"Eternally Grateful" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.
Assemblages are tricky pieces of art. They usually end up looking like "shit on a shingle" created by a first semester art student or an old retired guy who thinks he's making something pretty. Hopefully this piece isn't crap.
I believe my job as an artist is to take the personal and make something that expresses the universal. That's true whether you are a singer/songwriter, a filmmaker, a comic, a writer, or a guy like me who takes photographs of chairs, nightscapes and whatnot, hangs sticks and things off a wall, and who, on occasion, lays his hands on a musical instrument. I feel very strongly about this. Self-indulgent, hey-look-at-me Art is a thing, but it ain't my thing.
That being said, a lot of things in this old Playskool wooden wagon, that hangs off the wall, are very personal to me. I don't know if it'll translate to you, my audience, but I'm trying to make something bigger than me.
So I'll just list the individual elements and leave it at that. I like how my eye moves threw this piece. I'm OK if it doesn't float your boat, but I hope you like it. Some artists say they don't care what other people think, but that's a load of shit. We all care. Just some don't admit it. Don't tell me John Prine didn't care if we liked Angel From Montgomery. Of course he did. Rest in peace, John.
OK. I'll shut up and list what's here.
1) A 1950's Playskool wagon. This used to be filled with colorful woodblocks but only a few are left and I don't know where they are. I do remember playing with this when I was 4 or 5. It was fun.
2) A smooth piece of drift wood found on the shores of the Rappahannock River below the old home place on Mothershead Neck Road in Virginia. Mom sold the place in 2003, a year or so after Dad died. Dad didn't believe in life insurance or having many investments so Mom had to sell it to survive. Yeah. Dad fucked up. No big surprise. I still love the place though. The current owner lets me go down sometimes and walk on the pier.
3) A large piece of crude crystal picked up while walking around Coalmine Canyon on the Hopi Rez in Arizona. Coalmine Canyon is a personal spiritual space for me for almost 35 years. It's gotten a little overrun by tourists in trucks the last 20 years but you can still find a isolated spot to pray and meditate. It's a groovy place. If you ever go, be kind to the land.
4) A rusty old railroad spike found on the tracks near The Cienega Creek Trestles in Southern Arizona. Another holy spot for me, that part of the Arizona trail. I didn't pull the spike out of the tracks. It was just laying there. I swear.
5) A piece of tree fungus harvested just north of the Smith-McIntyre farm in Ashe County, North Carolina. That's Alexa's family old summer home place. The Smiths and McIntyres are generous enough to allow me to occasionally go up there to hike the hills around their property. I recently found 2 new holy spots there since I moved back to North Carolina, one, an old stone cairn across the state line in Virginia, and the other, a piece on a high ridge south of the house. Can't tell you how grateful I am to them, and to the land.
6) A broken gold watch given to me by Alexa a few years ago. It be broke. It don't run. Ain't going to pay to get it fixed, but it came from my wife and it sure is purdy. Just like her. It's set at 12:03, for no particular reason. It just look cool.
7) A XXXII sobriety chip from AA, received at my old home group Smoke Free Nooners in Tucson. God willing and the creek don't rise I'll have 36 years on February 7th of this year.
8) A blue heavy Fender guitar pick. I don't play guitar. I play the mandolin. Poorly.
9) An aluminum Mexican heart given to me by my good friend Mark this last Christmas. We've known each other since 1985. It's a big deal.
10) A tiny piece of wood scrap from the top of a walking stick/wall piece that I'm currently working on. Been doing this series the last few years called The Extended Family, featuring pieces named after family, friends and people I admit and love. This piece is called Bono, Beech Wood, Uwharrie Mountains., North Carolina. Bono, for those you living under a rock, is the lead singer of U2.
11) A 23 year sobriety chip from Cocaine Anonymous. This fellowship and its members have meant the world to me over the last 35 plus years. We're here and we're free, as they say.
12) The absence of anything in the upper left-hand portion of the wagon. The lack of something is a thing to me. I love spaces.
and 13) A special three-spiral chip from CA entitled Eternally Grateful. It's created for those members who have died but we still wise to honor. I placed it here for my friend Chris R. from Atlanta, who died of COVID in 2020. He was a wonderful man who helped many people.
I hope this small thing speaks to a larger truth. It now hangs back in the Jenks' garage where I see it often. Needless to say, it's not for sale. Unless you are talking a shit load of money.
Love you guys.
Stu.
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