There Can Be Pitfalls

Had to laugh at myself yesterday as I searched for what could possibly be smelling so bad in my kitchen. Leftover chicken wrappers in the trash, old cat food that had fallen off the dish? 

No, and it should have been obvious...rotten Jell-O. I had made some and forgotten about it, gotten lazy with using it up and it was sitting in jars liquefying itself.  Do yourself a favor and do not allow rotten gelatin to turn you off of Jell-O Art forever.

It's an animal product, made from hides and hooves and other parts of mainly cows, we've been told...and when it rots, it is vile. You won't forget it. This is only about the third time in 30-some years I have let it happen and oh my, it surprised me.

Also, just a caution...don't put it down your drains. It will at some point in the wastestream solidify and  stay stuck like the glue it is for maybe forever, I don't know. I try hard to keep it out of the sink drains. Also I don't like getting it on my hands that much...it is hard to get off and dries out my skin. And the really strong dried gelatin can lift pieces right out of glass, including pyrex. 

So now that I have spoiled most of your fun,  I hope you will keep working on it despite these downsides. The dried gelatin, once dry, is really stable and unless it gets wet or isn't dry all the way through, it won't cause problems. It's like plastic or paper almost. But that's when it's thin. If you make your pieces too thick and they don't dry all the way through, they can get moldy. When they're drying you have to flip them over a few times, every few hours maybe, so they can dry on both sides. The keeps them from sticking too well to your plates or bowls or whatever you are drying them in, too.

I put my dishes and pieces on top of the furniture, the piano and TV cabinet and various shelves. I have electric heat and up by the ceiling is the hottest climate. In the summer I put it outside sometimes, but there is a lot of dust outside and in the sun, sometimes it just remelts instead of drying. So much to know about it.

I'm still unfocused about what I'm doing for the show. It's the perfect time for something political and I'm likely to do that. Once I did a mold from an AR-15 (a real one...I knew a gun person at the time) and buried it in a coffin-shaped box of dirt and flowers. I'm not sure how many people could see it in there. I also made some bullets and other accessories of violence and dressed my manikin half pedestal in camo. Probably not going in that direction, but things are turning over in my creative brain. 

I love this period of time when I can just let my brain wander it's banks and come up with wild ideas. Sometimes I make things and abandon them. I make a lot of things out of sticks since it's tree-pruning time, and sometimes end up using them. It gives me a reason to be outside when the sun is out like it was yesterday. I'm always at my happiest outside. 

Of course I was supposed to be working on the script and doing things like tending my Jell-O but once I cleaned up the rotten stuff and the catbox and took out the garbage for good measure, the outdoors was too insistent to sit here and type. 

So today the script. We have some great ideas percolating and it's going to be fun. Guaranteed. 

Brainstorms and Snowstorms

We're not getting enough snow for me, but I am sure some of you who are would rather not be. I just like seeing it fall, mostly. I have to be careful that I myself do not fall, so I barely get to go out in it when we do have it. But I'm still hanging onto some old cross country skiis as I remember how fun it was to create a little run around the block one year. I suppose I should let them go, like my rollerblades. Anyone want a nice pair of rollerblades, size 9? I wish I had kept my quads instead. But that's how it is to let go, you don't always do it in a sensible way.

I pulled out all my Jell-O pieces planning to make some flowers but just haven't been able to get started. I tried making a big sheet of gelatin but forget how I did that before...guess I can scroll on down to 2012 and figure out how I did it then. It's down in that stack somewhere. 

Yes, all of my Jell-O Art Secrets  are down in this blog somewhere. If you are wondering how to do a thing, it is fun to discover on your own but there is also some benefit to what has come before you. This will be our 33rd show I think. I'll have to check. We've tried a lot of things.

 The photo is from my 2012 piece, where I tried making flat sheets that could be used like paper and it turned into a kind of autobiographical artist's book. I screenprinted and drew on them. I had a broken heel at the time and couldn't do much else, so I did some serious Jell-O Art. It was hard to photograph but it's  generally at every show to marvel at in person.

The fun news is that we finally got together for a great brainstorm, which is hard to do on zoom because we are an enthusiastic group of people who all talk at the same time, with guitars going and people looking up songs on the internet and singing them in full voice. It's fairly hilarious for us but probably painful for people who can't take much chaos. 

Our narrative is lined out, but we will be embellishing and changing it a lot over the next few weeks. By the end of the month we have to have it mostly pinned down so we can rehearse dances and harmonies and get the props together. 

I have vowed to make way simpler sets this year...last year I got carried away. I love making the sets and props. I love working on art with a purpose that no one can direct me in and does not have to make money. I spend so much of my artistic effort on making things to sell, Jell-O Art is just a huge relief. It can be so fun!

For the performance we brainstorm ideas in a pretty disorganized way and I write them all down as fast as I can and we try to make them cohere into a narrative and drama, generally a musical of some sort with parody songs relating to Jell-O. It can get super silly and borderline offensive but we try to stay family-friendly and appeal to our varied audience. We have a lot of people who come just for the performance and an earlier set of people who come for the art. Some people may come for the Tacky Food Buffet...there's rarely anything that is actual food but some people eat it. 

The whole thing is such a cathartic counterpoint to the serious drama of life that we are all depending on it this year as usual. There's always somebody experiencing grief or illness, family complications, work issues, or more, but we get together for a couple of hours, sing and make jokes, and enjoy our connections. The show itself is the same thing. Viva the Jell-O Art Show!

Hell-O Jell-O

 We chose a theme early this year, to get it out of the way. It's Hell-O Jell-O 2025 and we hope it is nice and open to interpretation so artists have lots of latitude. I have been thinking about interpretations of hell, even though it is a concept I don't believe in, but then concepts used in Jell-O Art don't have to have any grounding in reality.

Of course Jell-O itself wouldn't do that well in a hellscape, due to melting, but the stuff would dry fast, so I might still be able to use it there. And the rendering would be quicker. But besides being just hot and full of fire, I don't know that much about hell without moving right over to the hell-on-earth kinds of things we are presently observing.

And Jell-O Art is supposed to be an escape from oppressive realities. So maybe some musings on Hell-O and how we are currently using greetings in the post-pandemic era. Actually we are only post- on one pandemic, and seem to be lined up for a few more that we won't even know are coming. Could go back to using Barbie as a stand-in for myself in a tableau but am not sure that is a direction I am willing to pick up again.

So I'm just going to make flowers for awhile. The way I make them is pretty easy. I have eight plastic tubs of dried gelatin pieces in various shapes, colors and sizes and I will sort through them,  choosing ones of similar or compatible colors and sizes to group up as a start. Then I'll select maybe six or seven per dish and start assembling flowers. I melt some plain gelatin in the microwave for 30 seconds in a little half-pint canning jar and then use a little spoon to dab it on the places where I want the pieces to fit together. I hold them in place for about 90 seconds so the gelatin can set, then put them on a place and spoon a little more molten gelatin on them to reinforce. I'll make it resemble some kind of floral thing and then put some kind of leaves on it. 

If small, I "glue" them to branches and make long-stemmed roses or little plants, propped up in more jars. I might make a core of tiny filaments or stamen-like pieces in a contrasting color. If I want to make big ones, I used to fasten a hairband of some kind to the bottom so I can wear big flowers on my head. I ran out of the good hairbands so am not sure how many more of those I will make, but I do love them. You have to be a little careful about making them comfortable to wear, and when you wear them, hug people very carefully so you don't poke their eyes out.

I'm wanting to work big this year but am not focused on anything yet. I like to play around for a month or so while something comes to mind. It could be about the theme, or it could be something for me to wear in the show, like this one I made last year. 

And I'll probably make some on sticks to sell at the show, as people do like a keepsake. Have no ideas about the shirts but we'll see when we get closer. If I use a celebrity, I'll find photos of them to work from, but I can always interpret the theme or just do something fun to print. The t-shirts are almost always very last-minute.

You can scroll through some previous posts for more details on how to use Jell-O as an art medium, as I usually repeat the instructions rather frequently so everyone gets a chance at some artistic success. It can be easy, or frustrating, depending on how you approach it. I like to discover something new every year, so I might push myself to try something I haven't, if I can think of anything. Just have to set aside some time to sink into it.

I do have plenty of sticks, as it is fruit-tree pruning time and this sunny weather has allowed me to almost finish that fun task of winter. I love sticks and have them all over my yard, creating habitat and piles since only so much can fit in a tote every other week. I suppose it looks messy to some people. I've now become the messiest yard on the block since my bad neighbors got evicted and all of their left-behind trash was hauled away. I've tried cleaning up a bit since that house is going on the market, and a couple of my pieces of yard art were already hauled off from the side next to them. I get it...one man's treasure, etc., but they had better lay off my aged wood boards that surround my gardens. I like it. I like moss too but I do clean it off the sidewalks every year, as well as the roofs. I have a lot of moss. I'm trying to get ready for the rain to come back because that is probably going to be some major staying in weather, which is when I will have plenty of time for more Jell-O.

Jell-O Art Show March 22!

 The date for this year's Jell-O art show has been set, and the Radar Angels have started meeting to figure out the theme and focus for the performance. We all enjoy the brainstorming phase which takes most of January and sometimes spills over into February. But we're on a short timeline so we have to get busy!

I made two batches of Jell-O, but nothing is really percolating for me yet. I need to brush up on my skills...I'm  having trouble getting the gelatin out of the dishes, probably because  I'm leaving it in too long. 

To briefly remind readers how I do it, I work in dried gelatin so I can take my time and do things you can't do with wet. If you are new, I suggest you start with wet, and you can even use Jell-O brand boxes if you want. Use less water and try out some techniques like cutting it and using molds, etc. Buy some of the Knox clear gelatin, or the Kosher kind, and play with it, adding some dye or food coloring or whatever. It is not a particularly cooperative medium. 

You can use plastic molds, anything you have or want to try. If you can't get it to release from the mold, get it wet, wait a bit, and let it rehydrate enough to be flexible again. 

For my recipe, I fill a quart canning jar half full of cold water, and put in 6 ounces of gelatin powder. If you are using Knox, that is a lot of envelopes. I think there is 1/4 ounce in those little envelopes. So us professional dried gelatin artists buy it in bulk on the internet. Last time I think I paid about $10 a pound and try to get free freight as it is heavy to ship. If you have a lot, you can just throw it on the compost if you don't like the results.

I stir in the gelatin powder well, then let it sit for ten minutes or so to "bloom." You will see it solidify but in a grainy opaque way, so then melt it in the microwave for 2 minutes. When it is a clear liquid, you can pour it into molds or your planned containers. I use glass pie plates and plastic or glass bowls, trying for fairly thin layers so it will dry. Then I put it on top of the high pieces of furniture where the heat collects. In 6 or 8 hours it can be pried out and flipped over to dry on the back. You can cut it, tear it, fold it, lay it over shapes, do whatever to get shapes and pieces you can use for your plan or your play.

I usually then use melted gelatin to glue pieces together to make flowers, animals, birds, whatever. I spread out a lot of pieces of various colors and see what I can make from them. Now, when I don't have much of a plan, I just play with it to get myself in the mood.

Of course some people like to use the wet Jell-O to make sculptures in that last week or few days before the show. That's also fun, but you might want to practice a few things first just to get familiar with things. Gelatin does get moldy and rotten and smells awful so be careful if you keep it around. You can try a little bleach to get rid of the mold sometimes...or out on the compost it can go. 

 It's all supposed to be fun, remember. If you want to see more photos, there are a lot on the MKAC website where there is an event tab for previous shows. A call to artists will eventually go out but it is easy to miss the promotions and the little 3-hour show. You have to pay attention! 

I do have a FB page, Gelatinaceae, and hope to regularly write here, so stay tuned. There is lots of instructional info in previous posts plus reviews of past shows when you scroll down. Get to cooking!

It's Jell-O Art Season!

 Now that retailing is wrapped I can hardly wait to get into the creative space that is the winter months for me. I cleaned my tables and found a plate of forgotten dried gelatin pieces under all the papers, so I felt like I got a head start. I decided not to get out the two totes of Xmas decorations this year though I ended up buying some new ones so I would have something pretty to look at. It takes so long to undecorate and get stuff back up in the attic I thought I would skip it and get to work faster.

I don't have a focus yet but am thinking about aqua, avocado and purple and gold, my recent palette it seems. Something floral for pleasure, but with a bite. I have to go see Wicked and might do something related to it, though only slightly related.

We've talked a bit about the theme and ideas for the performance. It turns out Hamilton will be in town in March so it might be fun to do something obliquely political. Goodness knows there will be plenty of material although most of it will not be funny. It's good to laugh though. It's necessary and a big function of creativity, bringing humor to life's vicissitudes. 

I'm excited to play. I have a few serious projects that are not as fun, but I'm interested in doing them, so my life will be full. That's something good to fondle and hope for.

 

What To Do With Grief

I haven't even gotten to grief yet, still in rage mode. Watching the election returns, I thought of the Jell-O Art Show. That's what I always do with my heightened emotions, think about art, about how to access them, and how to use them.

My thought was that as always, we will want to act up about misogyny,  as women, the eternal source of our rage. We joke about it, but being born in the fifties, I know way too much about how it is to be a woman in our world. To think we as a populace would take a woman seriously when there was a perfectly awful man to choose instead was a silly and foolish dream. What's more, she is a gorgeous, capable, brilliant, flawless woman of color. What she might do if she was handed some power. They'd have to spend all of their energy blocking her. It wouldn't have been fun to watch. We had no choice but to watch them burn her up though. Maybe we'll  just have a bonfire on the grass in front of the gallery next March.

My operating theory today is that people are desperately in denial that our gorgeous world we live on is practically dead and they want to just get it over with. Kill the kids first, with their dreams and plans, and next the women, or all of them together, the old people, anyone who can't dominate, because it is the apocalypse and all that matters is the looting and pillaging. We worship domination and it doesn't even have to be real in the least. Why take it seriously? We're at the end of the world. 

Satire does help, in a bitter way, in a way that makes things fun for a minute. We hate that we got hopeful once again that we don't indeed live in a racist and misogynistic country. We felt our last bit of hope, some of us. I remember not wanting to get sucked into the hopey changey thing with Obama. I resisted. This time the same. A lot of us remembered the morning in 2016 when Hillary got trashed. We thought maintaining a little emotional distance would help, but of course it didn't. 

We feel betrayed, by each other, but really we should realize it was planned this way, when we were put into our media silos where we all got different news, saw different clips, heard different pieces of sentences. What looked like a Nazi only looked that way to some of us. Nobody seemed to remember his diapers, his adderal, his crimes. Well, we did, but we didn't realize how siloed we were.

So maybe we go full on with Hitler this Jell-O Show. Do the Producers. Truly what I would love to do is bring in White Supremacy Culture and address racism. It has never been something we could touch as we are mostly all white old ladies and not qualified. We've done lots of old ladies, from Queen Elizabeth to Paula Deen to Hillary...but we have to try to keep it light and racism isn't funny, especially today, but maybe there's a way. We could certainly do Cultural Appropriation.

I always want to do hard politics in Jell-O. I generally get talked out of it in favor of bathroom humor and the power of silliness...but I always want to. I always want to address the end of the planet, too, although that gets a little compromised by working in a medium made from cow hides. I mean, one less cow, less methane I guess, but somebody probably ate the cow and meat is murder, after all. There's really no purity in Jell-O Art. 

Except that there is certainly a purity in art. I'm glad it's where my mind went in my despair and rage. I have a platform...I am a Queen of sorts. I have to use it. I will use it.

Jell-O Art season starts in January, so if you have any thoughts about it, come by and see me at Holiday Market. We need a theme, characters, and some things we can all laugh about. Today nothing seems funny, but it's part of the job to find the humor. It waits for us to find it.

We found some funny in 2023. There's always something to make fun out of.
 

Performance Video!

 Thanks to CTV, Hedda and John, we have a video of the show! I'm sure they did a review of all the pieces too. Gotta laugh at this though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCzbkK42UlQ