More and better Jell-O Art

I finished making the box for my 6x6 inch (actually mine is 6x6x6) piece for the show at Oregon Arts Alliance. It hangs on the wall and everything, it's pretty light, and the wooden box I tried to make would have been too heavy. I hope the Jell-O stays in it, but it is balanced okay if no one messes with it. All of the pieces cost $30 and they are anonymous, with names only on the back. I'm guessing there won't be much other Jell-O.

Why Jell-O Art? It's just fun. I like how it is low-tech, very accessible, and kind of a kitchen art to start with. It takes all the pressure off, and there is no structure for criticism or monetary value, or any of the things that get imposed on art by the marketing. I have lots of essays I've written about how doing Jell-O sculptures and exhibiting them in a gallery made me realize I was indeed an artist, and take myself seriously.

Plus it is somewhat like glass in the seductive colors and transparency and the magical things it can do if you know how to work with it. As I was telling someone today, if you get it to the right stage of dryness before it gets fully dried, you can bend it and roll it and make it do lots of interesting things. I have more pictures in my facebook albums, on Photobucket at mcwho_photos, and down in previous blogs from last year mostly. I've been doing it for 22 years, so there are all kinds of Jell-O Art projects. Last year the show was also on Opening Day of the Market, so I exhibited my Jell-O Art down there, which had to be history in the making. I will maybe do that again this year.

Here are a couple more of the giant flowers (about the size of a pie plate) that I made on Sunday, and I glued up the wings too. The photos don't really show the complexity, and at the size to fit a human, (these are about 30 inches tall) they're a bit heavy. Should be quite a trick to mount them to fit her.

The idea is that she will be sort of coming out of a chrysalis, which is actually a shirt Celeste made. She made the figure, too. It fits quite nicely on my pedestal legs that I almost always use. Usually I put an apron on her, but not this time.

Having so much fun I might have to really open that Jell-O Art Museum.