Honored!

Last night the Radar Angels and the Queen of Jell-O Art got to stand on the stage of Art and the Vineyard and receive the Community Partner of the year award from Maude Kerns Art Center, handed to me by the Mayor of Eugene, Kitty Piercy! Then we sang "Come Go With Me" and Kitty sang too. A big thanks to Marty Chilla for making that happen and for all the people who pretended it was okay that I flubbed the lyrics. I knew when Kitty handed me that mic I was in trouble. I did not go to any of the rehearsals! Too busy. Good thing I have such a loving public and a stunning crown.

I totally missed the opportunity to have the mayor put on some Jell-O; just forgot to take any in my haste to get there after my Saturday Market day. My costume turned out terrific I must say, well worth the $21.50 I spent on Thursday to get the basic items. Ron Pike's suitcase full of red, white and blue gear really worked for me. I wonder if he would sell me the red net tutu.

The Radar Angels are an amazing group to be a member of. We few old traditionals have been doing this together since the late-70's, and incredible lifetime of friendship and art. Lots of people who don't really participate in the performing or Jell-O Art are still members and occasionally admit to it. We have all kinds of us, all gender combinations and some new kids and people who have wanted to be members for years and just found out how easy it can be.

The art is the driving force, but the support for each other and the caring community of us is the content that really keeps us going. It's mostly Indi, of course, so persistent and so steady, always inviting and complimenting and carrying the honesty and heart. I most certainly would not be there or maybe even an artist without her. I'll stop there because there are many people to thank, old and young, and I have too much work to do.

I know there were some photos taken of me in that costume which may never reappear in its entirety so I will come back and post one if I get one in the next couple of days. I am off to the Mall of the Woods and have a ton of things to organize and make happen before then, but I did want to remark upon our luck and our joy at being awarded this honor. Thank you to Maude Kerns staff and volunteers and thank you to the best Eugene Mayor ever. We are happy to serve!

It was pretty cute when that southern Slug Queen tried to grab my award. I hope I didn't hurt her when I pushed her out of the way. Mwah!

Splash!

The Radar Angels jumped into the Jell-O Art pool
   yesterday with both feet. Felt like a cannonball, but the water was warm and inviting.

About twelve or thirteen of us crowded onto the stage at MKAC yesterday and entertained the annual meeting of their Board with a few short songs. I was so grateful to all of us for showing up in style and being so easily expressive. The musicians of the moment, Larry, Wren and Marty and Sunny, really carry things through and are extremely easy to work with. Dependable, cheerful, supportive...I could go on. I was sick all week with a terrible cold and had to miss the one rehearsal we had for this mini-show, but I'm guessing you could hardly tell. We stood up there with no mics, no strict procedure set up...we winged it. I think it sounded pretty good, though I tend to not hear anything much when I perform, being in an altered state of hyperpresence/absence because I'm an introvert and not an experienced performer. But maybe it's the costumes or all the low-key family singing or just the supportive group of Angels, somehow I get up there and sing loud and don't care and just do it like it comes naturally. Indi often has to tell me obvious things, like look at the audience, etc. but really, I amaze myself when I get up there and do that.

It would not be possible without the accepting nature and the high level of support of each one of the group. While singing and playing an instrument at the same time is an astounding skill, it is no less important to put on a wig and some ruffles and get up there to just be part of the group and sing behind whomever is singing. The one who has my undying gratitude and is really the one who gets the most credit, is Indi Stern. She is the glue that keeps it all together. Each and every one of the lovelies who showed up was fantastic in their own right, so a big thanks to Karen, Nan, Annemarie, Jacque, Mark, Sakti, and the ones who wanted to be there but couldn't: Ariel, Tania, Ruby, Sherri,Teresa, Jorge, Noah, Liliana, Jennifer, Angela, Joanie, and the rest of the sixty or so who call themselves Angels. Thanks also to those who came in support, Bee, Clare, Jude, Ben and Terry, and more. Huge thanks to the Board and Staff of Maude Kerns Art Center for thinking of us and the opportunity and their cooperation. Over-the-top cooperation as it turned out. I offered the chance for people to wear a Jell-O flower on their heads and since there were 20 flowers and about 50 people, I figured a couple would do it and the rest would stay in the box. Wrong! I should have brought more. It was so thrilling to look out over the audience at so many men and women wearing Jell-O. No one seemed to be too sophisticated to try it. That was the best. What a great community. And here I have to say a word of thanks also to the dearly departed, especially Gil Harrison, who was always there, and is sorely missed. And my still very-much alive mentors Leslie and Celeste, who always were able to make looking professional easy and possible. And still do. And Mom!

I had of course been quite nervous about our reception and my speech and giving a piece to the gallery, but with all the support I tend to try to just live with the anxiety and know that the crowd will be forgiving. It's like a lot of Radar Angel things, you put on your apron and put some Jell-O on your head and pretty soon you're Marilyn Monroe without the tragedy. It's like a lot of Life things I suppose, and I think I'll expound upon those in my other blog, http://divinetension.blogspot.com/ where I write about the more personal side of it all. This is the Jell-O Blog and yesterday was a Big Jell-O Day.

I had a lot of inquiries about the dried gelatin art itself and if you look back there is a lot of expostion in earlier blogs about the technique. I'll say it again here: it's really simple. I get gelatin powder, which I buy in bulk but for a start you can get the Knox stuff in the little packets. You mix it in cold water, and for the dried stuff or wet stuff you want to make art with, you mix it stronger than the package directions. I've settled on a formula about 12 times stronger than the 1/4 oz package meant to mix with a cup of water (or 3oz per cup). I think it would work 6 times stronger or anywhere in between, so just try something and see. The gelatin content makes it strong, the water makes it workable. After you mix it in cold water, let it sit for at least 10 minutes to "bloom" or absorb the water. I do it in a canning jar, because then I put it in the microwave for a minute or two to melt. Let that sit a bit too, then skim off the foam, add a little color (I just use liquid procion dye because I work with textiles and have a lot of dye around, but you can use food coloring or whatever you want) and then pour it into dishes in thin layers. You can also melt it in a pan if you don't want to use the microwave.

This is a jiggly one by David Gibbs

You can pour it into molds if you want shapes, but for the flowers I use glass pie plates and baking dishes. I will warn you that you have to dedicate those to Jell-O because the stuff is so strong that sometimes the dried bits will pull off actual bits of glass, so you don't want to later use the dish for food. Make the layers as thin as you want, from a mere coating to about 1/8 inch, depending on the result you want. Stuff that is too thick won't dry fast enough to avoid mold. Stuff that is too thin needs attention pretty soon or you won't be able to get it off without re-wetting it. I also swirl it around in bowls which makes a lot of interesting things happen.

I put the dishes on top of the furniture where it's hot and come back in a few hours to tend it. I generally run my fingernail or a knife around the edge and then pry it out, in one piece or several, and then flip it over to dry some more. I make petal or leaf shapes at this point, sometimes laying it over the edge of the dish to bend or curl. You are going to have to experiment according to what you want as a final result. I have tried to keep it flat sometimes, which is pretty hard, and I also use textured surfaces sometimes, like a plastic lettuce leaf bowl I have that makes nice flower and leaf replicas. Sometimes I'll stretch it or cut in a spiral so I can pull out a long string to make boingy things. I twist it and shape it or just let it do what it wants. You have to tend it for a couple of days depending on your heat, or less, so you have to pay attention. If it changes texture in a weird way, remelt it. I've gotten rid of mold with bleach, but once its moldy you might as well throw it out and start over, as the animal origins tend to emerge with a nasty smell you don't want to add to your smell memory bank.

To make the flowers I just select pieces I like, hold them together in various ways and then stick them together with melted gelatin (not too hot, it can burn like crazy and sticks on you). Sometimes I'll clamp with a clothespin or just hold it together (for at least a 60 seconds) and then set it up again to dry. If you don't like it, you can pry it apart or get it wet and take it apart, or remelt the whole thing. It's really up to you to work with it and get to know the limits or the open qualities it offers. You can use objects in additional ways, like wire stems or toys or whatever you think helps your piece say what you want it to say. It's art! You are the artist and it's your job to work with the medium and your creative process to make something from nothing. That's an incredible joy for a lot of people and worth a try for everyone. You are an artist if you create.

To me that is really simple at this point but like I said yesterday, I feel like it took my whole life to get here. Jell-O Art made me an artist. I started out with my box of Cherry or Berry Blue and went from there, and you can do that too. The wet jiggly kind of Jell-O Art has its own delights and in fact I think I might challenge myself to make a wet piece this year. That also has its own demands, mostly because it will only last a few days so you have to do it right before the show (which is March 28 this year.) If you want the jiggle you can't make it as stiff, but you can use the Jell-O brand if you want and just add in a bit of Knox or less water, and those pieces have lots of charms too. That type of work is actually harder than the dried, in my opinion, but can also be quite rewarding. Perhaps another blog post.

This was made in a complex process and I'll tell you someday

So that should answer the basic questions. This will be the 26th or 27th Jell-O Art Show, so there is a long history with a lot of legends and stories to discover, and some of it is found online here and there if you look. There have been other Jell-O artists and shows, as you will see, but we can give ourselves (and I include MKAC in this) a lot of credit for keeping it alive. We do it because it adds joy to our lives and warms our hearts and gives us something happy to do while we wait for spring. Please do participate. This is a thing to do, not just view, and it is above all, supposed to be fun. So have some. Make Jell-O Tonight!

Legitimate Jell-O! Really important Jell-O!

Boy, this is going to be an inconvenience: I broke the J key on my laptop. Not the right time of year for that! I gave in and ordered another five pounds of gelatin. I'm on the last pound or so, and although I'm not planning anything big, it's a long time until the end of March and you never know.

I am working on a piece that is very exciting and a little bit secret. As I mentioned, the Radar Angels are being honored by Maude Kerns Art Center as a Community Partner. I can't tell you what a really deep honor this is; treating us like a real, legitimate arts organization is something that rarely happens. We come with such a prominent humor component that we don't seem serious. Yet, the group has been fostering artists throughout its history.

In case I don't get a chance to speak about this next weekend, I will say that when it formed, the group was a bunch of women artists who were friends and wanted to get together regularly to foster themselves. We came from the fifties kitchen. We were of similar ages (this was in the mid-to-late-seventies, when we were in our mid-twenties and early thirties) and had witnessed the limitations of our mothers' lives and their struggles for self-expression. The fifties has rightly been labeled as a decade of conformism and safety as well as suburbanization and the isolation of that. I know I was astonished when I asked my Mom to draw me a clown and she could just do that, freehanded. I didn't know regular people could do art.

Some foot-tall wings for the secret project

The liberation movements of the sixties and seventies were so widely popular because they were so needed in that era. We didn't have the ERA (and didn't get it either) and following the artistic was not encouraged. It was impractical and dramatic and only male artists were taken very seriously, plus the structure was very tight and regulated by money and criticism. My generation pretty much threw that stuff out the proverbial window.

I will be somewhat vague about the origins of the Radar Angels as for various reasons I stayed on the fringes of it. I didn't participate in the Frivolous Teas or photo shoots or the production of the many events but I did attend the Extravaganzas and some of the parties and shows. When the Jell-O Art Show started up in the late eighties I was ready for it. The appeal was immense. I had never studied art except one calligraphy class at Cooper Union when I lived in New York but I was making art nonetheless. I knew that I had no credentials as well as no training so I never was able to call myself an artist or really feel like one. I started making things, declared myself a signpainter and went on the road in my Willys jeep and when I got to Eugene in 1975 found the Saturday Market and became a craftsperson. Still not an Artist though.

Jell-O Art made me one. Making a piece of sculpture for gallery display was completely intimidating and seemed impossible except that Jell-O was right there in my kitchen and anyone could make it. It was so easy, so gorgeous, so possible, that the rest is history and after 27 years of it here I am a Queen. In 2012 my loyalty and dedication were recognized and in a big secret show they surprised me with a crown and the honor, and since then I have tried to live up to the role.I give credit to all of the ones who kept gently encouraging me even though I was such a hard case. I really am quite proud to claim the Artist title now and anyone who doesn't think it is legitimate can go till their field of f**ks as the kids say, as I don't give a flying one anymore.

Our symbols are aprons and wings. Aprons represent hard work and the kitchen, with the nurturing and feeding aspect of the artist within us all included. Wings represent the freedom to fly and the ascension of the ordinary to the extraordinary. Members of the Angels encouraged all to participate. Men were allowed in, though they certainly had to be feminist men. Kids came along with those who had them, and some are now participating as adults. Everyone in the world is encouraged to join in our movement for artistic freedom and the right to be who you want to be. Jell-O is the vehicle because it is uniquely qualified to express our silliness as well as our seriousness, our appeal and our frustrations (as you may know by now it isn't the easiest medium to master) and the Jell-O Art Show has survived and prospered even as the Angels have changed and expanded and contracted.

I used to say I wasn't a member of the performing wing of the Angels but now I am that as well, stepping up to lose my limiting self-concept of stage fright and sing and dance. Turns out it was just a myth and indeed I can get up on a stage in front of an audience. Sometimes you don't know you can do something until you are encouraged to try it, and there again the Angels work within each person to open the doors. You are in charge of it, and you can set whatever limits you like, but when parody and silliness are the frames you'd be surprised how brave you can be with your self-expression.

These will become wearable headpieces

So here we are in 2015, when I'm turning 65, expressing ourselves still with humbleness, confidence, and inclusivity for fun and for art. I don't know what Maude Kerns expects of us exactly as their Community Partner, but next Saturday January 31, we will be performing and wearing Jell-O Art at the annual meeting of the gallery. The secret piece will be revealed, and the Radar Angels will fly in, put on our aprons and open our hearts to the community they have formed over the many decades there. It's entirely fitting that our annual show has landed at a gallery named for a formidable woman, run by many dedicated volunteers, and one that promotes the arts in many easily accessible and wonderful ways. Their classes and workshops have encouraged countless young people and those of all ages to explore the arts. Their wonderful Art in the Vineyard event is world class in a town where artists and craftspeople are so ubiquitous as to be almost common. We live in a fabulous place to be an artist, and their gallery has been a huge part of this fabulosity.

So come to the meeting to support your gallery if you can, join as a member or as a volunteer and help them, and us, do the work to make the world a more beautiful and meaningful place.Nothing depends upon it but your own vibrancy, your depth of expression and love for this life, and your freedom. And you know, helping the gallery survive to continue to do their important work. Let's stir it up!

Jell-O Art Year Begins with Joy

First time I wore Jell-O

Christmas is barely over but today I will put away the ornaments because it is time to get out the Jell-O! I'm happy to discover one last 4-pound bag of gelatin in my stash. I'll have to buy more but at least I can get started on this year's crop of whatever-it-turns out to be.

Maude Kerns Art Center just named us (the Radar Angels Jell-O Art Wing) as a Community Partner and there will be an awards ceremony on January 31 at their Annual Membership Meeting. What a great note of appreciation for our mutually beneficial and long-standing relationship. They've provided a home for our pesky one-night show for decades now.

My immediate plan is to dust off my Queen costume, always a pleasure to wear. I can go full-on with accessories and glamour, in fact will be expected to, so the next step is to make new Jell-O Art to wear on my head. I plan to make enough to make those without Jell-O Art on their heads look silly. That's right, it's always my plan to shift the paradigm and turn the world upside down like a fancy salad mold made to my design.

I didn't have a plan yet for my sculpture and was a bit tired of the same old routine. I did make a quick batch two weeks ago to use up the remnants of a bag that was in the way, and to repair a piece I wanted to wear at the Holiday Market. I was looking forward to helping to write the show and sing in it and vaguely thinking of themes and songs, but now I will ramp it all up and get into it. So much for the priority list for the winter months when we don't have Saturday Markets. Even though it is just a membership meeting there could be the opportunity for a quick song.

Piece I made for my son's wedding in 2013

I'm going to Australia a couple weeks after the Jell-O Show (which will be March 28 in 2015) and of course the following week Saturday Market opens for the season but those just took second and third place to the pursuit of my true art. I had an insight into why I love it so much. Most of my work, like the screenprinting, demands so much precision and perfection, which puts a lot of pressure on me. I'm not really a perfectionist; don't really even believe in perfection. Making things for retail means they will be looked at and evaluated one at a time, and printing doesn't really deliver perfect items each time. There are so many variables that make for flawed prints, but with Jell-O Art, that really does not matter. All Jell-O Art is free art that takes its own form and we just get to direct it a little and watch it flow. We are not really in charge, the creative flow is in charge. Just surrender to it.

Jell-O is not a cooperative art medium, not even an easy one to work with. That's the other side of the irony that the Jell-O Art Show is a completely rules-free everything-is-worthy art exhibit. No judgment is applied, no winners or losers, no "good vs. bad" type of set-up is involved in the Jell-O Art universe. Really. I personally have fought these impulses to rank myself and each other for all of the twenty-seven years of the show, and fought that inner drive to criticize and evaluate my own art. This art is all about imprecision and adapting to the medium. It's not that easy to ride that ridge and still exhibit in a real art gallery where real fine art is the expectation. Maybe that's what makes it so delicious.

Just an ordinary Saturday Market

I know I've been directing a lot of people to this site through giving out my business card so I will quickly say that I work in dried gelatin, and you are certainly free to work in the wet and jiggly kind too. You ought to start there so you get the fun of the jiggle, which is missing from the dried kind. You can start with the Jell-O brand, as it is easy to find and the colors are so seductive and iconic. Just use less water than directed. If you want to go a step further get the big box of Knox and mix some of that in. The little packets are one-fourth ounce apiece, meant to mix with one cup of water. I use the equivalent of three ounces per cup of water to make my formula for dried. Obviously I order mine in quantity from a food supplier online. Just get gelatin in the powdered form. Whatever the formula, use much less water so you will have a stiffer form to mold, carve, or whatever you decide to do with it.

You mix it in cold water because the gelatin needs to "bloom" and absorb water for a few minutes, so I do that in a canning jar and then melt it in the microwave. You can heat it on the stove of course. If you try to mix it in hot water you will have to break up a lot of stubborn lumps and I did that for years before I read an actual old recipe where they always mix in cold. I add a bit of dye because I am not going to eat mine and the food coloring assortments are too limited in color. For me the Jell-O brand is also too limited in color range, but again, suit yourself especially if you are just beginning your study.

Don't spill it, especially on yourself. Skim off the foam that forms on the top and put it in a dish to make white foam for your angelic and aquatic pieces. The stiffer it is the more quickly it hardens and scraping little dots of it off the floor, while an annual post-show ritual, is tedious. Prepare to dedicate some refrigerator room to it though freezing can change the texture. Jell-O will get moldy in a few days, but you can remelt it and lift off the top layer and save the rest. I don't make edible Jell-O or eat it, though I have been known to bring some to the Tacky Food Buffet at the show. Once you see how long it lasts in dried form you have a smaller appetite for it. It can also develop a terrible smell if you let it rot. It is made from cow hides and other offal, a fact we like to ignore, but rotten Jell-O is not a great sense memory and you could skip that part.

So let's get busy, Jell-O artists, we have work to do! I will try to post often with my tips and tricks and just email me at dianemcwho@gmail.com with your questions. This is a good place to say that I have a Facebook page called Gelatinaceae, at  Facebook page and another more personal blog at Divine Tension which I try to keep more-or-less Jell-O free but the stuff spills over this time of year. Above all, enjoy it!

My coronation as Queen of Jell-O Art at the 2012 show

Sick of Jell-O

What? You're tired of hearing about Jell-O Art and all of its many charms? Yeah, me too. But really I'm just nervous. I think I finished up my piece yesterday, though I have to try to take it outside to photograph today and could break it. Better to break it today than on Saturday when I won't have the time to fix it.

I'm tired of rehearsing, too, as we meet almost every evening to go through the show and the songs again and again. I need the practice, of course, and need the slight pressure of the timing of my lines and songs, to get comfortable with the speed of it all and most of all, to be able to relax and enjoy it.

That's been one of the big challenges of stepping up into more involvement. It's supposed to be fun. Last year I was so nervous it was more pressure than fun, until it was over, and then the emotional roller-coaster effect was still there, but this year I am trying hard to *get over myself.* Of course I'm nervous. Even seasoned performers have the jitters about things that they can't control. Gazillions of performers get up there and do it anyway, to our great delight and wonder. Them showing their nervousness does not make our experience better. 

So I will focus on smiling, laughing, and having a bunch of fun. That is supposed to be the point, over all of the other minor points like promoting the arts and the Maude Kerns Art Center and the Radar Angels and the Eugene arts scene and all of the other things that come with this. It is going to be fun.

One of the parts I like best is making the funky set pieces and signs and props we need to make our literary points in the short show. I get to make them any way I want to, so I haul out my rusty graphics skills and do some lettering on some cheap posterboard. I spend way too much money and time on things that will have a very brief life. My house is full of them, though I am getting a little more life out of a few this year by recycling them into new pieces. 

Here are a couple of the signs we'll be using for the performance. It's a game show, loosely based on Jeopardy, and it moves quickly so we need visual aids to keep the audience with us. Let's hope they are effective. My memory of past shows is that the uneducated viewer (as I was for years, being all wrapped up in my own Jell-O world) gets only part of the show as it goes by. The songs do persist if they are catchy. We have some really catchy ones this year, so we're all going around singing funny lyrics about Jell-O to ourselves. You might spot me around the neighborhood, or downtown, deep in thought as I try to not revert to the original songs we have hijacked for our silly purposes.

And while I am vitally interested in the deep meanings and connections of it all to the big cosmic pictures, hardly anyone else goes there. Most people embrace the silliness and laugh at my great capacity to take it all seriously. Some people get that, generally other Jell-O artists. Some work full-time at this like I do for this period of the winter and spring. We don't get paid. Our satisfaction is our reward, if we value fun like we should.

I'm still learning to value the fun over the seriousness, so I get some odd looks and have to remember to moderate my intensity. My Jell-O creations are really quite important to me and I am emotionally involved with every single one, even the hair ornaments and headbands. I remember them and love them and they are exalted in my memory and photographs, and there are still so few about the world that it is a pleasant shock to see them. Most of the recipients gamely found a place of value for them, though some have ended up as compost. It wouldn't be the first time someone's artistic creations were undervalued.

It's good for me to feel that sense that even some of my most important friends don't really understand or value this art experience the way I do. Most of my Market people make things every day and making things, however elaborate or impractical, just doesn't always impress them. People who work in precious metals or marble or wood have a bit of a hard time accepting gelatin up in their league, not to mention completely un-credentialed artists who put on gelatinous airs and show in real galleries.

Alas, they have also lost sight of the fun. Let's all try as hard as we can to believe in it, to put the value in fun that it deserves. This year's Jell-O slogan, if we are to believe an ad in Parade magazine, is *Fun things up this Easter* or substitute holiday I suppose, to seem like a new slogan every month or so. (*Fun things up this Memorial Day*?) Let us take our cue from Jell-O itself.

Be transparent, be colorful, be jiggly and be sweet. Melt easily at room temperature. Resist all attempts to tame you and make you ordinary. Be inventive (what makes Berry Blue, that unreal mouthwash color?) and be consistent (over 100 years of amazing desserts, not to even list the many salads and casseroles) but ever new. Re-invent yourself at least every spring, if not more often, and always, always, fun things up if you can.

Suspend the other rules for awhile. Make verbs out of concepts (just funning you here) and concepts into sculpture. Laugh at yourself when you get too far into it. Laugh at each other when you get the chance. Be encouraging to those who aren't where you are yet, and humble about how hard you have worked at this for these 26 years. Take care of each other and let others take care of you. Stay forever young.

No wait, that isn't one of our songs; I'm digressing again. Gotta make some Tacky Food today, and finish the props and my costumes for Dress Rehearsal tonight and Tech Rehearsal tomorrow. Gotta get up early tomorrow and watch Michael from MKAC rock the morning show on KEZI. So glad it is him and not me. Gotta walk my foot around and coddle my voice and eat well and sleep well and make this thing into history so I can get on to the other things in my life.

And put my Jell-O away for a year. I really plan to do this, to put it all up in the attic and not be a Jell-O artist for a bit. It will leak out of course, but I am going to try hard. And that reminds me, did you see the OPB special called Cold Case: JFK last night? It was good, but the best part was the ballistic gelatin. They fired bullets through the gelatin, which behaves like human tissue (sorry if this upsets you) and it was really outstandingly beautiful. I'm not sure why they always make it in that unappealing yellow, but the patterns in slow motion are graceful and fractal, and what's more, it closes back up after the bullet passes through, a completely unexpected effect that makes me think. 

Oh, forget it, I know I won't put it all up in the attic. I'm already thinking about my next piece. It's my true art form. I'm just lucky that I get to fun it up.

Put a Jell-O Out Tonight! (1970)

People may not realize how often I quote Jell-O slogans. Over the one-hundred years plus of Jell-O brand, there have been many, and they are quite useful for laughs and inspiration for art. Even though there are months until the show (March 29, 2014!) you can start to play around with your medium, and that is on my list for today.

I mix my gelatin in a quart canning jar, filling it half full with COLD water. Room temp is fine, but don't make the mistake of using hot water, which I did for years and years, as it gets quite lumpy. The gelatin needs to bloom in the cold water (absorb water, basically) and after some minutes, five or ten, you can melt it. My current recipe is 6 ounces of dry gelatin powder for the 2 cups of water. That is really strong, and you can use less, so if you are using the Knox envelopes, start with making it about four times the box recipe, and experiment from there. The amount depends on the end use.

 I melt it in the microwave, but you could do it in a water bath or make the stuff in a saucepan if you like. Two minutes in the microwave should be more than enough, or one more, but then let it settle a little and it will get more clear. Skim off the foam and spread it on a plastic lid or dish for later use as seafoam or slime or throw it away, if you want. Divide the rest into smaller jars with dye, or get right into the big batch.

I vastly prefer making dried gelatin so that it lasts and I can do more with it over a longer stretch of time. It loses the jiggle, but you can add dye to make it any color you want, and the dried has a lot to recommend it. My next favorite method is using molds, and you can use most anything for a gelatin mold. I collect plastic items, especially if they have interesting textures or suggestive shapes (did you ever notice how the blister pack for light bulbs are boob-like?) but you can use anything you can get the gelatin out of. It gets pretty hard to move as it dries, sticking to the surface with great strength, so flexibility helps.

Decorative chain by David Gibbs

I generally pour the colored goo in thin layers (less than an eighth inch) in glass pie plates, etc., but be warned that it can pull chips of glass right off if it gets super dried, so you will not want to use the same dishes for food. Find a level spot for it to sit for a few minutes, and it will harden at room temp, so no need to juggle those dishes into your fridge. After a few hours of drying in a warm spot (on top of the piano for me) you can peel off the sheet, tear it up, and flip the pieces to dry further. It can take a couple of days or only one, depending on thickness.

You will want to play with the pieces to shape them and explore the stages it goes through, some flexible and even stretchy. You can re-hydrate it at any point, remelt it, start over, but it does get moldy if you make it too thick, don't flip it enough, or forget about it. You can pry it out of the molds intact if you do it at the right time, but small parts might break off. No problem: liquid gelatin makes a great glue (this is where the term glue factory comes in...) to stick the pieces back together, and this is how you make sculptures of various pieces. You have to prop them up or hold them together for a minute, and you can maybe break them apart later, but the glue is reliable for the most part. A one-ingredient art form!

By "unknown artist"

Message me, at dianemcwho@gmail.com, or on Facebook (I have a Gelatinaceae page as well as my own, Diane McWhorter) if you have more questions, but I will continue to go over some of these details again, as we all form our concepts and our art pieces. You will bring a piece to the show this year, right? I guarantee it will be a good one, the show that is, but your piece as well. Because, and you may not believe this at first, there is no bad Jell-O Art. There isn't a critical or evaluative structure for Jell-O Art, and you can believe we will not reject any pieces from our show, even if they look like a nude woman on a plate or include bullets. (I made a Jell-O AK-47 once, and there have been lots of boobs and derrieres.) We are Artists in the true mold!

Make art, and you are an artist. All the better if it is imbued with meaning and has scientific import, but the main concept we promote is FUN. Make some fun (1979). The quickest way to find a smile (1987.) Don't say no, say Jell-O (1975.) If you want to find more slogans, there is a great book called Jell-O: A Biography, written by Carolyn Wyman, that you can probably find somewhere. I just pulled out my copy, and the glossy surface is kind of flaking off a little, because maybe I spilled some gelatin on it. Or maybe, just possibly, Carolyn covered her book cover in gelatin. No, probably not, I suppose I spilled.

Violet, about 10 inches across

Oh, and if you want to do a favor for your Queen, I have dropped off the google pages for Jell-O Art, gelatin art, Jell-O artists, images, etc. I could barely find myself, and my Mom is telling people to look me up, so if you have some time, google around and click on me and my pieces, or David Gibbs' pieces, or anything but those gorgeous edible flower things or the moldy San Francisco. Usage is the same as importance online, so use me and get me back up into the popular zones. You will find amazing things out there, but you will probably find that Eugene's Jell-O Art is the longest running, the most advanced, and the very best Jell-O Art in the history of the world. We're in the book. We're up to something good (1985).

The Season of Jell-O Art

It's time to start back into Jelloland. I cleaned my workspace (the kitchen table) and started thinking about my piece for this year, and the emails have begun to circulate to get the group together. It is never the same two years in a row, and this will be the 26th show, with many new people involved. For the performers, the OCF is also part of the process, since the performances often merge at least slightly and the songs are sometimes almost the same.

For my art piece, I plan to work on the Great Blue Heron I started before the wedding last year, thinking I would make it a feature of the arch for the wedding couple and something fun to carry in their procession, but it was just as well that I abandoned the project because I don't think it would have ended up fitting into the real wedding as it took place. Many ideas were abandoned as logistics took over, and that is the way with the Jell-O Show too. Last year I was very ambitious and quite a few of the projects I started didn't make the show.

However, I am used to art and creativity going in many directions at once. It seems to take all of my skills put together to get any final results that are satisfying on lots of levels, and that is the richness of the process. When I was thinking to make steampunk things for the wedding, I went through all of the stuff in my stuff library (I collect all manner of odd objects and decorative elements for my many media: paper, gelatin, fabric, paint, ink, dye, and found-object sculpture, as well as other things like rusty metal.) I took some of it inside to look through as I made the hat ornaments, though I ended up using very little of it. Had to re-sort it and take it back out to my studio to re-file in my organizing system out there, but that is all part of the creative process for me.

I'm a visual learner, and have to see things spread out in front of me to get my ideas to coalesce. It looks like a mess to other people and undeniably takes up space. I resist putting up tables in my small spaces but sooner or later I do that, and then there is no more room for people or other tasks of daily life. For the first couple of weeks of the year I just sort things, put them away, and try to create space. This also helps me remember what I have and what projects I might have abandoned and forgotten.



When it comes to the actual making of Jell-O Art, the dried type I do takes a lot of lead time as the drying process takes a few days for each batch, so I will need to see what I made of the blue-gray pieces for the heron and what I may still need, and make a bunch of it. It's important to have a lot, as once I start to stick it together, it gets a lot smaller, and I am thinking of a life-size bird. My first plan is to make it look like it is taking off from a pool of liquid or slightly jelled jiggly stuff, so some of that will have to be last-minute in construction. Whatever I do will take a lot of planning, and being in the performance also means that I will not have a lot of time near the end, since we will be rehearsing and making props, etc., as well as distributing posters, getting interviewed on the radio, and all of the Queenly things I am supposed to do in my role.



I think whatever I am willing to do will be open to me, and greatly appreciated as well. The show is a fundraiser for the Maude Kerns Art Center, so we'll do some promoting coordination too. Last year I had a wonderful video opportunity which is still viewable at KEZI: http://www.kezi.com/turning-jell-o-into-art/ and I'm guessing that will not happen again in the same way, though I suppose if I can think of some way to put a new twist on it, I could get some coverage. Sean Cuellar was a great interviewer, did all the video herself, too, and she was very easy to work with.


There is also the Slug Queen connection. We always ask the Slug Queen to give a benediction at the start of the show, and each one brings her particular charms. Last year Queen Sadie knit some Jell-O, which was stupendous and didn't look nearly as amazing as it was in process, because Jell-O Art is subtle in it's presentation to those who haven't tried to work with it. This year the Slug Queen is an actual Scientist and Educator, not that all Queens and commoners don't have such talents, just not as much notice of them, but anyway, the possibilities are intriguing. She could do some spectacular demonstrations perhaps. If she gets all the attention I suppose I can live with it. I have been monopolizing as much attention as I could get for the last two years but this year I plan to fade into the background. Good thing the background is multicolored and full of pattern-mixing, like camo and tie-dye, so I will fit in.

In case you are new to the scene, try making some Jell-O soon and seeing what you can think of to do that will be fun for you. Some of the secrets include using the clear gelatin such as Knox, as it is more economical than the sugary edible chemicals that are Jell-O brand, and make it stronger than the package directions. I make mine anywhere from 4X to 12X the suggested ratio of gelatin to water. It will harden at room temp and you can add dye or food coloring or whatever you like (glitter, plant materials, Barbie doll heads) to make your meaningful art statement.

It has to be fun, that is the real only rule. I am allowed to be serious about it, and so are you, but only if being serious about your art includes enjoying it. How you can resist enjoying Jell-O Art, I do not know, but all of that is up to you.



 

You've Never Made Jell-O Art?

Classic piece from 2009

What? We've been going for 25 years and you haven't made any Jell-O yet? Perhaps you don't realize how easy it is.

Relax, you still have two weeks (minus one day) until March 30 when you will be bringing your piece to Maude Kerns Art Center and declaring yourself to be a Jell-O Artist.

Easter is usually a good back-up theme

Go get that box from the cupboard, because I'm guessing you at least have a box of Lime for that family reunion. See how complicated they make it? It is actually basic: gelatin plus water, and the more gelatin, the firmer it gets.

Book made of dried gelatin sheets

Try getting a box of clear Knox brand, which contains 32 envelopes, each containing about 1/4 ounce of gelatin. Then add some extra to the Jell-O brand, to make the traditional Jigglers-type edible stuff, a little firmer than usual, still retaining a bit of jiggle, but more stable at room temperature.



Try a few things, like pouring it into non-traditional molds, anything that will hold liquid and allow you to pry the firm gelatin out. The firmer stuff is easy to get out of molds, holds its shape, and will allow some shaping techniques, like carving.

Some advanced technique and great use of props

Then try a few more things. Make it really, really thick, and as soon as you are comfortable, abandon the Jell-O brand with all of its sugar and chemicals, and use just the pure gelatin. Color it with whatever you have I use dyes, because I have a lot of them around. I also buy gelatin in 25 pound lots on the internet, but you can stick with the Knox until you get a lot more ambitious.

Closeup of a dried piece almost ten years old

One thing that differs with the clear gelatin is that you want to dissolve it by stirring it into cold water, not hot. Let it bloom in the water for about ten minutes, and then melt the stuff in the microwave or on the stovetop. Skim off any foam and throw it away (or use it to decorate your sculpture.) You can remelt the gelatin numerous times until it gets moldy or too stiff.

Wet gelatin will last a few days, so you will want to wait until the week of the show to make your final project, but that still gives you a week to experiment. 

Looked like a good plan...

I work in mostly dried gelatin at this point, because I like the illusion of control and the permanence of the results. Once dried it resembles plastic and lasts for decades. I fill a quart canning jar half full of water and add 6 ounces of gelatin. That makes a very stiff formula that I pour in thin layers in pie plates and cake pans for a glossy surface. Then as it dries I peel it out, tear and cut it into shapes, and turn and tend it for a day or two until it gets dry. There are various stages of flexibility in the process, and again, you can wet it and remelt it and start over.

You can't predict the results!

I glue my dry pieces together with molten gelatin. It's very strong and I have found a million ways to use it as an art material.





But I advise starting with the jiggly kind. It's fun, it's easy, it will clean up off your floor and counters eventually, and let me testify that playing with art, particularly something as beautiful and delightful as Jell-O Art, is highly liberating.

Let your Jell-O Artist out!

Jell-O Show 2012

Hurray! The date has been set and the theme chosen for this year's Jell-O Art Show. It will be at Maude Kerns Art Center as usual, on a Saturday night from 5-8 pm as usual, but unlike the past two years, it will not be the first Saturday in April! It will be March 31, which seems like divine intervention for this Saturday Market vendor.

Now I won't have to try to do way too much in one day. The Jell-O Show is already a very big day. Not only do I "have to" make some kind of remarkable personal piece, I like to make lots of tacky foods for the Tacky Food Buffet, and I also enjoy helping decorate the hall and assist the performers if needed. In addition I make and sell the t-shirts, and they have to be brilliant, which is a big project all in itself. March is always very busy, particularly that last week.

I might even make some jiggly Jell-O for my display this year. I love the dried and will certainly do something with it, but the jiggle is a big part of the fun too. The wet Jell-O is such a frustrating and bewitching art material that I kind of miss it.

The theme is Occupy/End of the World for 2012. That should be a fascinating merge and I can just picture the Radars rolling a giant Mayan calendar replica out onto the stage and puzzling over it like the apes from the planet. (I would even be willing to help make the replica, if any Radars are reading this.) We could build it out of protest signs and turn it around into the Occupy mode. I'm sure the performers are already making lists of songs to parody and thinking about apocalyptic costumes. It's the Jell-Occupyocalypse. Cue the bongos.

Lots of us Radar Angels are political activists or were in the past at least, and are still radicals, so it will be a fun opportunity to add our humor to the political discourse. Political Jell-O can be tedious and derivative and repetitious and plebian just like any other kind of political art, and I have done my part in making political Jell-O. I once used an AR-15 (AK-47-looking rifle) to make a mold to put in a coffin surrounded by flowers and Jell-O bullets and clips and had a whole thing going about burying violence. I dressed the mannequin legs in camo.

Speaking of the mannequin legs, I had my doubts when I used them in last year's sculpture, Hope. I need them back. This winter I started taking parts of the display and putting them to other purposes. The mask can stand on its own, as can the bird. The floral panels look great on the walls of my living room, and the little seascapes with grass and waves are presently being made into little mermaid perches. The figure itself, which I appropriated glibly from Celeste, might be restored to its original condition, though the additional snakeskin will probably stay on it. For it to be a part of the Jell-O Art Museum, it should really be in its original condition, which was elegant and graceful. Hard to dance covered with orchids. So Hope will be transformed. That's the theme of the beginning of the movement.

The Jell-O Art Museum concept is alive and well and I am designing a sign for it and have in mind to build a scale model of it. I probably won't be making either one out of gelatin though I will try to work that in. I don't know how much of it will be realized in the short winter period I have for Jell-O Art.

I also don't know where I am going with the Jell-O Art retail I tried last season. It wasn't a failure, and had lots of fun aspects that could continue to develop, but it's pretty distracting at Market and cut into my clothing sales I believe. At HM it was kind of cluttered. I don't know what to do with it. Last night I dreamed I was eating all of the shells and flowers, and they were nearly all gone when I realized it. Not that I would, but it was funny as a dream. Apparently I want to be done with them. Maybe it just means I am hungry for transformation.

Make some Jell-O, artists! At least start thinking about it.

Gelatin Art My Way

I've been having fun in the last few months trying for a presence in the world of Jell-O Art. Today I googled Gelatinaceae images and it was all my photos! Actually way more, it included photos from my other blog and even stuff from the Saturday Market photo gallery. Not everything of course, because strange are the ways of Google.

I have to bring some of the posts and images from the other blog to here, and I will start with some photos from this year's Jell-O Art Show. For anyone new to the scene, the Radar Angels have been holding a Jell-O Art Show for some 23 years, and I have always been a part of it. There has been an evolution, and now I spend a lot of time during the winter months when I'm not retailing, working on Jell-O.

This is me at the show, trying to get the piece assembled, and the show has already started. The next photo is the moment I turned to see a crowd of curious and amazed people all focusing on me! I look quite startled and utterly delighted. It felt like a highly significant life moment, the true fame I didn't know I wanted.



I had made two sets of wings, an upper and lower, but they wouldn't stay on the way they had at home and I eventually gave up and wore the top set, the pink ones. The third photo is a shot of the wings, from when Rich Glauber invited me and Scarlett the Old Queen (who is wearing the other set of wings) up onstage on Opening Day of the Saturday Market, which is the same day as the Jell-O Show most years. It was quite the triumph for me and for Jell-O Art, though in the big world it went largely unnoticed.





The top photo is one of the mask, shot by Kim at the Market, which stands out on its own as a wonderful piece of art. the last shot is the piece set up at my house, in my project room, which is going to be my Jell-O Art Museum. My retirement plan is that I will charge a dollar admission and give tours of my archive of Jell-O Art and Radar Angels memorabilia and artifacts which will probably force me to be open every Tuesday between 1:00 and 1:15 pm. It's about as solid as all my other retirement plans.













But the good thing about being a Jell-O Artist is that there is no need to retire.