Towering projects indeed! We haven’t posted in a while because we have finally gotten into the groove of creating, and we really didn’t want to stop what we were doing. Now that we’ve nailed down a few things, we thought it would be fun to let you know where we’re headed. Here are our latest “towering” projects:
“Massive” – The Fragility of Home
We started writing about our log cabin quilt this past July. You can click here to read about it. We were planning to post progress reports, but we got so involved in turning the piece into the largest quilt we have ever made – 103″ x 103″!! – that we forgot all about posting reports. We did, however, post photos on our Instagram account, so you can view our story about this quilt there. Click here to land on the first panel, but it’s more fun to look at it in your feed to see the story progress (more about how we did that in a future post). Here we are posing in front of “The Fragility of Home.” We finally got to tick one more item off our bucket list: the huge quilt. Never have to do that again!
“Monumental” – The Tower Theatre
We have always wanted to pay homage to Sacramento’s Tower Theatre, built in 1938. It has been broken up into three screening rooms, but you can still see the grandeur of the old movie palace in the large auditorium. We haven’t gone back since the beginning of the pandemic, but, boy, have we watched a lot of movies there. Lots of fun memories about the Tower – just ask us about the time we saw Querelle!
Okay, back to the project. Here is the cartoon below. We’re going to collage the building, but the background will be filled with the titles of great movies. Because some movies have lost their luster under present-day scrutiny of movie stereotypes, we want to create “double features” that might highlight the evolution of representation in film. For example, we’ve thought of pairing “Gone with the Wind” with “Black KkKlansman” or “Winchester ’73” with “Smoke Signals.” Do you have a pair of movies that might make an interesting double feature? Let us know in the comment section.
“Mighty” – A House Divided
Recent events have reminded us of how important our voting rights are to becoming a true democracy. We’ve already created a couple of pieces that directly address this issue. You can view “Mark Your Ballot” and “Flag” in our portfolio. Now we’re asking ourselves, “Why does someone in, say, Mississippi not have the same access to voting in national elections we in California do? But how do we visualize that? We always ask ourselves, “What’s the thing?” What object can we make that will convey that idea?
After kicking around a few ideas, we remembered how much fun we had piecing log cabin blocks for “The Fragility of Home.” Hmm, log cabin – house – a house divided. Who said that about a house divided? In his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination for US senator on June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln invoked the Gospel of Mark 3:25, when he repeated Jesus’s words: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” We cannot, Lincoln said, have a country where half the people live in free states and the other half in slavery states. It’s as if we are living again in those times. Half the country has easy access to voting, the other half doesn’t. As we would have voted against slavery then, we speak out now for voting rights.
We just need to figure out how to get that all into a log cabin quilt. One thing we know, the resulting piece will NOT measure 103″ x 103″!! Let’s start with color. “Mark Your Ballot” and “Flag” are red, white, and blue. We’re leaning toward that same palette but maybe with just a bit of that “Americana” feel. What do you think of this palette? (Thanks to Mariah Danielsen for posting this palette.)
Magnificent – Portrait of E.H.
During the pandemic, we gave a few presentations on the portraits of women we’ve made. Part of our goal with these four portraits was to bring more attention to these women and their impact on history. (Click on the links to read more about Faith Ringgold, Mitsuye Endo, Katharine McCormick, and Fannie Lou Hamer.) Many participants of our presentations asked, “Who’s next?” And they had lots of suggestions, Ruth Bader Ginsberg being among them. For us, though, it’s always been about bringing more attention to women, and women like RBG already have a solidified place in history.
For our next portrait, we are in the early phases of creation. We want this one to be visually different. For example, we’re thinking of using sheer fabrics. Oh, this is gonna take some percolating before we finish it. (Katharine McCormick holds the record for percolating – about 10 years!) Here’s a selfie E.H. took of us and Pastor Pamela Anderson, who brought the three of us together. E.H. stands 6’2″, but that’s not why she is a “towering” project. (More on that in future posts.) That photo shoot was a hoot!
We’ll do our best to keep you up-to-date on these projects. Wish us luck that the pandemic doesn’t separate us again.
5 responses to “Four “Towering” Projects: One Down, Three To Go”
Remembering Saturday matinees at The Tower growing up. Cartoons, cowboy serials like Lone Ranger along with family friendly main feature. Cost less than a quarter with change left for Candy.
Our family would go there on Christmas in the years when James Bond films were released on the holiday.
When it was still one big theater, sometimes we would pay extra for the loges (better seats!).
Tower was a big part of my growing up years.
Ooh, I (Kris) never got to sit in the loges until they split up the theater. It’s a great cinema, worthy of artwork.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail paired with … Camelot!
Priceless! Thanks!!
About your voting rights palette — “Glory” seems to have too much green in it to be the true flag color. They’ll tell you the Pantone number if you want to be exact.
Good luck with this project! I agree with everything you say except the part where half the nation has voting rights. That half is crippled in the Senate and the Electoral College. So arguably there are precious few places with true democratic representation.