A nest

Sweet Irene mentioned she needed a nest to burrow in....and it just so happens that I have one! A hand made, super soft and cozy nest by moi ofcourse! (Note to everyone else that was not moimoi moi, I dare not go there!)
Unfortunately I can't actually send you this one Irene, I made it for Stella Meades's Global Shoe Project but most you are welcome to imagine your self warm and cozy inside any time you wish! I do hope it cheers you:)

Nest

Title: Nest
Medium: Wool and ceramic shoe.

This is the nest I made for my shoe (from the global shoe project) if your not familiar with the project see my posts about it below :) and for a pic of just the shoe check out my photo a day blog on the list.

This is probably the most personaly moving piece of art I have ever created. I chose a nest because 1) I am obsessed with them! and 2) because of what they symbolise. Warmth, love, security, life, hope, home, families...you get the idea. This nest will be auctioned off by Stella to raise funds for children affected by war and this SINGLE shoe represents 6000 children who have been hurt or permanently maimed by war over a decade. Stella made 1001 shoes. Wow. That speaks for itself! (Stats based on unicef figures the decade begining in 1985.)

This nest speaks to me on so many levels, for me it shows what it should be like for children. It expresses my desire to protect and love them. To provide a place of security or in the least a glimmer of hope. Our homes (the world) should be a place of warmth, love, security and hope. It should be a place of nuture and life. Sadly it's not for so many innocent children hence the broken and folded child size shoe as the egg.
On the other side this could be symbolic of a child (the egg/shoe) being loved and cared for (the nest) a sign of hope that in a world that can be very ugly that things will get better, love will prevail. Amen to that I say!

I guess it will mean many things to many different people depending on our own life experiences but that is my interuptation of it. What's yours? Please share!

NB: I couldn't use real sticks, feathers and leaves because of customs restrictions :)

Close up of the 'tatty old boot.'

Healing

This old gummie used to be my sons. When he out grew it I planted it with the Aloe instead of throwing it away to sit in the dirt for a gazillion years. Rubber isn't known for it's eco properties! The red paint that has nearly scratched off is testimony to his playcentre days and he's now nearly 8!
Inspired by Stella Meades 's "Global Shoe Project" I decided to do a tribute of sorts and give myself a visual reminder of the project.
The project in brief...Stella created 1001 ceramic child sized shoes. Based on UNICEF statistics the 1000 shoes represented the 6000 children who had been killed or disabled by war in the past decade. The extra shoe symbolised that the killing and maiming isn't over yet.
Can you imagine the emotional impact it would have on you actually seeing this many shoes and knowing what it symbolised? Wow. The whole story and the photographs are of course much more potent than what I just wrote so PLEASE go and check it out at 'global shoe project' it is definitely worth a look.
About the boot....I painted the medic cross today using gesso and arcylic. I used paper to remove some of the red arcylic and make it imperfect and worn out looking to symbolise in my own way that the healing process for those affected by war is a long way from over. I was going to compost the tatty old aloe vera until I realised that it was a healing plant in the boot struggling to grow and heal and this added another degree of symbolism to the artwork.
Yes, it is a tatty old boot- imperfect and roughly painted with a tatty old plant in it. It's far from being a thing of beauty and it wasn't meant to be. It's purpose is to remind me that for many the war and pain is far from over. It is to remind me that tucked up in my little corner of the globe I am extremely blessed that my children aren't part of those horrifying statistics.