Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project 2020

Cutting color chips out of packaging (e.g. cereal boxes, 12-pack containers, consumer product boxes) and applying the color with glue to reclaimed cardboard became a relaxation technique for me in March. There was only a casual regard for the finished product as the initial result looked sort of like a New York City skyscraper.

My grandson seemed to validate the process as he and his parents (my son and daughter-in-law) fled their upper west side apartment in NYC to quarantine at the maternal grandmother’s house in suburban Memphis. A series of be-deckled boxes glued together and assembled as a tower was taller than the 3 ½ year old James. He is almost always the perfect audience for Papa Wes’ folly. On the occasion of my other grandson Lawton’s 4^th birthday the Covid – 19 Mosaic Art Project yielded a Octopus for him. So that piece landed in Tampa, Florida.

As I kept cutting chips, I began to sort into colors and consider patterns but never obsessed with the idea of precision pointillism. With additional executions, I enjoyed the process that could yield a facsimile of a ceramic tile work made from pieces that are not ever perfect. The metaphor of hundreds and thousands of people appearing in Zoom sessions or social media performances or even virtual graduations inspired me too. 

I’m a teacher at Great Circle, a private school dedicated to students, K-12, with significant emotional and behavioral challenges, communication disorders, cognitive delays or autism spectrum diagnosis. Just as the 2019-2020 school year prepared for its Spring Break beginning with dismissal on Friday, March 20^th it was becoming apparent that instruction modalities would be changed radically in favor of e-learning and daily Zoom sessions when school resumed on March 31. The only thing constant is change after all. My career path has necessitated navigating shifts in the advertising business, marketing and corporate environments through good economies and bad. Clearly the Covid-19 Pandemic is likely to have an historic impact on how we interact as human beings for a long time.

The Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project started as a way to practice a sort of mindfulness while the world seemed ever more uncertain. As this blog is being written, the process of creating and sharing art, for me, relies on readily available materials like packaging, school glue (Elmer’s), scissors and cardboard. As a lifelong self-described art junky I must admit my process pays homage to pop art, found objects, deconstruction, ready-mades and the realization that a there is inspiration in the very act of doing.

Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project and the Artist – The works displayed in this blog were all created in March, April and May of 2020 © Wesley A. Morgan 2020. 

The front page of the New York Times on May 24, 2020 as the Covid - 19 death toll approaches 100,000.

This diptich was expertly framed by Karen Renaudin (LHS Class of 75) at the request of collector Mary Breiner in Lakewood, Ohio. 

The Royal Ease

Seated Boddihiattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin)  
Chinese, Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127) – 11^th Century 
wood, gesso, and pigment with gilding on view at 
The Saint Louis Art Museum

The Chinese Buddhist deity Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion. A bodhisattva is a figure who has achieved the highest aim in Buddhism, enlightenment, and may pass into nirvana, the state of freedom from suffering and the endless cycle of rebirth. He remains in the material world to aid in the salvation of all mortals.

The flexible pose, the royal ease, with a raised leg and casually draped arm, became associated with the deity in the late ninth century. Here he is portrayed as a princely figure wearing a tiered crown be-deckled with jewels. In addition, he is richly clothed in light diaphanous silks.

As you ponder this magnificent work representing the deity in this state of being, consider what it means to be in the present. Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.

Chuck Carpenter RIP 5-3-2020

Photo: LHS Reunion golf outing July 2019. Chuck is in blue polo and white shorts (4th from left)

Obituary for Charles A. Carpenter, Jr.

July 18, 1956 - May 3, 2020
Cleveland, Ohio | Age 63

Loving Husband, Father and Grandfather 

Charles A. Carpenter, Jr.

At Lakewood's Horace Mann Junior High in 1970, every interested boy could join the Purple Pups football team. But when they started handing out helmets, they ran out before they got to a last-place, skinny kid named Chuck Carpenter. So his dad bought him a close substitute at Uncle Bills. A set of free weights and some mom-made peanut-butter milkshakes later, and Charlie became a varsity starter who was All Lake Erie League—Offense AND Defense, and was also a starter in basketball, baseball, and track, and even got a full, four-year ride to college to play football! With the help of his mom's rebounding, Charlie could make nine out of ten free throw shots blindfolded.

Every kid on the bench needs to hear the Charlie Carpenter story. Hollywood makes movies about underdogs like Charlie, and actors can only pretend to be the kind of faith-filled overcomer Charlie was and is.

On Sunday, May 3rd, 63 yr. old Charlie was working in the yard with his wife Dana of 17 years and suddenly collapsed and died of heart failure. In addition to his much-beloved wife, Dana (nee Edman), Charlie is survived by his three sons, Charles III (Cassie), Brian, and Daniel, and a granddaughter Olivia (daughter of Charles III), his father, Charles A. Carpenter Sr., and his sister Kimberley Moore (Edward), brother Scott Carpenter (Nanette Yannuzzi), and sister Laura Nelson (Peter), as well as many nephews and nieces and seven great-nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother, Janet M. Carpenter (nee Kapl).

Charlie became an LPN in a mid-life career change and became the favorite of his nursing home residents wherever he worked. He and his wife even prayed for his patients, and such was his deep and sincere care for them.

He joined his wife Dana, an ordained EPC minister, in a long-running inner-city mission she began in 1995 —The Isaiah Project, volunteering tirelessly and working alongside her to bring the transforming power of the Gospel to inner-city youth.

Charlie loved home projects. One of his first dates with Dana was fixing the plumbing in her apartment. (That's a keeper, right?) Last year Charlie and Dana bought a large, somewhat neglected home on Cleveland's west side and began transforming it. Charlie, true to his Carpenter genes, rebuilt the entire first floor and was starting on the second and attic levels when God called him home. Everything and everyone he touched was way better off when Charlie stepped in--even his house.

Charlie was spontaneous, loving to hop in the car with Dana and just drive, go for hikes and antiquing, finding new places to eat. They loved Loudonville, where they spent their honeymoon and many wedding anniversaries. Dana and Charlie did everything together, side-by-side. A deeply sensitive man, even movies could make him cry. Dana told the family, "There is no one who loved me the way he did."

In lieu of flowers, and because we cannot gather, please consider a contribution made in Charlie's memory to The Isaiah Project, 3396 West Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44111.

The family will have a private visitation, but a large bash is planned for some time in the summer, (which will be announced on our website) and much effort will be made to get the word out to come and celebrate this marvelous, precious, much-loved man. (440) 333-9774 www.buschcares.com

I last saw Chuck at a Lakewood High School reunion golf event in July 2019. Amid the shuffle of carts, putting on golf shoes and learning details of pairings, we chatted (albeit briefly). We didn't need to talk much since we had so many shared experiences. He lived across the street. He was a teammate. He was a friend. We both had smiles on our faces, just recalling so many little wonderful moments of growing up in the City of Homes - Lakewood, OH. Upon learning of his passing, I could not help but wish to replay our conversation in my head. He was such a gentle and loving soul. He reported updates on his life and family with an unassuming way without bragging. Yet in his face you could see he was beaming with pride. Clearly he was an accomplished human being. He is the sort of person you know and maybe even take for granted. God called you home. And maybe that is a good thing for all of us who knew you. Put in a good word for us Chuck. Rest in peace.

– Wesley Morgan, Friend, St. Louis, MO, May 07, 2020

Album Covers

I’m not a big fan of internet challenges that periodically appear on facebook. But once in a while I am almost hooked into the game. Recently, I noted with interest one such challenge: post ten album covers. I thought about the lost art of LP Record Albums. The covers jar memories and mark time. The list below is perhaps proof positive that the art that accompanies music has a certain power. The music and the marketing tell a story about a time and a place in popular culture.    

1961 Holiday Sing Along with Mitch - Initially airing on NBC, Sing Along with Mitch (Miller) went on to become a weekly series. The album was a holiday staple in our house.

1962 The First Family – A comedy album featuring comedian Vaughn Meader is a good-natured parody of then- President John F. Kennedy and his family. It was a hit before the nation endured a tragic assassination.

1963 Oliver! Charles Dickens’s story of Oliver Twist was the basis for Lionel Bart’s Oliver! which arrived on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in January and ran 774 performances and won several Tony® Awards. In our Catholic household it was easy to role play the orphan begging for “more.”

1964 Meet the Beatles! – The Beatles second album released in the United States was the first US Beatles album to be issued by Capitol Records. It topped the popular album chart and remained at number one for eleven weeks before being replaced by another Beatles album. Of course we tuned in to Ed Sullivan to see them but the music was ever-present.

1967 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan released on March 27, 1967 on Columbia. It contains every Top 40 single Dylan enjoyed through 1967. The famous Milton Glaser poster insert and all of those songs that reflect the mood of a nation.

1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, first released in 1973. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's best. An unmistakable sound track in high school. Years later the candle in the wind was repurposed for Diana.

1974 Good Evening – Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in “Good Evening,” opened at the Plymouth Theater in NYC in 1973. In the 60s and 70s, they were a major part of the new comedy era. Cook and Moore hosted Saturday Night Live in January 1976 and did a number of their classic stage routines, including “One Leg Too Few” and “Frog & Peach.” So much fun to share these bits with friends. My mom took me to see this play at the Hanna Theater in Cleveland.

1977 Saturday Night Fever is the soundtrack album from the 1977 film starring John Travolta. It is one of the best-selling albums in history, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.  album epitomized the disco phenomenon. In college I was not a fan of disco but the influence was undeniable on the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami.  

 

1978 A Wild and Crazy Guy by Steve Martin. It reached number two on Billboard’s Pop Album chart. The album was eventually certified double platinum. It contains the hit novelty single “King Tut” which Martin performed on Saturday Night Live. Silly but fun, and I could not help seeing Steve Martin at the movies in The Jerk in 1979.

1983 Thriller is the sixth studio album by Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones was producer. By the end of 1983, Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, having sold 32 million copies. Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, with sales of 66 million copies worldwide. Michael turned it up a knotch with regard to production of video and music.

1984 Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen. It was released by Coumbia Records. Born in the U.S.A. became his most commercially successful album and one of the highest selling records having sold 30 million copies by 2012. I married a Jersey girl who could listen to the Boss all day long.

1991 Nevermind is the second studio album by Nirvana. Despite the initial low commercial expectations, Nevermind became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Nevermind has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. The focus was now on West Coast Grunge.

2002 The Eminem Show is the fourth studio album by rapper Eminem. The album also saw Eminem take a substantially more predominant production role with Dr. Dre as executive producer. The album has sold 27 million copies worldwide.

2003 Chicken-n-Beer is the fourth studio album by rapper Ludacris. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 429,000 copies in its first week.