LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S "ROCK OF AGES" PHOTO SERIES FROM SOUTHERN COLORADO'S HISTORIC CATHOLIC CEMETERIES — "CAMPOSANTOS"

Day 1: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 2: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 3: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 4: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 5: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 6: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 7: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 8: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 9: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 10: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 11: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2007

Day 12: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Keota Cemetery

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Pawnee Buttes

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Pawnee Buttes

Christmas Day!! Laurie Zuckerman spends her vacations cruising Hispanic cemeteries "camposantos" in the Southwest for folk art gravestones. Probably the oldest and most primitive of the markers I find are small fieldstones that unobtrusively mark forgotten plots of loved ones. The stones are irregular and encrusted with lichens, obscuring the handcarved Spanish-style crosses engraved in their faces. In honor of the twelve days of Christmas, I will display a new photo each day from cemeteries tucked away in the remote San Luis Valley of Colorado. Once governed by Spain and Mexico for centuries, the religious culture of Spain and Mexico still survives, due to that remoteness. Later on Christmas Day I will post photos of our own "rock of ages" stones my husband has carved for my birthday and Christmas presents this month. We are taking them out to the country today for their debut shoot out at the old Keota Cemetery, in the heart of dustbowl land and then on to the Pawnee Buttes National Grasslands. The last three shots are from today's Christmas journey.

"My refuge my rock of salvation! 

'Tis pleasant to sing to your praises.

Let our house of prayer be restored. 

And there we will offer You our thanks.

When You will have utterly silenced the loud-mouthed foe.

Then we will celebrate with song and psalm the altar's dedication.

My soul was sated with misery, 

My strength was spent with grief.

They embittered my life with hardship..."

Excerpt from the Channukah "Rock of Ages" song.

Carved "moss rock" by Tom Mathies, photographed 

at Keota Cemetery, Weld County, Colorado, 2010

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORY JUG WEEKEND WORKSHOP AUGUST 2-3, 2008

Laurie Zuckerman is teaching a two-day weekend workshop on Memory Jugs, Saturday and Sunday, August 2-3, 10 am-5 pm.
Please email Laurie at zucky@qwest.net for reservations and more details before July 30, 2008.

If you have ever wondered about memory jugs, now is your chance to delve into this mysterious Victorian American folk art tradition and make your own enigmatic jug. This small intimate workshop will be offered at a private location in Fort Collins. Bring your own jug, jar, or teapot and all the little memories you've been saving to create your own piece of American folk art, or purchase an antique jug from Laurie. All other supplies will be provided. An instruction book is included in the cost of the workshop. Cost will be $145. Advanced reservations required by July 15, 2008.

Laurie has been making memory jugs since 2004, using her eclectic found art assemblage style. Laurie is best known for her altar installations and memory jugs, which have been on display at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, the Loveland Art Museum, and the Durango Art Center. Her memory jug artwork has been published most recently in Lynne Perrella's new book on assemblage artists around the country entitled: Artmaking, Collections, and Obsessions. Please browse this blog for examples, articles, and reviews of Laurie's assemblage art.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN LECTURES ON MEMORY JUGS FOR THE REMARKABLE WOMEN SERIES

Laurie Zuckerman was invited to speak on Memory Jugs for the Remarkable Women Series sponsored by A Place for Every Woman's Spirituality in Fort Collins, Colorado. The well-attended lecture was held on April 4th. Since there is so little known about folk art memory jugs, I concentrated on my personal history with making memory jugs and memorial jugs. I plan to offer a workshop through this women's center later this spring or summer.

http://www.everydaymysteries.com/Remarkable%20Women.htm

"Laurie Zuckerman constructs enigmatic memory jugs from antique and vintage found objects. She has conducted memory jug workshops at the Loveland Art Museum and the Artists' Nook in Fort Collins. she has exhibited her altar installations, memory jugs, and shrine photography since the mid-1990's, at the Elmhurst Art Museum in Chicago, the University of Northern Colorado, the Loveland Art Museum, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Durango Arts Center.

"Memory jugs, an American vernacular folk craft from the Victorian era, are believed to honor the dead with personal tokens once belonging to the deceased -- shells, jewelry, toys, buttons, beads, etc. Some art historians propose that memory jugs are linked to Southern African-American funerary traditions, and may have been used to decorate their gravesites.

"Laurie's memory jugs appear in the 2008 book by Lynne Perella: Art Making Collections and Obsessions (Quarry Publishers). In 1999, Laurie was included, along with 99 other woman altarmakers, in a book by Kay Turner, A Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars.

"Laurie was born in Los Angeles and received her B.A. in Fine Arts from the U. of California, Berkeley; and her B.F.A. in Painting from the U. of Oregon. She is a painting and drawing instructor at Front Range Community College, and lectures publicly on altarmaking to universities, colleges, museums, galleries, libraries, and arts organizations."

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS OF DAY OF THE DEAD ALTARS IN OAXACA, MEXICO TO APPEAR IN INDIE ARTS DVD MAGAZINE

Just received my copy of Karen Landey's Indie Arts DVD, Issue 7. A collection of Laurie Zuckerman's Oaxaca, Mexico photos are profiled in the gallery section of the DVD. I attended Michael deMeng's Day of the Dead altar workshop in Oaxaca last fall with 20 other artists from around the country. I am very excited to be in this issue along with Michael deMeng and Lisa JonesMoore, a Seattle artist who was also in his workshop. The photo above was taken in Teotitlan del Valle, at the home of weaving family. The other photos included on the DVD concentrate on the ornate El Diá de los Muertos altars in Oaxaca's cemeteries, churches, and public squares. This issue features an antiquing painting demo with Artist and Author, Michael deMeng during his 2007 workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico.

If you want to check it out, follow these links to Indie Arts' website for previews of this issue and ordering information:

www.indieartsdvd.com/guideissue7.htm
www.indieartsdvd.com/Previews.htm

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S PHOTOS OF MEMORY JUG, BOTTLE TREES, & FOLK ART MEMORIALS FROM SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

I returned from a great adventure in Savannah in January, hunting for folk art in flea markets and antique stores, visiting museums, and traveling through Gullah country in South Carolina. On my journey with my best artist buddy, Kathy Pinkerton, we photographed two bottle trees, one on the historic island of St. Helena, SC, and the other right around the corner from Kathy's home in Savannah. The bottle tree was in front of a huge African-American/Gullah folk art gallery named Red Piano Too.

Bottle tree's can be traced back to African origins. Sarah Fishburn just sent me this blurb from The House of Voodoo:

"The belief in and use of spirit bottles can be traced back to 9th and 10th century Congo where colorful bottles, traditionally cobalt blue, were placed on the ends of tree branches to catch the sunlight. It was thought that when an evil spirit sees the sunshine dazzling from the beautiful bottles, it is enamored and enters the bottle. Like a fly, the spirit then becomes trapped within the bottle; too dazzled by the play of light, the spirit prefers to remain in its colorful prison, rather than trouble the world of the living."

I spent the week asking about memory jugs, and on the last day, in the last hour of my trip, Kathy and I got lucky at the Telfair Art Museum in Savannah. Here is a shot of the only jug they had on display in the children's area of the museum, under the category of, "What is this?" It was beautiful. It is the first jug I have ever seen in a museum, besides my own at the Loveland Museum. It is only the third antique jug I have seen in person in the 14 years since I bought my first one.


An interactive computer display next to the jug helps kids or adults to decipher its true meaning.

Here is a shot from Kathy Pinkerton's altar exhibit at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2002. I love this Madonna altar! Missed the exhibit, unfortunately, but was still living in Blacksburg, Virginia when Kathy was working on this shrine.

Kathy Pinkerton's altar 

The most brilliant piece of folk art we found was in Savannah, in a neighborhood outside of the historic district. It was created entirely of papier maché by artist, James Kimble, and is called The Black Holocaust Memorial. Kathy had the opportunity to buy a smaller version of the memorial, which was equally beautiful.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR FEATURED IN CURRENT ISSUE OF PASTICCIO ZINE

Laurie Zuckerman's huge altar installation, "In the Pink" appears in the current issue of Pasticcio, a collaborative "zine" venture by artists Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartwright. The issue is filled with beautiful artwork by artists around the country. I am thrilled to be included in the gallery section of this publication, thanks to my new friend, Sarah Fishburn!

"PASTICCIO is a pioneer in the next wave of a dynamic arts publication arena; with this 72-page Holiday 2007 issue, it has evolved into a QUARTZ: a QUality ARt Zine. To be specific, PASTICCIO 2 QUARTZ is meticulously jam-packed with a plethora of compelling (and fun!) information and incredible work from well known artists (and a few up and comers as well). Find inspiration, specific tips and techniques, reviews, art history, and a few special “gifts” within its pages. Printed on high quality glossy paper, its essence and design are as integral as the contents."

The magazine can be ordered at: http://www.lulu.com/content/1619814

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR LECTURE AT HARMONY LIBRARY, DECEMBER 7, 2007

On December 7, 5:30-7:30 pm, A Place for Every Women’s Spirituality is hosting their first Women’s Spirituality Altar Making seminar session at the Harmony Library’s Community Room. The entire community is welcome to attend a photo lecture by altarmaker, Laurie Zuckerman. Laurie will discuss her sixteen-year obsession with Catholic and Vodou altarmaking. Cost is $10.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORY JUGS TO APPEAR IN LYNNE PERELLA'S UPCOMING BOOK: "ART MAKING—COLLECTIONS & OBSESSIONS"

Lynne attended the "Grave Matters" exhibit at the Loveland Museum last summer, while she was in town teaching at the Artists' Nook, where she saw my memory jugs and found-object assemblages. She later invited me to participate in her latest book project. I photographed three of my memory jugs for inclusion in the book, and sent Lynne the "fixins" for my latest jug, "Up in Smoke," for her own photographer to shoot. I can't wait to see all the other artists in her book, as I love the concept of artists who collect. The book is due out in 2008. Can't wait!

If you don't know of her work, Lynne Perrella is a terrific mixed-media artist, author, graphic designer, and workshop instructor. She conducts creativity events at various venues in the United States and abroad. She's taught some excellent workshops at the Artist's Nook, and will be back again in 2008. I took her class last summer and loved her teaching approach. She has three other books, “Artists Journals & Sketchbooks," “Alphabetica,” and 'Beyond Paper Dolls." Check out her website: www.LKPerrella.com. Her link is under my favorites.