June 8, 2011 by Kathryn M. McCullough - 32 Comments

Sanity Sucks (even on a Good Day)!

I’m not nearly as crazy as I used to be. Now you could say I’m even semi-sane–though I’m not sure that’s always an advisable way to survive the madness that is image-obsessed, media-driven, fast-food-consuming middle America.

We may all be better off a little more crazy and a lot less obsessed with success.

However, and this is an over-sized qualifier indeed, my head has never quite figured out how to do sanity full-time. If only it were 9 to 5 instead of 24/7. That’s a lot more normal than I’m able to manage–even on a good day.

Too often still, my brain looks like this:

I feel the surreal that is this:

Eclipse

I enter the tangle

of sleep

walk

beside you into the thick

of camel hair

coarse

and without water

the hand, a sudden

five-pointed mutiny

against the decay

a nightmare

of folded sheets

So don’t worry if the dishes aren’t done, the laundry looms. The kids are bound to grow into semi-civilized adults despite your best efforts.

Normal’s not all it’s cracked up to be. So go a little crazy today.

Do something radical and off the wall: GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK!

April 21, 2011 by Kathryn M. McCullough - 30 Comments

Even Words Betray Me

Language, language everywhere. But not a thought to think.

That’s where I find myself today, folks.

No words.

One image.

A mixed media drawing I completed yesterday—

(Note: NIMH is the National Institute of Mental Health.)

December 18, 2010 by Kathryn M. McCullough - 15 Comments

Haiti Art Project: mixed media

I think I’ve mentioned before in this blog that I’m a visual artist–a self-taught one.

However, since the internet connection at our house in Haiti is so slow, it’s been nearly impossible to upload images of my work. While I’m home in the US, then, I want to take advantage of more bandwidth to share photos of some pieces I’ve completed in the past several months.

Today–a mixed media table I’ve made for our main living area in Haiti. It attempts to map in visual terms the spiritual and emotional journey Sara and I have taken in the past 2 years, moving first to Vietnam and then more recently resettling in Port-au-Prince.

The table is part collage, part decoupage, part painting. The photos below begin with one of the corner where the table sits and then offer a narrowing series of snapshots of the table top itself. You will see parts of Hanoi maps and other collected papers from the past year arranged, along with painting, to create an eight-pointed star.

I designed the table to fit between the black couch and love-seat and to coordinate with the colors in this space.

The table incorporates colors that are repeated on the sofa pillows, the wall behind the love-seat, and the painting (not mine) above it.

Nearly all of my work uses the checker-board graphic to one degree or another.

In some ways the table top resembles a game board, as Sara and I feel we have almost had to play a game of strategy in making our lives function smoothly while living abroad--"smooth" being a relative term.

In the lower left corner I incorporated a portion of an Hanoi street map, as well as pieces of an invitation to a reception with Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter. In Vietnam I volunteered my communications skill for the Carter Work Project in the Mekong.

: Finally, this section of the table focuses on Haiti and my belief that there is hope for the place we now call home–my belief that good things will eventually come to our small corner of the Caribbean.