Post-Show Post

 I wish I had the time and energy to do this every year before work takes over, but I'm waiting for my delivery of a pallet of t-shirts, which will indeed take over, so we'll see how much time I get between now and 7 pm when they've said I'll have them. I wish it weren't rainy and projected to be wettest at 1:00 today but it's not something I get a choice about.

 The Jell-O Art Show is a direct result of a lot of my choices but there is also a spontaneity and ridiculous level of chance and chaos which I have learned to live with. I just keep working on it every minute for about two months and hope I meet the deadlines. I hear my mother's voice telling me "You always meet your deadlines..." and that's helpful. I do. I also am getting better at eliminating things that don't work and had to do that quite a bit at our tech rehearsal when my sets were way too large and involved for the 20 or so minutes the performance would take.

So I took a few things home that I had planned to use, which was really not a problem. I hadn't realized how hobbled I would be in the Jell-O box costume, as I could not put my hands together and also couldn't do costume details, like changing out my headpiece and keeping my secrets by not allowing the drapey part to fall off too early, which it did, twice. I always have to deal with my magical thinking and my simple plans that turn out to be difficult. I think most Jell-O artists can relate!

Slug Queen Jubilee Hedonisto represented! She did a wonderful benediction that I hope was recorded, and made a Jell-O piece too.  Old Queen Galaxia's partner brought a piece but both of them, and many other people, couldn't attend the packed show because only a few people masked, which is how it is these days, sadly. Four Slug Queens made a grand entrance and of course we have two in our troupe (Markalo Parkalo and Scarlett) and our own realm with our Knight, and me. 

And our Lady-in-Waiting and Page, Belief. Surprisingly, not a lot of Barbie or barbie costumes, but a couple of pieces. My photographic record was not complete so I missed one first timer who had Barbie in a bathtub. (A small one.) When I tried that my Barbie fell apart and had to have her hear replaced with a fish head so became Fish Head Barbie, but that was a long time ago. I almost brought her. In my little speech I did mention that when I saw the Barbie movie the first time, I was with two of my fellow Jell-O artists, and we were all muttering "Jell-O Show, Jell-O Show" the whole time because everything in it, pretty much, is exactly what we have been saying and satirizing the WHOLE TIME since 1988 when we started the show to lampoon the art world. So way to catch up, Mattel. But Barbie is a natural comment on feminist topics and our origins in the 1950s, so it's an inevitability.

There were quite a few first-time Jell-O artists, young and older, several just kids. One was elusive, and I never saw him to take his photo. I like to take photos with them next to their pieces, up on the pedestals in a real gallery, because that is a significant life moment and should be recorded. They're usually embarrassed but you never know what will fortify someone on their journey in art and I know it was meaningful to me to get that acknowledgement that my art was real.

The Eugene Weekly article undoubtedly generated some extra interest but we do have a regular crowd that knows to show up for us, and they are wonderful. It makes performing easy. Sometimes they take video and we actually had a videographer, but someone didn't notice that the lights on stage were turned off so I heard the quality is poor and we may not get to see it. I don't care so much about the quality. I need to see what everyone else on stage was up to, as I pretty much leave my body when I'm on stage so I fail to notice everything. I concentrate on my lines and cues and didn't mess up too badly. None of us were prepared as much as we hoped to be as the show was a week earlier than usual but we did pretty well. It went by fast and I always choke up on the last lines and songs when I realize it is almost over and won't be repeated! It's so ephemeral. 

The t-shirts went well! There is no longer anything older than 2018 in the "old shirts" collection which I'll keep bringing and adding to each year. Now the new ones are old. Weird Barbie was pretty popular. 

There were two brains, not similar at all...it was fun discussing the technical challenges as usual. Jell-O is not an easy medium to master. I say master in a tongue-in-cheek term as I do not think you can master it as an art form. There's always room for more and different Jell-O.

Quite a few people stumbled into the show intending to see the previous exhibit, which had been taken down, but they were wowed by what they discovered was worth a view.

I especially like it when people admit they had a limited view of Jell-O from what their moms and grandmothers used to serve...those old recipes are awkward and sometimes delicious. I guess there was some edible Jell-O on the Tacky Food table...looked like it might have been appropriately paired with Cool Whip but to be honest, I don't really eat Jell-O. Our Knight brought some edible creations made with agar-agar but I couldn't even really eat those. Didn't want to mess up my purple lipstick anyway.

 I didn't get a photo of him but this is a piece by his friend Angela Bradford. David had one which was essentially a bucket of jiggle on a spinning platform which I hope got the appropriate attention (whatever that would be...)

The last piece I have room for is this one by a new artist who hadn't been to the show before but saw last year's video and made an incredible piece which I didn't photograph well. She tried the erroneous recipe I gave in that Oregonian piece, instead of the recipe I really use, which is 3 oz of gelatin in a cup of water. She used tweezers to set this up, tiny cubes colored with purple cabbage, and it was very intricate and delightful in its artistry. I hope she continues. We had a fun connection.

Her piece also spun around and reflected, in this photo, the piece next to it, the high heels, and me in another photo. She really went all out, which I truly appreciate.

I may get a chance to expand this coverage but in case I don't, stay tuned for next year. We're committed, as far as I know, to the last Saturday in March as usual these days. We like to not compete with the Opening Day of Saturday Market, as that just doesn't work for me. I can't be in two places at once.

Now if I can only get ready for that big event on time. Hoping for good weather. If it's nice, I might even wear some Jell-O. Here are the three headpieces I wore this year as a finishing treat. If anyone has a photo of me as Schmiri, post it on FB! I want to see myself!

Or I can just continue in my delusion that I looked great, not silly at all. Nope, not silly at all.