P52 Photo Challenge - Still Life - Week 19

For this week's P52 challenge, the theme is "still life." When I think of "still life" what immediately comes to mind is a bowl of fruit in the center of a table. It's one of those images that I recall having to draw in a junior high art class.

Since I don't have a fruit bowl on a table, I looked around the house for other non-moving objects. What I kept returning to were several objects and photos on a small desk in the bedroom. The desk actually is my grandma's dressing table without the mirror on it. I remember it in her bedroom, right next to her door.

On the desk I have several pictures and items with personal meaning. Initially, I tried to photograph the entire desk and all the items. Since I kept getting reflections on top of the photos, I chose five items and brought them to the hallway where there is a low cabinet and arranged them there.

A little about the objects:

- The camel is hand-crafted and a gift from my Dad who went on his dream trip to the Holy Land many years ago. The wood is from an olive tree. Olive trees are very symbolic - they represent wisdom, peace, hope, light, fertility, health, wealth, and balance. There is some interesting information about olive trees HERE.

- The image of St. Francis is one that I took while I was on a trip to Taos, New Mexico years ago. It's a slide transfer image that I hand-developed and colored. I gave it to my Dad as a gift since he admired St. Francis (he is the patron saint of animals and the environment). These issues - animals and the environment -are equally as important to me as they were to my Dad.

- The vase is one that I glazed and raku-fired on the shores of Lake Superior near Grand Marais. I did this through a class at North House Folk School; and it was held at the artist's studio. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the firing process, and being surprised at how the fire affected the glaze. The vase is green - one of my favorite colors. It's also something that I gave to my Dad, and he had it on his altar in his Deacon office at his home. After he died, I brought it home and placed it on my desk along with these other items.

- The photograph of my grandma, sister, brother, and me from the 1980s. I remember this picture being taken. The photographer asked my grandma to take off her glasses since he was getting a reflection from the lenses. She did not want to take off her glasses since she always wore them. We never saw her without them on. She was very unhappy that she had to have them off since she didn't feel like the picture looked like her at all. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have a picture of her with us kids. I am not aware of any other picture we have with us three and her together.

- The hand-painted globe is from China. This is one of several globes that I brought back from China when adopting Sophia and Olivia. The globe comes off from the base and there's a hole at the bottom of it. The artist takes a very small brush and inserts it into the hole. S/he paints a detailed nature image without a pattern of any design sketched on the inside of the globe. The level of detail and precision is impressive. Seeing the globes painted in person is fascinating, and gives a great level of appreciation for the work and artistic skill involved in creating them.

Time Travel Thursday