a hit and I hope that the artists had more of the sessions after I hosted those I did.
     My two female models were of very different ages and physiques.  They did not know each other before the session, so I tried to come up with poses of them being together, and yet not. I am sure you have heard of the intimate connection two people make if they would stare into each other’s eyes for ten minutes.  So imagine how great or how uncomfortable to have your naked skin touching someone for 3 hours, breaks or no breaks!

After the Bath Back ViewTerra-cotta Sculpture

     I just had a tangent of a thought.  Ostracism is considered to be the most horrible punishment we can dish out.  As social creatures, to have society or just a group or even one person cut off your contact with anyone else would indeed be painful and lonely.  We also know from wars and abuse situations that if you want to humiliate someone, you make them remove their clothes before you hurt them.  So, I wonder if we took two warring leaders and made them simply pose together nude, or stare into each other’s eyes, could we make a more peaceful world?

     This first sculpture is titled “After the Bath,” casual poses for the lounging ladies in all probability thinking different thoughts of their different lives.  This sculpture is currently located at the Franklin Barry Gallery in Indianapolis.  If you tell owner Don Elliott or his helper Chuck that you would like to add this one to your art collection or mediation room or pool area, etc, tell them that I said the prices is a much lower $800.  Mention this blog in case they cannot reach me to verify.  Or contact me.. the same deal.
After the Bath Back View Terra-cotta Sculpture Two Women 

After the Bath 
10" h x 18" x 18"           
terra-cotta sculpture by Kelly Borsheim







      This second sculpture reminds me a little of my first trip to Italy in 2004.  The pose as sculpted was setup just to get as many of my beloved triangles into the figures.  But the base.. hahah.. too subtle?  My first time in Italy, I was thirty nine years old and wanted to put my hands on a Michelangelo sculpture before I turned 40.  I backpacked around for six weeks.  More often than not, every time I met a man on the bus, in the quarries, in a hostel or ferry or train, or just walking around admiring what is essentially Italia, I heard two questions.  “How old are you?” and “Have you ever had sex with another woman?” 
     Really?  I never had a problem telling my age, especially after my 78-year-old teacher Mrs. Steiner (or was she 72?) told us the first day in her English class that she wanted to stop the whispers and hushed jokes and just told us her age and how proud she was to have reached it.  However, I was raised in American culture in which it is considered rude to ask a woman her age.
     The other one stumped me.  Do most men think this immediately and it was just here that they actually say the question outside of their heads?  Boh!  When I moved to Italy the first time in 2006, I did not hear this so often, in fact, it was rare.  It made me wonder if this is the tourist market more than anything.

      “Waiting and wondering” is the title of this terra-cotta sculpture of two women sitting on a cloud based that has a decidedly phallic shape.  Make of it what you will.  I am just playing with shapes and being a Nature girl.  Also $800, but not in the gallery. Contact me in the studio via http://BorsheimArts.com/contact.htm

Waiting and Wondering Detail Terra-cotta Sculpture Two Women

Waiting & Wondering 
8.5" h x 15.5" w x 9" d  
terra-cotta sculpture by Kelly Borsheim

Peace and happy new year.  Make the most of 2017!

Kelly








P.S.  Please check out the “Raccolta e Regalo” sale I am having on selected artworks.. Ends tonight at midnight, central Texas time.  http://www.borsheimarts.com/SaleArt2016-LaRaccoltaeIlRegalo.htm

Subscribe to the art newsletter here (it is FREE):  http://www.borsheimarts.com/contact.htm



Waiting and Wondering Detail Terra-cotta Sculpture Two Women

Waiting and Wondering Aerial View Terra-cotta Sculpture Two Women

Waiting and Wondering Front View Terra-cotta Sculpture Two Women

Friday, December 30, 2016

Reading an MRI Knee Surgery



Dear Art Lover,
     Painting is taking up most of my time these days as I try to prepare for an operation on my knee that will require a six-MONTH rehabilitation!  I finally found a specialist who told me more than “Do whatever you want to do.”  This one told me before he even saw the MRI (resonata magnetic it is called in Italian), but after his physical examination of my knees, that I have a torn ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), the ligament in the center of the knee that holds the lower leg onto the upper leg.  The doctor told me that he will not know when he may operate until January, but recommended that I not travel so much, but try to keep the quad muscles from atrophy, as they will be needed a lot during rehab (and naturally later).  He said that the pain I feel is from all of the other muscles trying to do the work they are not designed for, which is the work of the ACL.

How to read an MRI right knee profile resonata magnetica ACL tear break ligament
MRI - right knee profile, heart (femur bone) and triangle (tibia) shapes!
     Like most people, the doctor’s visit and explanation made sense while I was there, but now I have my doubts. So, I am posting the images of the right knee MRI that my doc told me were “the telling ones.”  I took pictures of his laptop screen for each image in which he stopped to explain something.  Then when I got home I went through the images on my CD of the MRI and found the images that matched the ones I snapped. 

     I do not know if this helps you if you ever find yourself with this injury, but I know that I have a problem, but oddly am convinced that two falls created TWO problem sections in the knee. Anyway, the head on shot, I show you last.  The doctor explained that the dark areas at the top of the tibia (lower leg) bone indicate that there is starting to be some bad news happening there.  I cannot remember what word (in Italian) that he used, so I do not want to be dramatic and say “deterioration” or “decay” or something.  But I have pain on the inter side mostly, which is where the impact was during my second fall last March.  Pain there has never gone away.

     The rest of the images are the knee in profile.  The doc explained that the ACL is the diagonal uphill (when reading left to right) mid-grey colored area that I point out with the red arrows.  The white edging line underneath the ligament is broken, which tells him that the ACL is broken.  Oh, I copied the photos side by side just in case my added red arrows were to cover up something important.

     Anyway, this may not be of interest to you, but I find that while I studied and taught anatomy for sculptors, I do not know much about the internal body.  All I know is that what I did this entire year after my two falls is not working.  I hope that I really do need this surgery since it seems the way that I am headed.  And I do not know what else TO DO.  If you see something in this MRI that you question or know something about, by all means write to me.  I am making a list of questions for my doctor here whenever I get to see him next.  I believe in sharing information if it makes another person’s life easier or better.  Thanks!  Tomorrow, some art posting – I hope!

Peace,

Kelly

P.S.  Please check out the “Raccolta e Regalo” sale I am having on selected artworks.. good through Dec 31, 2016.  http://www.borsheimarts.com/SaleArt2016-LaRaccoltaeIlRegalo.htm

Subscribe to the art newsletter here (it is FREE):  http://www.borsheimarts.com/contact.htm


How to read an MRI right knee profile resonata magnetica ACL tear break ligament
MRI right knee in profile - torn ACL

How to read an MRI right knee profile resonata magnetica ACL tear break ligament
Apparently they do different lighting to find as much as possible.

How to read an MRI right knee front view resonata magnetica ACL tear break ligament
Front view shows dark damaged areas at top of tibia

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Sculpture Prep for Public Space



Dear Art Lover,
     On Sunday, several of us sculptors from this past July’s symposium returned to Cava Nardini [cava means ‘stone quarry’ in Italian].  The sculptures were lifted with either cords of metal or heavy-duty fabric straps and laid on their sides on top of a wooden pallet.  Then holes were drilled under the bases to secure the sculptures in their new home.

A now-goggled Pinocchio rides on the dove- stone sculpture Cava Nardini

metal cables used to transport Pinocchio puppets ride a large Fish logo of Pescia
Sculpture by Silvio Viola
     Yesterday Marco Nardini loaded the sculptures onto a truck and they were all taken to the Parco di Pinocchio in Collodi, Italy.  All but one of our symposium works were of the theme of Pinocchio and will now find their place in the Park of Pinocchio.  Collodi is the Tuscan town where the story of the world-famous puppet who became a real boy was born.  [The exception was a bas-relief giant stone postcard view of Vellano by Roberto Politano and that was mounted for all to see at the entrance of that village back in August.]

     Today I am on my way to this park with Silvio Viola, the sculptor who organized this whole project with Marco Nardini and the Mayor of Pescia and others.  It will be my first time there and I am curious to see it after the various reports I have heard.  The installation should be completed by tomorrow, but last I heard, they may wait for a spring dedication ceremony.

Peace,

Kelly

P.S.  Please check out the “Raccolta e Regalo” sale I am having on selected artworks.. good through Dec 31, 2016.  http://www.borsheimarts.com/SaleArt2016-LaRaccoltaeIlRegalo.htm


Lifting and moving stone sculpture prepare for installation Cava Nardini Vellano Tuscany Italy

Drilling holes in sculpture base for secure installation Cava Nardini Vellano Tuscany Italy
Cava Nardini Vellano Tuscany Italy Making Christmas Tree

Lovely winter view from Cava Nardini Vellano Tuscany Italy

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Pigiamas Market Italy



Dear Art Lover,
     Not everything works in Italy.  I say that as a person with little fashion sense.  Saturday, my neighbors took me into town.  I had to pay a bill and do other errands.  Also, I am gradually trying to prepare for this upcoming surgery and thus I decided to shop for pyjamas since I have none and do not want to be embarrassed when I have an overnight stay in a hospital.  But, I am ahead of myself.

    We passed the fruits and veggie vendors in a small piazza and headed into the Saturday market in Pescia, Italy, in Piazza Mazzini.  We first saw a booth selling lots of red panties.  So, I had the opportunity to share with my British neighbor the New Year’s Eve tradition of wearing red panties that I learned about in a fun way many years ago.
red panties underwear New Years Eve Tradition Italy Italian
Italian New Year's Eve Tradition:  Wear red panties that night for good luck
       So, ready for a pigiama party?  So, it seems that what is available for single women my age (or even non-singles I suppose) in the “non-lingerie” category of PJs is either to dress like a nonna (grandmother) or like a little girl.  But here is the thing:  More and more you see English, or rather, an attempt at English, being used on products or store names in Italy.  They do not always work.  Sometimes we English speakers cannot even make out what words are intended, as in this hanging pyjama top, which caused my Brit neighbor and me to tilt our heads in confusion.

Pajamas schifo for adult women

Pajamas and Text in English Lost in Translation Fashion No No     I never appreciated that fashion fad in the US over a decade ago in which women were supposed to wear an outfit in black and white with obvious patterns that resemble those of a cow.  Along those same lines, look closer at this top with the nonsensical English:  What woman, especially a “mature” woman, wants to wear a dangling udder between spread legs?  I understand that sheep are the symbol of sleepiness (or not), but seriously, who comes up with this stuff?

     Or how about this farting cow with the snow-capped letters spelling out “Happy”?  The text says, “Feel with your heart, and strive to forward, to be grateful”  At least the designer did not punctuate that with a “full stop” as the British call it or a “period” as Americans refer to the end of a complete sentence.  I am also a bit surprised because I rarely think anymore that there is a place in Italy that does not have easy access to a native English speaker. 

     Sigh, and in case you are wondering because I KNOW you are curious:  I ended up buying a men’s pair of jammies in a solid color of slate blue with very soft fabric and lounging room… with pockets for phone and camera, no less.  Hahah.. well, I still will not ever win any fashion awards, and I am likely to remain single for the rest of my life.  

Farting Cow Pajamas and Text in English Lost in Translation

Farting Cow and Text in English Lost in Translation

     See the red panties tradition post here:  http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.it/2012/01/italy-new-years-eve-tradition.html
.
Peace,
Kelly
P.S.  Please check out the “Raccolta e Regalo” sale I am having on selected artworks.. good through Dec 31, 2016.  http://www.borsheimarts.com/SaleArt2016-LaRaccoltaeIlRegalo.htm


Pescia, Italy, fresh food markets


Pescia, Italy, Christmas, markets