Hotpants for Halloween

My time with Jesse and the workshop at MSU was great fun. As promised, I took more photos. Friday was the second day of the workshop with Amy Cordova.
We finished our glass paintings.
Jesse's frog. My beetle. As you can see they are they are simple. We drew on paper first. Then traced the image on plexiglass (cheaper than real glass and easier to deal with in the workshop) with a Sharpie pen. Next we turned the plexiglass over and painted. It took several layers of paint starting with the lightest parts first. Even with the several layers there was a nice stained-glass effect.

Later in the afternoon, Ms Cordova did a walk through the gallery and discussed her art explaining the stories behind her art, the process of some works, etc. Jesse's art history class and a few other people showed up for the tour. I really liked hearing about Amy's art. She has a great sense of humor, which comes out in her art. She is very folksy using saints and stories from her Spanish Catholic and Indian backgrounds. So you get a little Catholic mixed with a bit of pagan and lots of color. By the way, look at this photo taken of Amy talking with the students. The young lady with the hat and ripped clothes was a student, and she was not wearing a Halloween costume. It made me think of someone who wants to look artsy and thrown together, but that outfit took some work. Cute girl, though. This photo was not flattering of Amy, but she's actually one pretty woman.

If you know me well, then you know that my eyes roll at some of the Taosy people and their talk of peace and spirits and mother earth, etc. - what I call people looking for inner peace in outer space. But Amy was very sincere. She was not a pretender; she was the real thang. Maybe it was the fact that she is Spanish/Indian/Catholic, so she could own it. Maybe it was her sense of humor and fun that made her art work well. Even Toby was smiling as he walked around and looked at her art.

Friday night was the student art show along with a showing of Amy Cordova's work and the art of her partner, Dan Enger. The students dressed up in Halloween costumes.
Jesse wore her grandmother's hotpants outfit from the early 70's. We Googled "Jackie Kennedy hairstyles" to help with Jesse's hair. Then my mom donated some gaudy jewelry to be more Elizabeth Taylor-ish. I had to use some Karo syrup to help the false eyelashes stay glued - worked well. Toby's mom was there at the art show and told us that she had worn the hotpants to the 72 NM Democratic convention. She said that Strom Thurmond had been at that convention. I love little pieces of info like that - makes life interesting. Toby's mom was one pretty woman, too. Of course she wore white go-go boots back in the 70's, but Jesse still looked great.Here is a few pics from the evening. Jesse with her grandmothers. Jesse with her aunts. The dog photo in the background was taken by Jes of our dog Ranger.

The rest of the weekend was spent working on the house and bit of resting up from a rather busy week.