Blog
One Million Bones
I am excited to be participating in a workshop next Friday at UNC in Charlotte with Naomi Natale founder and director of One Million Bones. The following is an excerpt from her website, " One Million Bones is a collaborative art installation designed to recognize the millions of victims and survivors who have been killed or displaced by ongoing genocides and mass atrocities in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burma.
Our Mission is to create a visible movement that will increase global awareness of these atrocities while raising the critical funds needed to protect and aid displaced and vulnerable survivors.
For One Million Bones to realize its vision, we need people to create and donate bones for this event."
Stay tuned for a recap of my bone making experience ~
North Shelby School
I worked with the students at the North Shelby School in Shelby NC to develop artwork around their school. The artwork became a means of pride for the students and the surrounding community. North Shelby provides services to students in Cleveland County Schools between the ages of three and twenty-one who have significant intellectual disabilities. The music is by Micheal Franti and Spearhead. Micheal has inspired me to be active in my own community.
Jesse James Lott
Folk Artist: Jesse James Lott
Jesse James Lott is a janitor at Cleveland Community College in Shelby, NC. He is a folk artist. He draws pictures of small engines and tractors on anything he can get his hands on, including the church bulletins. He likes to spend his time fixing engines. He has two dogs, Uncle Bearhead and Uncle Chiphead. These dogs often show up driving one of his tractors. The music is produced by Kendra and Teru and used from Creative Commons.
Sally Jacobs Featured on HGTV
In 2003, HGTV's program "Building Character" featured Sally Jacobs' studio and living space. Please wait about forty seconds before the show will start.
Artist Sally Jacobs took one look at a decaying livery stable in downtown Shelby, N.C., and immediately had a vision for the home she wanted to create. Jacobs wanted a space that was full of color, texture and whimsy.
The 1908 stable and buggy stand was a sort of taxi stand of its day. Architect Roger Holland helped Jacobs convert the 4,000-square-foot stable into a home and studio, using a barn door to connect the building's two spaces. The central hallway runs through the space once filled with horse stalls. Creative touches in the house include walls without ceilings, a floor made of an old rodeo poster and bright blue and yellow walls.
Dr. Everette
My painting chosen to be shown at the NC Community College system virtual art show is of a special neighbor and friend, Dr. Everette Thombs. Dr. Everette is a truly remarkable man. He has been a practicing physician for more than 35 years. His kindness extends not only to mankind but also to all living things. My husband, I and my two year old son all work together with Dr. Everette each summer to harvest a large plot of land growing fresh fruits and vegetables. Dr. Everette works the garden after long hours visiting patients and rounds at the local hospital. He can be found walking in the evening through the garden, with my young son, showing him how things grow, how to nurture the earth and how to watch for even the smallest of changes. He shares childhood stories with him of growing up in the south. As one of nine children, he shares the importance of working together.
His kind spirit and gentle demeanor moved me to document this special man in our lives. I intentionally choose a palette that is earthy and warm like him, like the earth. The painting is small to create intimacy. I deliberately choose to intensify the hot pink color of his shirt to symbolize the excitement my son has when he sees Dr. Everette in the garden. Painting, for me, is a way to record the world around me. I do not think of this work as a portrait as much as I do a musical note in the score of a song.
To see the painting of Dr. Everette on display, click here.
Translation of Nature 1
My wife’s focus to translate timeless moments through painting is my inspiration for discovering my own translation of our family through video manipulation. Through this art form, my hope is to mimic my wife’s abstract color, space and figure with that of my son’s innocence in painting. For those of us who have reached forty or older, time seems to be sped up, fleeting, and we try hard to hold onto something that can ground us from a race to the finish. I believe youth and members of our family and community can help with grounding our lives in the moment. In “Translation of Nature 1,” I begin with my wife painting with our son. Then, I alter the video, attempting to scatter colors and toss “stories” around the frame. When I look at my son painting on video, I am reminded of the fleeting moment and the importance of life. In real time, static and friction often derail my ability to stay in the present. Only I can focus back to what is necessary.
Scott Temple