Thursday, February 19, 2009

My folk angel

Misti of Studio M Designs is having here "Here's Your Sign Link Party" This is a word based art, but not really a sign. I tried to find sayings related to home an family.

Julia over at Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Friday's" blog party. This is my second try.

I didn't get folk art. I never really thought about it until we bought a home cooked dinner at our elementary school's auction. That was a while ago.

Our hosts were collectors. Over their fireplace was a Howard Finster portrait of Henry Ford. You may know that Mr. Finster regarded Ford, Elvis, and a few others as special gifts from heaven. For me it was uncanny. I almost shiver thinking about it even now.

But this is about angels. Atlanta's High Museum has collection of Georgia folk artists. We visited for Christmas 2006 to see the Louvre collection. We were on the way out, we made a turn and there was a giant Finster angel. Your results my vary but I was moved.

I decided to make one myself. (As man with no qualities, my family thought I was nuts; but they humored me.) Here she is hovering over our porch. (If you know Flickr.com you can make these pictures bigger).
PA140921ShowPeakPorchRoof

We can see her from the kitchen, the dinning table, some of the living room. She gently dominates the porch. She greets me every morning as I climb the stair up from bed.
PB090051Porch

I like to think she's protecting our home and family.
PA140917PorchToWNW

P2202202-Angel-InsideFrom

She came together from a picture on the web, then in Photoshop, tracing on leftover plywood, the garage with my jigsaw and sander, finally on the range with my son's acrylics.
DSCF0155-Angel-In-Kitchen

I found sayings related to home and family. She wasn't done yet.DSCF0154-Angel-In-Kitchen-Detail

Of course there is no duplicating Finster. There was something in him that flooded out. But I enjoyed doing it. I hope I've honored him. I get to see her every day.

Click here to return to Hooked on Houses' "Hooked on Fridays" blog party.

But if you aren't tired yet, here is a slide show of public folk art in Atlanta, created for the 1996 Olympics. Architecture tourists know that it's on a forlorn expressway bridge only seen from cars at 45 MPH. I went on foot last Sunday to take these pictures. It's worth a blog post some day. You can make the show full screen by clicking on the lower right corner. You should.



Thanks so much for visiting.
Terry

12 comments:

  1. oh terry, excellent job on your angel. have you been to finster's place in summerville, ga? i loved it. need to go back with my good camera.

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  2. Wow! I'm blown away by this. I think your angel is beautiful! And I love the meaning behind it. Thanks for sharing her with us. :-)

    P.S. Even here in Ohio we'd need a screen on our doors, so the Dutch door wouldn't be practical. I love looking at them, though!

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  3. That is just too cool! I love it! Your porch is wonderful, too! I really like a ton of color and it looks like we have that in common!
    -Kim

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  4. I LOVE it! There is something very peaceful about her.

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  5. I love this! The meaning behind her is wonderful.

    On a side note... your porch is fantastic :)

    rue

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  6. What a gorgeous view out that BIG window... AMAZING!

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  7. Fifi,
    It is a pretty good view if I do say so. It's on a 1/5 acre lot in Atlanta proper, about 12' from the house next door. Atlanta is full of hills, curves, and trees. If you are looking the right way in the right season, you can feel like you are living on an estate.

    Springtree,
    I haven't been to Summerville. It's something to look forward too.

    Kim,
    We started with the utilitarian porch: full of kids and house junk - never pretty. The next step was to add enough color so that the view out to the porch was as eye-catching as the view in. Our designer friend said to paint the oak table and the natural rattan chairs bright yellow, blue and "wine." We've learned to do what he says.

    The square patchwork thing leaning under the angel is a concrete folk-art table top with a fruit motif. It's way cute and colorful.

    The porch is too shady for my camera. It pops out there. There is color happening from floor to ceiling and could stand even more. I almost painted the floor but I was called to other chores.

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  8. I love folk art and yours is great! I have a picture over my mantle too. It's of musicians playing instruments. Thanks for the post!

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  9. I love your folk art angel! I could go on and on adding great quotes on her... Thanks for sharing at my place today! I love Atlanta and all that is offers. I am sure that I have seen this artwork before, we walked for miles during the Olympics!

    You have a great weekend!

    ~Misti

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  10. Clever, beautiful, colorful, folksey-love her too!

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  11. wow your angel is beautiful, i can only imagine the work that has gone into making this.
    hugs
    janet

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