Tales from Studio Mailbox

Schwarz, Rot, Gold

Black, Red, Gold! 

Tears are streaking the painted faces of German soccer fans.  They have lost the European  Championship. 

First person to post a comment wins a silly soccer gift anyway!

The Cherry Fairy

The craziest thing happened last week.  In the middle of meeting an old collegue and his family who were travelling through Germany as well as arranging for the delivery of the world's biggest shelving unit, an unknown man knocked on my door looking for the previous residents.

In German, you have to speak formally to strangers.   I was attempting to switch my brain into "formal" mode and think of how to politely say that the previous resident is not dead, but has moved to a nursing facility.

"Worry not sir your friend not dead lives on in house where the people who live no longer in their own houses go."

He looks at me quite patiently and asks if I have children.  Then he asks if I like cherries.  And finally he asks if I have a bowl.

He heads back to his car and I return to the front door.  He looks at my soup bowl and asks me to get a bigger one.  I come back to the front door with what I considered to be a bigger bowl.  I invite him in for a coffee but he declines saying he has not got the time.   He thrusts out a gigantic yellow pail heaped full of cherries.  He makes it clear to me that he wants the biggest bowl I've got in the house.  I had no idea he was gifting me the entire pail...

I asked him who he was to which he replied, "It's not important!"

Hmm.  I suddenly get thoughts of Snow White or Rumplestilkskin.  Maybe the cherries are poisoned.  Maybe the guy is a lunatic.  I consider slipping a few to the neighbors to make sure nothing happens. 

Then I realize I no longer live outside London.  I no longer live in downtown Wuerzburg.  I live out in the country where this behaviour is NORMAL. 

"In the fall comes potatoes and vegetables!" he says as he hobbles back toward his car.  I wasn't sure if he was just giving me agricultural information or if to expect another visit in the fall.  I am already searching for the appropriate autumnal basket just in case.  This is clearly serious business if I'm going to make it living out here.

Treasure in the Cupboard Drawer!

Check out the old brochure left in one of the five remaining drawers of my new cupboard. I'm not sure if it's the actual original paperwork but I think it's groovy!  There's no stamp of purchase on it and I wasn't able to find this dealer on the internet.  Such a pity because you can't imagine what I'd do for that rounded chair with the pleated skirt...!

World's Biggest Cupboard

An antique dealer in my neighborhood called "Wolf" sourced this huge shelving unit from an old merchantile in  Hassfurt.  He told us we "might" want to have an extra guy to get it downstairs into the studio once he delivered it.  I bought it only after seeing a picture.  And that's how it came to be that Studio Mailbox now houses one of the biggest cupboards in the world!

My hubby had called Oli asking him if he could lend a hand.  Lucky for me, Oli agreed. This is the same Oli who single-handedly skipped down several flights of stairs with my Lexmark 4-color laser printer which I cannot even budge.  He is not only a great friend, but one seriously strong man.

Wolf had said the shelf was "3 meters, 90."  (Whatever that means.  After living in Europe for over 5 years now, I still think in feet and fahrenheit. You might as well look at me and say, the shelf is XY7_908*.  It pretty much would mean the same thing).    So anyway it turns out that three meters ninety is like over 12 feet long.  The drawers are so huge you could let your small child use them as forts. There are 14 slots for drawers, but unfortunately only 5 drawers remain.

It looks as if this cupboard was made by somebody who was trying to use up every hunk of lumber in their possession.  It is a completely insane piece of furniture.  Wolf said, "I've never had a piece like it.  Only something about half the size."

Oli said, "what do you even want with this thing...?" And I said, "Oli... I'm so sorry... I didn't realize it was so big... I didn't know what 3-meters 90 meant!"

And with that he nearly fell over laughing.  He realized immediately that I was serious.  Then he helped heave the beast down the street, down the stairs and into my studio. This thing was so big they weren't sure they could cut the corner to get it inside the room after clearing the doorway.  They were already formulating a "Plan B" as to how to get it in through the window.

Never fear readers, it's in.  I've already started bonding with it.  I've showed it to a few friends.  It really does have serious potential with maximum storage space.  The hubby was sanding and waxing all day Saturday.  I think I'm going to  contact "Studios." 

Guerilla Art in Würzburg

A few months ago I was happily browsing the English section of one of my local bookstores and was thrilled to find The Guerilla Art Kit by Kerri Smith.

For those of you unfamiliar with "Guerilla Art" it's basically anything made anonymously and left out in the public.  This can be anything from leaving something you've made on a table at your local coffee shop to graffiti.

Where I like the idea of leaving an ATC in a library book, I'm a little more reserved about the idea of making alterations (permanent or otherwise) to private property.   Although I personally love finding a graffitti-filled tunnel or underpass, I despise the random initials or "tags" spray-painted or stenciled throughout cities.  I'm talking about the kind of vandalism that's suddenly in the middle of a wall on the side of a store or worse yet, churches, banks or any type of historical building.  It is beyond me how anybody could possibly think to put their name or "tag" onto something belonging to somebody else and think it's cool.  

But in any case, I discovered my first "paste up" which is basically something that gets stuck or glued onto a surface for the public to see.  This one was done so well, at first I assumed it was done as a joke or a gag and that it had some kind of meaning behind it.  Simply tagged with the word "MORE" (notice the English spelling, instead of the German "mehr"), I realized this was guerilla art... the real deal. 

The picture frame is awesome because it literally is a painted frame stuck to the side of the wall.  You can't help but touch it when you walk by. 

So even though I actually LIKE this crazy public installation, I wonder how the owner of the building feels.  I also wonder if by blogging about this and posting these photos if I somehow support or encourage it.   It's not my intention, simply a post about my very first guerilla experience. 

  

A Diamond in the Rough

In case anybody has wondered what the studio actually looks like, here are a couple of pictures to satisfy your curiosity.  I'm presenting them to you as the "before" shots.  The pictures of the chaos, the resemblance to a landfill, the overwhelm I feel by the reality of the amount of work it will take to make this space a special cocoon for creation.   But tomorrow arrives HOPE.  A solid wood shelving unit from an old German store.  I bought it after only viewing a photo which immediately reminded me of Olesen's Mercantile from Little House on the Prarie.  It's probably going to take up way too much precious wall space, but it's arriving none the less.  If all else fails I can throw a tantrum like Nellie Olesen.  (How cool is the real life "Nellie"... just check out her site!)  And stay tuned for the transformation of Studio Mailbox...

Ski Boot Pincushion

Oh why oh why did I not purchase this little ski boot pincushion?  Doesn't everybody need one of these complete with decorative Edelweiss?  What was I thinking, only taking a picture...??

Pretzel Sighting #2

It's a bit of a challenge to find public pretzels that aren't on bakery signs.  This one is super interesting to me because I wonder why someone would stucco this into the side of their building, and what it actually means.  Who's "HG?"  Or is that "H6?" And what's 77, the date? 

Here's a question:  where is this?  I don't have a map handy and I don't know off the top of my head either.  Its' near the end of the Alte Main Brucke in Wuerzburg if anybody cares.  Is naming strange German cross streets important to my readers?  Someday when I'm famous will people go on city tours locating my VIPs?  (That's Very Important Pretzels for those of you not yet "in the know.")  If I had a crystal ball would I see groups of inspired mixed media artists following in my footsteps, "oohing" and "ahhing" at the art of the German pretzel?  What a nice thought actually.

Rose Colored Glasses

Oh yeah baby...come to mommy!

Not long ago I was looking for some direction.  I knew that my future path-of-truth-seeking glasses were going to be red before I even found them.

When I saw these at a flea market, I tried to contain my excitement as to not seem too eager to the ladies setting the prices from behind the table.  They were great fun, and terrific sports about what I now like to call one of my many "attempts toward achieving bilingualism."

It went something like this:

ME:  "How much is sunglasses costing?"

VENDOR: "The sunglasses are two euros, but I need to warn you that they do not have UV protection."

ME: "This no UV protection no problem of concern for me.  I making art sculpture to wear on my face, not help my eyes against sunshine."

VENDOR:  "Oh, an art project then.  Maybe you need the cleaning cloth too?"

I pick up the glasses in their case and hand over a two euro coin. 

VENDOR:  "Sorry, the case is another euro."

ME:  "No ladies, please not so.  The case important is.  The glasses have safe home when not on mine head.  The case important, so important as glasses is.  I understand two euros and the glasses live with the case together in one price."

VENDOR:  "Ok then, two euros is just fine.  But then you have to take the cleaning cloth with you too!"

So there you are folks...can you even imagine the luck?  Stay tuned for the formation of this very exciting piece...

Chokella

Ok readers, what do you think the folks at Nestle's naming division were thinking when they came up with this one?

Did it not occur to anybody that the word CHOKE is in this name, which brings mothers to a bad psychological place in the cereal aisle?

The word "chocolate" in German is "schokolade."  So I'm not understanding why they dropped the "s" but kept the "k."  Oops.

These are tasty little chocolately pockets of crispiness, but I find myself chewing very deliberately before swallowing!