Chase Park Plaza

Chase Park Plaza, 1950?
Wood box with found photograph, wood bust, beads, faux flowers

Riding the Metro

A mother and her young son take a seat as the doors close.
An older woman in business attire reads a newspaper.
A young man sifts through his backpack and removes a notebook.
He studies it intently, perhaps preparing for a waiting test.

I thumb through an outdated Art News magazine.
The rhythmic motion of the train lulls me into a trance.
Magazine forgotten, I withdraw into myself.
I stare blankly out the window as the city passes by.

We sit nearly motionless in our own little worlds.
Ensconced in our own activities, we are only vaguely aware of one another.
Yet, as passengers, we have entered into an ongoing narrative.
As we come and go our stories are picked up and left off at the station.

Shadow

Shadow
Digital photography for Shadow Selves blog

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes
Cross stitch viewed from behind

Mother Nature's Party

Mother Nature's Party
Faux flowers, mask & collage donated to 13 Squared fundraiser

Starrllette

Starrllette
Digital photography

Seven Deadly Sins

Anger/Wrath
How dare she cut in?!
I honk and flip her the bird
As my car speeds by.

Envy
Don’t like how you look?
Plastic surgery’s the trick!
You’ll make them jealous.

Gluttony
Eat what’s on your plate.
There are still starving children
All over the world.

Greed
We want it all now!
Thousands of dollars in debt
To buy happiness.

Lust
Market research shows
Advertisers know it all.
Sex sells everything.

Pride
I’m more important,
Weaving fast down the highway.
You - out of my way!

Sloth
Apathetic child;
TV and video games
Have rotted his mind.

Hooked

Hooked (Every Princess' Dream)
Disney stickers & fingernail polish on canvas with faux engagement ring on fishing line

In Spades

 

In Spades

Collage with digital photograph, collaboration with Virginia Dragschutz for Columbia Art League House of Cards 2

Everyday Objects

A child’s shoe lies
forsaken in the street.
Was it forgotten
in fun and gaiety
or lost
to something more sinister?

Poem

A poem’s not a poem
because it rhymes
or has verses and stanzas
or keeps time.

A poem’s a poem
because somewhere,
deep in your heart,
you know that’s what it is.

Hope

If Only
If    Only
If        Only
If            Only
If                Only
If                    Only
If                        Only
If                            Only
If                                Only
If                                    Only
If                                        Only
If                                            Only
If
Only
If
Only                                            If
Only                                        If
Only                                    If
Only                                If
Only                            If
Only                        If
Only                    If
Only                If
Only            If
Only        If
Only    If
Only If

The Temptation

The Temptation of Eve
Figure drawing diptych

Mother Nature's Apron

Mother Nature's Apron
Mailed in for YWCA apron show

Insomnia

Insomnia
Wood hand-painted eyeballs in glass jar

Shoes

Shoes of the Artist
Artist's shoes from 2013, mailed in for FluxJob show with viewers invited to participate by trying on my shoes and wandering through the space

Reject

Another rejection letter arrived in the mail today.
“We enjoyed reviewing your work,
but it is not appropriate to our needs at this time.”
Is “this time” this year, this decade, or this century?
“Feel free to resubmit in the (undetermined) future.”
They try to bring me down easy but I don’t care.

I didn’t want to show my work there anyway.
They’ve been horribly disorganized.
I didn’t like the people I talked to.
Their website featured a lot of pretty pictures
of works whose beauty justifies their being,
and that’s really not my style.

I’ll just file it away with the others.
I’m getting used to rejection.
Sometimes it’s like a load has been lifted -
I’m no longer responsible for my imperfections
and it’s harder to misconstrue the meaning
behind something that isn’t even there.

Not Speaking

I'm Not Speaking to You
Cardboard collage book with figure drawings, mailed as donation for 6x6 show

Caught

Caught
Resin figure with artist's hair in glass jar

Standin' on the Corner

I was takin’ it easy.
Road trippin’ from Phoenix to Holbrook,
through Sedona and Flagstaff and on.
I stopped at Meteor Crater to consider
the timeless timeliness of existence.
A little further down the road
AAA boasted a monument to the Eagles’ song.
“Standin’ on the Corner” in Winslow, Arizona -
a park, travel museum and tribute, born in 1999.
I’ve never really been an Eagles fan,
but I had to stop and see.
The corner park was all fenced off
and the museum reduced to rubble,
the former mural just a fragile façade.
The scene became a depressing reminder
of all of the reasons that I can’t just take it easy.


About Standin’ on the Corner
While my husband and I were visiting family in Arizona in May 2005, we took a short road trip from Phoenix to Holbrook to see the Painted Desert.  We stopped at several tourist attractions on the way and were rather eager to stop at a site in Winslow, AZ commemorating the well-known Eagles’ song.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, we discovered that the roadside attraction had burnt to the ground.  It was a very depressing scene, especially since the town had rallied together to create the memorial, probably in the hope that it would draw tourists and revenue money, which they appeared to desperately need.

According to Hollywood

A woman can be anything:
An army sergeant,
A brain surgeon,
A chef,
A doctor,
An evangelist,
A firefighter,
A guerilla fighter,
A housewife,
An intellectual,
A janitor,
A kindergarten teacher,
A lawyer,
A mathematician,
A nanny,
An obstetrician,
A painter,
A quantum physicist,
A reporter,
A singer,
A therapist,
An understudy,
A veterinarian,
A writer,
An x-ray technician,
A youth counselor,
A zookeeper;
Just so long as she’s young and beautiful and dressed provocatively.

Prescriptions for Beauty

Prescriptions for Beauty
Sharpie on found medicine cabinet with added feminine products

Present Tense

3 part chant in unison

I:    The past has come & gone.
II.    The future is yet to become.
III.    LIVE IN THE NOW!!!!!

Lens Flare

Lens Flare
Altered eyeglasses with lenses from Jonathan Stangroom

Shoe Tree

Shoe Tree
Reappropriated designer shoe, faux lants, resin figure in bamboo cage

Fluxfest Chicago 2014

Planned Scores

Impromptu Improvisational Influx
Art = Life & Life = Art so liveart & artlive for the moment!
I have no idea what all I'll do in response to the weekend festivities, but I hope to make whatever it is memorable.

Siren
Hand out whistles.
Have everyone blow whistles until signaled to stop.

Blossom
for Women in Bowlers, organized by Darlene Domel
Requires:
1 Gardener: lead performer (myself)
3 Seeds: volunteer performers (who are okay with getting wet)
1 Modified Watering Can
3 Green Garden Bowlers
Seeds line up in a row, small & crouched at ground level.
Gardener waters Seeds with Modified Watering Can, one at a time, from behind.
Seeds grow & blossom in turn.
Gardener places Green Garden Bowlers atop Seeds’ heads as they blossom.
After all Seeds have blossomed, bow to signify the end.
Seeds get to keep their Green Garden Bowlers as tokens of the experience.  Extra Green Garden Bowlers will be gifted to Darlene Domel to say “thank you” for organizing Women in Bowlers and to Keith Buchholz for organizing Fluxfest.

Long-Term, Ongoing & Spontaneous Performances

Hair- Cutting Piece
in memory of my father, James Alan Weigel, 1948 - 2014
Requires:
Scissors on Ribbon, worn around the neck at all times
Small Rubber Bands, available at all times (carried in pocket)
Life is fleeting.  The most that each and every one of us has to offer is a series of shared experiences: our hopes, dreams, inspirations, joys, sorrows...
Sometimes these connections transcend time and place, and sometimes they are lost to history, all but forgotten except by a select few.
In observance of our being together in this time and place, I invite you to cut off a piece of my hair to keep as a memento of this connection.
May we revel in sharing our lives in this moment and honor and celebrate our present time together, for it truly is a gift and is, at best, on loan to us.
I will have small rubber bands and scissors on me over the weekend for just this purpose.  Feel free to approach me at any time.

Happy Fluxfest to You!
For Keith Buchholz
Requires:
Mechanical Musical Kinetic “Happy Birthday” Candle, to be given to waitress for placement atop Keith Buchholz’s order
When order with musical candle arrives, sing “Happy Fluxfest to You!” to Keith Buchholz as a thank you for organizing the event.

Post-Performance Score:
Carry blown-out Mechanical Musical Kinetic “Happy Birthday” Candle in tote over the course of the weekend with muted music following everywhere you go.  Question whether the sound is part of your environment or in your head.  After much internal deliberation, ask others to verify that they hear it too.  Pass tote off to Keith Buchholz to similar effect.  Have Keith Buchholz and Cathi Schwalbe leave blown-out Mechanical Musical Kinetic “Happy Birthday” Candle on Cathi Schwalbe’s back porch until spring to be submerged in the koi pond.

Connect
Wear Chinese finger traps, one per finger.  Invite people to insert their finger in the other end of a finger trap.  Pull apart, with the finger trap going to whoever still has it afterwards.

Share the Love
with Jonathan Stangroom & Moan Lisa
Spoken Word (with John & Catherine Bennett):
Alternate between saying LIVE and LOVE as desired, merging the two words
Distribute post-Valentine’s Day chocolates to crowd until gone.
Post-Performance: Ship heart-shaped boxes to Mark Bloch.

Distributions:
Sugar candy eyes, offered from Emergency Googly Eyes tin
Remaining Scavenger Hunt Checklists, as mail art invitations, due by May
WWJWD “What Will Jennifer Weigel Do?” Stickers

Reflections

As you look into the mirror
And reflect upon yourself
Remember this

You are worthless
For all that you may think
You can change the world

Dwell on your imperfections
Because it is but a folly to
Dare to dream

You are wholly insignificant
Though it may seem that
No one else could fill your shoes

----------Mirror----------

No one else could fill your shoes
Though it may seem that
You are wholly insignificant

Dare to dream
Because it is but a folly to
Dwell on your imperfections

You can change the world
For all that you may think
You are worthless

Remember this
And reflect upon yourself
As you look into the mirror

Temporary Amnesia

Where was I going just now?
Before my thoughts turned
towards dinner concoctions for tomorrow?
Before I glanced into the car next door
at the brunette tapping a cigarette out her window?
I’ve found myself grounded at a red light
that I don’t even remember stopping for.
I tally my actions, reliving each and every detail, one by one:
Drop off recycling.  Check.
Return overdue library book.  Check.
Buy scoopable cat litter.  Check.
But my yet-to-do list is still just a hazy blur.
Thoughts sweep through my mind,
pouring through like the passing cars,
as if racing towards some unremembered goal
barely hinted at in my peripheral vision.
I start questioning my need to be in this time and place.
While my thoughts slow to an inevitable pause
the passing traffic lulls around me.
In less than a moment’s notice,
the red light morphs to green
and like a start I’m back on track -
on my way to pick up a gallon of milk,
having forgotten the act of forgetting.

Nice Melons

Nice Melons
faux cantaloupe, lingerie, masonite

Death Shroud

Death Shroud
Created for Book About Death blog & show