Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press: Walking Sticks

June 28, 2022

Circles and Spirals: Stu Jenks' Newsletter #7: 6/28/2022

1) Just horrendous. You know what I'm talking about. The over-turning of Roe v. Wade. So much has been said already, and perhaps the last thing we need is a man bemoaning what I believe is a woman's primary right to her own body. Or maybe more men do need to speak up. I don't know. But I will say this. The steady march to a New American Theocracy, a nation ruled by religious beliefs rather than by laws, worries the fuck out of me. Vote in the Fall for all Democrats, no matter how wimpy or conservative they are, and register others to vote as well, so we can hold onto state houses and perhaps hold the U.S. Senate and U.S. House as well. All this makes me so angry and sad. That being said, I have to remind myself that America has only been a 'true' democracy since 1964, since The Civil Rights act.

So Rest In Peace, American Democracy (1964-2022). Adios muchachos. Hopefully a New Democracy will be reborn in the future.

One outside hope I have is that corporations will be less willing to invest into anti-abortion, anti-women states, not sending new offices and factories to those places. That along with the slim hope that Democrat politicians will eventually grow a pair and learn how to fight. I pray for the former to happen but have little hope for the latter. I just feel awful for all the women and girls in my country right now. Just awful.

2) My radiation oncology has begun on the salvage/killing of the little bit of cancer that remains in my pelvic floor. Not fun. The feeling of having to pee all the time, not every day, but many days, sucks. But truly, the hardest thing about this daily process is walking from the parking lot to the cancer center on my bad left leg, and then the massive fatigue that hits me an hour after treatment. But I don't want to die before my time. The docs seems hopeful that this will kill the cancer that's still left. I sure hope so.

3) I tried to sell some of my walking sticks and photographs at my local farmer's market last Saturday. Had very few sales but I met some very nice people, mostly the other vendors and a few shoppers. And of course, like my other Open Art Studio type events over the years, I had the odd person who said really weird things to me (I'll leave it at that). I may come back in the Fall after my radiation, when I have more energy. The people were quite sweet, but this really isn't my crowd where my art will sell, I'm afraid. People are there for the fruits and vegetables, not the rocking chair photos and high end walking sticks. But they were still very nice people.

4) I went to my nephew Will's high school graduation a few weeks back. It was a hoot. I hadn't been to a high school graduation since I graduated from Sanderson High School in 1973. Got a couple of good shots with the long lens. So much fun. Congrats Will McIntyre, and good luck in the fall as you attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

"Harriet Tubman by Arron Douglas, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC" (Image capture by Stu Jenks 2022)

5) I've been to some fine local art shows lately, and I'm still trying to get into other art shows, here and in Tucson, but it's been slow going. Both having a bad leg that's not healing very quickly, and this fatiguing oncology radiation and I'm a bit hobbled. I'm not liking it at all. But it is what it is and it ain't what it ain't. Acceptance is the key and all that good shit. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, to heal up from this cancer and this torn leg muscle, and that I sell more art, music and books so I can continue to keep the wolves away from the door. Love you all. Stu. P.S. Alexa says hey.

Posted at 10:38 AM in Arizona, Art, Cactus, Circles, Fezziwig Press, Flame Spirals, History, Love, Nature, North Carolina, Other Artists, People, Politics, Relationships, Social Justice, Spirals, Spirituality, The Ocean, The South, Trees, Tucson, Virginia, Walking Sticks | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 28, 2022

The Late Stage Capitalism Series by Stu Jenks

The Vision Statement for the Late Stage Capitalism Series by Stu Jenks.

"Late capitalism is a pyramid racket on a global scale...getting the suckers to believe it's all gonna go on forever.” -Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, 2013

Things are falling apart.

I can go through the litany of all the broken things, but you all know what I’m talking about: Greed and avarice are the new religion; The world is heating up, storms worsen, ice melting, CO2 increasing and it’s mostly the fault of old white men, who have money, power and who don’t give a shit about you or me or the future; Racism, sexism and classism had a few years of being on the wane, but now they’re back, shameless and in the forefront of our national and global politics (or perhaps it’s always been there); and the gap between the have and have-nots is greater than during The American Gilded Age, the rich get richer and the sick stay poor.

Botton line? I think it’s all coming apart, slowly, profoundly, fatally.

As an artist, I think it is my responsibility to show the hard things in the world as well as to make pretty things.

So…here is my new series of wall pieces. They started out whole, some as functioning walking sticks, some just as works of art. Now, I’ve cut them into pieces, to be hung like trophies on the wall, wildlife skulls of a dying world.

Each piece is named after a character from one of my four post-apocalyptic Step Zero novels. The world these people live in is only 50 years in the future, but I think it’s quite possible that our world too, could almost come to an end if all the oil goes away in a nuclear flash. And I also think it’s possible, that in that aftermath, we Americans would rebuilt our country, valuing the simple things: love, generosity, justice, humor, music, sobriety, feelings, consideration, and family. At least that is my prayer.

I pray also that I fulfilled the paradox of addressing a heavy subject here, and also making beautiful objects for you to enjoy.

It’s tricky, don’t you know. All of it.

Posted at 09:11 PM in Art, Current Affairs, Flora & Fauna, Politics, Social Justice, Spiral Sticks, Step Zero Series, Stu Jenks, The Late Stage Capitalism Series, The South, The Step Zero Series, The West, The Woods, The World Economy, Trees, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces, Wood | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 04, 2021

“Stuart Carlyle Jenks, Jr. (For Aunt Gracie), White Ash, North Carolina” [Extended Family Series]

The terrible story of Grace Jenks Lester Wadworth's family abandonment is at this link.

The short version is this: Her mother, my great aunt Bertie, was murdered in 1914. Her and her brother Jimmy, ages 3 and 5, were put in orphanages in Richmond, VA by my great grandparents, my grandfather, and his siblings. No one ever visited. The family didn't take them in themselves. All the Jenks kids were adults but they just gave them up to the system and turned their backs on little Gracie and Jimmy, forever. Shameful. Horrible. Even my father Stuart Jenks was never told the story about Gracie and Jimmy.

Gracie died in 1994. I never met her. But I could have. I never met Jimmy either, nor know where he is.

As part of my Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations, Aunt Grace got a visit from me yesterday. Her grave is 3 hours away in Wilmington. She didn't get food or drink, because she rests in a Veterans cemetery, but she did get a candle and a walking stick.

About this walking stick.

I made it for myself to use on the trails. The problem is this: I don't use walking sticks when I hike. Never have. I've either got a 70-200 mm in my hand, or a mandolin on my back, or a saw and gloves in the other hand. A stick would just be another something for me to carry. (The irony doesn't escape me. I've made over a 150 of these suckers, but I don't use one myself.)

That being said, I thought Gracie should have it, or perhaps a passerby or a cemetery caretaker will take it away. That's fine. It's the thought, the intention, that counts. And I already have the "Gracie Jenks Lester Wadsworth" walking stick/wall piece at my house, which is part of my private collection.

Bottom line? Gracie needed a stick yesterday, and I have plenty of them.

I also played a little mandolin at her grave yesterday, as the sun went down. It was a sweet moment for me, maybe for her too.

Rest in peace, Gracie. I didn't know you at all, but I still feel angry on how my family treated you. If your spirit can hear me, know that I'm truly sorry for the horrible crap my family did or rather didn't do for you.

And know that I love you. I hope you're OK wherever your soul might be.

#stujenks, #graciejenkslesterwadsworth, #extendedfamilyseries

Posted at 10:31 AM in Art, Death, Dying, Extended Family Series, Stu Jenks, The South, Virginia, Walking Sticks, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 05, 2021

“Abraham Lincoln #2, Saguaro Rib, Arizona” [Extended Family Series] (Originally "Thomas Hart Benton")

“Abraham Lincoln #2, Saguaro Rib, Arizona” © Stu Jenks 2021, 56 inches tall. (Originally "Thomas Hart Benton")

Price: $125, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall.

This is a very complicated piece.

Originally this stick was made for Thomas Hart Benton. A painting of his in the North Carolina Museum of Art moves me greatly. (An image capture of that painting is at the bottom of this post.) This 1945 painting is of a family moving from their home before flood waters reach them and their house. A few years ago, that painting was a powerful metaphor for me, because I had to leave my wife and Greensboro to return home to Tucson, in order to work, and make a living. I felt like that man lifting that bed into the wagon.

So. I made Thomas Hart Benton a walking stick. Signed it and everything.

Then I saw Ken Burns' documentary on the man a couple of weeks ago.

Benton was a complete and utter asshole it appears.

He treated everyone badly: wife, students, contemporaries, you name it. He drank way too much. He hated gays and said often how much he disliked the 'limp wrist crowd'. He thought he was the greatest artist who ever lived. He was a bad guy.

Jackson Pollack was one of his students. Benton said of Pollack, "The only thing I taught Jack was how to drink a 1/5 of scotch a day." A day. I know.

I told Alexa about my displeasure with the man. She suggested I burn the stick. I kind of liked that idea. It would burn like a son of a bitch in our fireplace. But I choose a more middle path, sanding off Benton's name and dedicating the stick to someone I actually care about, like Abraham Lincoln.

Old Abe already has a piece made in his honor, a saguaro stick, somewhat heavier from this one. I've been wanting to make Honest Abe another functioning walking stick, something he might have actually used if we had lived at the same time, and he happened to wander into my studio in 19th Century Washington, D.C.

So Mr. Lincoln, you get another stick.

And Thomas Hart Benton? You are shit out of luck. Love your paintings but you can go straight to hell. As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this.

I've said this since I was in art school, said it for decades actually:

You can be a good person and a good artist all at the same time.

The asshole white male artist driven by his creative passions is a cop-out. You, Benton, Picasso, many others, just didn't give a fuck about other people. You were children who just wanted you wanted when you wanted it, wrapping your awful behaviors in artistic rhetoric. It's a rationalization, not a vision statement. Simply, you were dicks. You knew it. I know it. Fuck you.

I've had the opportunity to make sticks for extended family members who were jerks. I've only made one, and that was the Uncle Courtney Saum/Donald Trump stick. If I'm going to spend the hours making lovely pieces, I want to make them only for lovely people. Just the way this artist is built.

Sorry for the lecture. Here enddeth the lesson.

#lincoln, #stujenks, #extendedfamilyseries, #thomashartbenton

Posted at 01:05 AM in Art, Business, Cactus, Extended Family Series, Other Artists, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces, Washington, DC | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 04, 2021

"Sacajawea, Mountain Laurel, North Carolina" [Extended Family Series]

Price: $200, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall.

We all know that Sacajawea helped Lewis and Clark in the expedition west, but I didn't know that she had been bought by the French trapper Toussaint Charbonneau from another tribe to be his wife/slave. Charbonneau also came along for the ride with Lewis and Clark and the others.

Truly, the reason Sacajawea proved so valuable on that trip was she spoke many of the native languages of the tribes along the way, and because she was a Native American woman among all white people. Many of the tribes would have simply killed the members of the expedition if Sacajawea wasn't there, walking with her infant son in her arms. And reading between the lines, she was a lot more fun to be around than her husband Toussaint. I just find it interesting that Charbonneau is lost to time. Sweet justice if you ask me, that we don't remember at least one white jerk at all.

Note to the U.S. mint: It was nice of you to make the Sacagawea Dollar but y'all messed up, making it roughly the size of a quarter. You can still fix this problem now, making the coin more like the British One Pound coin, roughly the size of a nickel but much much thicker and heavier in weight. Americans I believe would use that dollar, if it didn't feel just like a quarter in our pockets. Yes, yes, passing extensive national voting rights legislation to keep our country from falling into complete autocracy is a number one priority, but making a good dollar coin should be up there too. Just saying.

#sacajawea, #stujenks, #extendedfamilyseries

Posted at 08:33 AM in Art, Extended Family Series, Mountains of North Carolina, North Carolina, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces, Women, Wood | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 03, 2021

"Guy Clark, Dogwood, North Carolina" [Extended Family Series]

I was fortunate enough to see the singer-songwriter Guy Clark perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, in San Francisco, in 2010. I even video taped him with real live gear. I knew who he was from songs like LA Freeway and Desperados Waiting For A Train but I really didn't know how remarkable he truly was. Until that day.

An old and ailing man, he still put his back into every song. I am blessed to have experience that performance.

Here is the link to YouTube of Guy Clark performing "Let It Roll" that day.

Dogwood seems like the perfect wood for a country gentleman like Guy.

Rest in peace, Mr. Clark. You touched many.

#guyclark, #extendedfamilyseries, #stujenks.

Posted at 01:21 AM in Art, Live Performances, Music, Other Artists, San Francisco, The West, Trees, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces, Wood | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 01, 2021

“Dave Drake The Slave Potter, Saguaro Ribs, Arizona” [Extended Family Series]

“Dave Drake The Slave Potter, Saguaro Ribs, Arizona” © Stu Jenks 2021. 88 inches tall.

Price: $695, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall.

This is from Dave Drake's wikipedia page:

"David Drake (c. 1800 – c. 1870s), also known as "Dave Pottery" and "Dave the Potter," was an American potter and enslaved African American who lived in Edgefield, South Carolina. Drake lived and worked in Edgefield for almost all his life.

Drake produced alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs between the 1820s and the 1870s. An enslaved African American, he often signed his works "Dave." He is recognized as the first enslaved potter to inscribe his work, during a time when most enslaved people were illiterate, often forbidden from literacy, and anonymous. Drake inscribed his work with poetry, often using rhyming couplets, as well as his signature."

Leonard Todd, an descendant of one of Dave's slave owners, wrote a book about the potter. There is some controversy around some of the facts of his life represented there, but it's a lovely book, written by someone who appears to care deeply about Dave.

Dave until recently was known only as "Dave The Slave Potter" or "Dave", not using his last name, given the cruelty of his first owner, Harvey Drake, but since in a census of 1870, Dave used the name "Dave Drake" to represent himself so he could vote, most folk now use his full name.

Dave, like all enslaved people in the South, experienced many horrors and terrible loses. Even though firm facts are hard to come by, it appears Dave's wife and children were sold away from him and shipped to Louisiana. He lost a leg at some point, stated by some that he lost it when he fell asleep on a railroad track after drinking, but it's just as likely he was tortured by one of his owners, and lost his leg due to that injury. Cutting off legs, hands and fingers was common place, back then, for slaves who 'misbehaved.' His last owner, Lewis Miles, doesn't appear to have been that horrible and allowed Dave to write poetry and one-liners on his pots, even though it was very much against the law at the time.

One of the sadness lines on one of Dave's pots is "I wonder where is all my relations. Friendship to all and every nation," alluding to how friends and family of enslaved people were sold away from each other, never to see each other again.

I was fortunate to see one of Dave's large jars in a show here in North Carolina a few years ago. I can't remember the inscription exactly but the line on the jug mentioned how 'Christmas is the saddest time of the year.' That was because slave owners gave each other slaves as Christmas gifts, callously breaking apart families, giving children away from their parents, separating husbands and wives. Slaves were not people. They were property. Frankly, this sad history still echos in the land around here, in North Carolina, where I live.

In spite of some of its apparent errors, Leonard Todd's book Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of The Slave Potter Dave is a joy to read, and a tome filled with sadness and beauty. I highly recommended it.

My large wall piece here mirrors the size and strength of the man, the sculpture being over 7 feet tall. At the bottom of the old Saguaro rib, it is missing one of its 'legs', honoring that Dave threw pots with only one leg, having another person kick the wheel for him.

This piece of art is very meaningful to me, hanging proudly in my garage workshop. However I would be happy to sell it, and part with it, so that it can be seen by others in person.

Ironically, pots and jars of Dave's that sold for only a few dollars and cents during his lifetime, are now selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars, one jar bought by a museum at auction in 2020 for $369,000. Yeah. I know.

Thousands and thousands of pottery pieces were produced by slaves in the 18th and 19th century in the South. Luckily, Dave Drake's last slave owner, Lewis Miles, allowed him to write on his pots. And happily Dave knew how to read and write, and he knew how to turn a phrase.

No photo was ever taken of Dave. We know he was a big man.

He was a large man in height and size, and a large man with a very big heart.

God bless you, Mr. Drake.

(And I'm fully aware that in your lifetime, you never ever called "Mr. Drake." But you should have been.)

#dave, #daveslave, #davepotter, #extendedfamilyseries, #stujenks

Posted at 11:58 AM in Arizona, Art, Extended Family Series, Inequality, Politics, Pottery, Saguaro Cactus, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2021

"Annie Beeton, Red Ash Wood, Virginia" [Extended Family Series]

Price: $150, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall.

Annie Beeton is my great-great-grandmother. She was married to John Allen Beeton, who fought in the Civil War. Johnny worked at Virginia Military Institute and at Washington and Lee College in Lexington, Virginia. I do not know his job. Both are buried in Lexington.

It's a beautiful cemetery and John gave Annie a lovely grave marker after she died. She died young in 1883 at the age of 45. Johnny died in 1902 at the age of 73. Annie's name is on the other side of this monument. I did photograph her side of the stone but the light wasn't that good that day. But she's there. Her name was the first to be placed on this stone.

Here's the thing that bothers the heck out of me.

Almost nothing is known about Annie. We know that she bore a son William in 1858 and a daughter Ella in 1863. We know that her father Richard was 30 and her mother Jane was 17 when she was born in 1838. We know she lived most of her life in Lexington. We know she died there. But that's about it.

It upsets me that most American women in the 19th century were basically property. They were expected to bear children, raise them and make a home for her family and herself, but little is written about women of that time. Men write a lot about other men, but rarely do they write about their wives, nor do the newspapers nor does the society at large pay them much attention. What we can figure out about Annie is through what was written about her husband, Johnny. And a lot of guessing.

John Henry Beeton made munitions in Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War. Was quite good at it, it appears. He also transferred out of Stonewall Jackson's Brigade as soon as he could at the beginning of the War. Stonewall was greatly disliked by many as a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. Johnny worked at VMI before the War. He was 30 when the War began. He got a relatively safe job in Richmond making guns and ammo after leaving Stonewall's command. He must have gotten back to Lexington during the War at some point because my great-grandmother Ella was born in May of 1863. After the War, Johnny came home but didn't return to work at VMI. He worked at Washington and Lee College for the rest of his career.

We can guess that he loved Annie very much, given the large ornate grave marker he had made for her and himself. He never remarried after her death. A lot of men of that time did. Their two kids were grown when she died. Again, I'm going by the extravagance and the size of the grave stone. Most stones in this cemetery are not this grand. Johnny spent some money on this. I can imagine how much he loved her, but I don't know for sure. I can guess her kids loved her too. I have no idea how she died. We have photos of Johnny in his Confederate uniform but no photos of Annie.

Makes me sad I don't know more about her, or that any of us know her better.

My wife jokingly says, "Men are the reason for all the world's problems." She making a joke but a dark joke. It's pretty much true.

The world is far from perfect, but I'm so happy that most women are no longer anonymous in the world. They are known and seen and heard. At least a little bit. We are slowly getting to place of gender and sexual equality.

Big hug Annie, from your great-great-grandson Stu. Your daughter Ella met and married Francis Jenks in Lexington in the 1880's and they had my grandfather Edgar as one of their five children, whose wife Lillie had my dad Stuart, whose wife Mary had me.

Again, I wish I knew more about you, Annie, but given your beautiful grave marker, I'm guessing that Johnny loved you very much. And your children did too. I choose to believe that.

So Annie, here's a pretty but imperfect red ash walk stick, made especially for you. I love you from afar, from across time. It's how I'm built.

#extendedfamilyseries, #stujenks, #redashwood

Posted at 11:41 AM in Art, Current Affairs, Death, Extended Family Series, Family, Love, Virginia, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 07, 2021

Price: $175, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall.

In a lovely cemetery in downtown Lexington, Virginia, six of my ancestors peacefully rest: four 2nd great-grandparents and two 3rd great-grandparents. It's only recently that I've discovered this, thanks to the hard work of my friend Brad.

John Henry Beeton, my great-great-grandfather, worked at the Virginia Military Academy in Lexington when the Civil War began. He was married to Anna Marie by then, and they already had a 3-year-old son William. (Their second child, Ella, was born in 1863. My great-grandmother.) He apparently was quickly drafted into Stonewall Jackson's brigade after Fort Sumter. Stonewall Jackson was not a beloved professor at the VMI. He was deeply disliked by many. According to records, John soon transferred to another branch of the Confederate Army, making guns and ammo in Richmond. Appears John Beeton didn't like Stonewall Jackson much either. John worked for the rest of the War at that munitions factory. He was good at his job, rising to become foreman. After the War, he returned to Lexington to work at Washington and Lee College. He did not return to work at VMI. I bet he had enough of the military. Sadly, Anna died young in 1883 at the age of 45. He never remarried.

The Confederate States Of America cast iron plaque at the base of his grave was placed there by who knows who. I don't approve of these kind of monuments. Like many, I hate the Civil War, slavery and the inter-generation racism of the South, but when I visited his grave for the first time, I found his medallion broken in two, lying on the ground. That made me sad. I thought of just taking the marker completely away from his grave, but instead I had a blacksmith in Greensboro repair it. I recently returned it to John and Anna's graves and put back his marker.

John was a veteran. He did serve, even though it was for traitors against the Union. And I bet John didn't approve of the War either. Most didn't. In The South, you really didn't have much choice if you fought in the Civil War or not. You had to go. Luckily, he was far from most of the fighting and was able to return to his wife and his two children after the War.

Rest in peace, John.

And Anna Marie Beeton? I'm making you a stick as well. Thank you both for loving one another and producing my great grandmother Ella, who gave birth to Edgar, who married Lillie, who gave birth to Stuart, who married Mary, who gave birth to me.

Sadly, little is known of Anna Beeton. Back then, women were hardly considered people in America, but that's a discussion for another time.

Over and out for now, from Stu, son of Mary, daughter of Elton, daughter of Emma, daughter of Matilda, daughter of Elisabetha.

#stujenks, #extendedfamilyseries, #johnhenrybeeton

Posted at 01:41 AM in Ancestors, Art, Extended Family Series, Family, The Civil War, The South, The West, Walking Sticks, Wall Pieces | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 06, 2021

Price: $195, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall. Love y'all, Stu.

Camille was a French sculptor, an associate and sometime lover of Rodin, a marvelous artist in her own right, largely forgotten because how poorly she was treated by her family and others. To read about her tragic life, click of this Wikipedia link.

To my surprise, some of her work, a bronze bust of Rodin, resides at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. In the last decade, Camille is finally getting the recognition that her and her work have so deserved.

You, Madam Claudel, get a complex wall sculpture from me, made specifically in your honor.