Circus Art

Today I will be heading in to Peru to the Circus Center to work on the banner project that has sort of been on hiatus due to someone feeling the need for a medical vacation..... (ahem!) Really, it has NOT been on vacation; we had the banner fabrics hemmed and then there was the work of trying to get proper images, etc. to paint. It is not, by any means a small job. And the real work is just beginning.
However, the artwork posted today is a piece I had donated a couple of years ago to the International Circus Hall of Fame fund raising gala.
In some odd, infinitesimal way, I have a connection to them. In the art above (which is another beeswax collage) you will see elephants and horses, and there is the image of a house in the background. That was the home of my great, great grandparents or great, great, great aunt, and when the Wallace Circus (later Hagenbeck-Wallace) would be in town for a show, or home to their winterquarters, they often would graze the animals or set up on my ancestors property. The postcards are the scanned backs of the images--this is a part of my lineage, at a very great distance.
I had a wonderful time putting the work together; the leaf skeletons refer to the Fall of the year, the last shows, discarded ticket stubs, the bright wrapping papers from prizes won upon a midway or some sugary sweet purchased at the performance.......
It is interesting seeing the faces of the men in their suits with the pachyderms---appropriately dressed while walking and tending the animals! I have no dates for the cards; I just know the writing is my grandmother's much later in her life.
In the signature line of e-mails, I sign off with "Life creates Art. Art creates Life."TM
Indeed, it is true. My distant family's life was the inspiration for this art.
The funds from the art helped a bit to keep the ICHOF alive.
It is a sweet synergy, even after all these long and distant years.
And now to work. Gessoing huge pieces of canvas.
Maybe, considering yesterday's post and accompanying photo I do have a little circus in my blood......you think? ;)

P.S. Please click the photo for a close up of the work, to enjoy the old photos. And the heading from todays post is clickable, going to the ICHOF website which is well worth a look-around for circus fans!