FUN-A-DAY, CAL PATCH, & SCULPTURES

JOIN ME FOR a FUN-A-DAY OPENING at BLACKBIRD INFOSHOP

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 6 - 9 PM.

For about a decade, I have participated every year in what has become a cherished ritual: Hudson Valley Fun-A-Day. The idea is straightforward yet requires some dedication: pick a project, do it every day in January, and then show your work in a group show.

Each year, as December starts its retreating promenade, I perceive within myself a faint bit of uneasiness because I have inevitably avoided any thought of what I might do EVERY DAY FOR 31 DAYS and grumble to myself that, well, I guess I just won’t participate in Fun-A-Day this year. But, as the seconds to the new year are counting down, I launch myself, with a hint of reluctance, into some glimmer of an idea, usually something I have not tried before, and begin a new Fun-A-Day challenge. At first, I almost always assume that whatever I do will be an abject failure, with self-doubt lurking in my wrists, mind, and fingers.

But, by some miracle of intervention, as January comes around the bend for its 31-day close, I look up to notice that I have, once again, fully immersed myself in an entirely new craft that brings me great joy. The last minutes of January ringing up my phone, I often end up feeling forlorn that it is over and possibly even continue the daily practice for a few more months.

One Fun-A-Day, I created a video each day. Knowing next to nothing about video editing, these videos turned out to be silly and short, and I had more fun making them than almost anything I had ever done. One year, I made flashcard paintings.

Another year, I drew patterns on score sheets from the thousands of card games my family played for over fifty years. Another January, I collaged photos of myself into enchanting backdrops for calm and serenity. Fun-A-Day has never failed to live up to its name, and I consistently wish everyone joined me every year.

This year, I undertook the art of assemblage. I combed thrift stores, Freecycle lists, recycling bins, my own shelves of collectibles, and even the side of the road for tossed-off objects that could be glued together to make 3D collages. In the first days of my project, I was fortunate to be introduced to a new friend while in Vermont. Second-to-none mosaic artist Mary Topanga dropped some serious inspiration and Adhesive 101 on me, and I was in full operation. To date, I have created 112 sculptures, and it appears that I won’t stop until everything in my house is glued to another thing in my house.

I also made a zine about the assemblages that tells a tale about their mystical origins. It will be available at the opening, on Etsy, and at the always sensational Quimby’s NYC.

New collection of assemblages for Fun-A-Day

This year’s Hudson Valley Fun-A-Day artists include Heather Bunch, Daniel Lofgren, Leigh Dodson, Karen Waltuch, Sharon Wasko, Tona Wilson, and many more! We would love to see you at the opening!

Fun-A-Day was started by the Artclash Collective and has spread worldwide. Since its inception, thousands of people have created millions of pieces for Fun-A-Day. It’s FREE, WILDLY VARIED, NON-JURIED, and ALL AGES. Everyone is invited to take part.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Mitchell, who won a sculpture in last month’s raffle! She and I envisioned the sculpture collaboratively and wrote about it here.

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OF COURSE, I cannot sign off without offering a short and sweet anecdote from Latchkey Township… this one by Cal Patch.

It feels appropriate to introduce Cal here since she has been a great “craftsperation” since the day I met her. She lives in an enchanted woodland cabin filled with hand-spun yarns, homemade bread, gingham, sturdy vintage scissors, needlepoint flowers, quilted pillows, knitted roses, mended clothing, and crocheted blankets.

Cal and I started a makers’ group years ago when she was one of the only people I knew who made a living being their own creative boss. This gathering of folks kept my creativity buoyant as we met monthly for over a decade. Then, the pandemic came and crashed our party. There are two of us in our little group with chronic illnesses, so we no longer meet in person, but the essence of that makers’ group circles through my veins. We built a community of makers I can call on whenever I have a yarn emergency, a ceramics question, a jewelry quandary, or a friend in town who desires to learn how to sew her own David Lee Roth leggings (looking at you, Neko Case). Many of these maker friends deposited bundles of latch hook kits on my porch during my recovery from brain surgery so that I could build Latch Hook Township.

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LANYARD LOVE by CAL PATCH

My favorite memory of being a latchkey kid was the red, white, and blue woven lanyard cord (which I must have made myself) that held the house key I wore around my neck to school every day. This may have been a root of my life of making and craftiness… In retrospect, I would think it would have been embarrassing to wear that key, but I don't remember feeling that way about it at all. I guess it made me feel independent and confident.

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I wrote A More Graceful Shaboom for all the kids like Nex Benedict. May Nex’s assault and death be a super-agent reactivation for every one of us. This news leaves my heart a shattered pile of feelings.

Let us protect our queer, trans, and non-binary children. Then, let us add some more to our broods. Mentorship is a functioning aspect of queer, feminist, and intersectional culture. Be the queer elder you once looked to for wisdom of the heart. Use your knowledge, biography, and body to watch over and defend the young people in your life. BATHROOMS SHOULD NEVER BE A PLACE WHERE YOU GET YOUR HEAD BASHED TO THE POINT OF DEATH.

Much love, deep care, and gratitude that you are here.

Jacinta