Mimi
Page 23
O the brown and the yellow ale!
I could tell you another pretty story about women.
O love of my heart!
SHE’LL BE COMIN’ ROUND THE MOUNTAIN
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes.
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes.
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes.
We’ll all have chicken ’n dumplings when she comes
We’ll all have chicken ’n dumplings when she comes…
SPARKLING BROWN EYES
There’s a ramshackle shack
Down in ol’ Caroline
That’s calling me back
To that ol’ gal o’ mine.
Those two brown eyes
I long to see
For the girl of my dreams
She’ll always be.
Those two brown eyes
That sparkle with love
Sent down to me
From Heav’n above.
If I had the wings
Of a beautiful dove
I’d fly to the arms
Of the girl that I love.
OLD DAN TUCKER
Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man
He washed his face in the frying pan.
He combed his hair with a wagon wheel
And died of the toothache in his heel.
Git out of the way for old Dan Tucker
He’s too late to get his supper
Supper’s over and the dishes washed
Nothing left but a piece of squash.
TURKEY IN THE SNOW
There was a little hen
And she had a wooden foot,
Made her nest
In the mulberry root.
She laid more eggs
Than any hern on the farm,
Another wooden foot
Wouldn’t do her any harm.
Did you ever go fishin’
On a warm summer day
When all the fish
Were swimmin’ in the bay?
With their hands in their pockets
And their pockets in their pants
Did you ever see fishie
Do the Hootchy-Kootchy Dance?
Turkey in the straw
Turkey in the hay…
JOE HILL
I dreamed I got the rights to Joe Hill last night,
But then he invoiced me!
I said, ‘‘Whoa, Joe, this sure is a lot—’’
He said, ‘‘It’s called a Royalty…’’
BRIDGET HANAFAN: THE RETROSPECTIVE
(exhibition & sale)
VALENTINES (PRICES VARY)
1. 1979: cardboard and pencil (5” × 3”)
2. 1980: metal (key) and paper (2” × 1”)
3. 1981: chalk on paper (9” × 4”)
4. 1982: tinfoil and card (4” × 4”)
5. 1983: paper and ink (3” × 4”)
6. 1984: wood (clothes peg) (4” × ½”)
7. 1985: paper and ink (5” × 4”)
8. 1986: paper packet containing botanical specimen (seeds) (3” × 2”)
9. 1987: fabric and safety pin (6” × 5”)
10. 1988: breakfast cereal (Cheerios), flour glue, paper (approx. 30½” units; 2” × 8”)
11. 1989: paper and tinsel (7” × 5”)
12. 1990: dried flowers (daisies) and paper (approx. 5, 2” diameter; 3” × 3”)
13. 1991: (no trace)
14. 1992: (no trace)
15. 1993: (no trace)
16. 1994: watercolor on paper (4” × 2½”)
17. 1995: cellophane packet containing spice (ground cumin) (2” × 3”)
18. 1996: metal (bottle top) (1” diameter)
19. 1997: paper and ink (bus ticket) (2” × 1½”)
20. 1998: plastic roundel (sink plug) (2¾” diameter)
21. 1999: sheep’s wool (carded), button, ink, and card (1 oz.; 1” diameter; 2” × 2”)
22. 2000: paper, Saran Wrap, and pencil (4” × 3”)
23. 2001: color Xerox (A4)
24. 2002: candy (jelly beans), paper and ink (approx. 6; 3” × 4”)
25. 2003: breadcrumbs, cardboard, and acrylic (approx. 1 tsp.; 7” × 6”)
26. 2004: papier mâché (heart shape) (3” × 4½”)
27. 2005: paper collage (including recipe card) (6” × 7”)
28. 2006: frottage on paper, crayon (3” × 6”)
29. 2007: metal (chicken wire) and paper, pencil marks (4” × 4”)
30. 2008: cotton (name tag) (1” × ½”)
31. 2009: paper and ink, wax (vampire teeth) (2” × 3”; 2½” diameter)
32. 2010: plastic medallion (4” diameter)
33. 2011: paper and ink, and tea bag (3” × 4”; 2½” × 2½”)
*
WORKS IN CLAY (PRICES VARY)
1. 1994: Mojave Desert footsteps—series of 24 fired clay disks. From Hanafan’s first solo show (approx. 19” diameter)
2. circa 2011: 9 maquettes for sculptures in stone
(approx. 12” × 16½”; 17” × 37”; 62” × 18”; 25½” × 23”; 36” × 19”; 23” × 8”; 2” × 5½”; 4¾” × 8”; 9” × 10”)
*
WORKS IN CARDBOARD (DATES UNKNOWN; PRICES VARY)
1. Three-dimensional human torso—interlocking grid form
(19” × 60” × 10½”)
2. Reconstruction of children’s playpen—cardboard and poster paint (52” × 46” × 34”)
3. Large bas-relief triptych with acrylic—still life (72¾” × 140” × 4”)
4. Self-portrait: three-dimensional face—grid form
(approx. 10” diameter × 6¼”)
*
WORKS ON PAPER (DATES UNKNOWN; PRICES VARY)
1. Still Life with Cat—oil pastel (8” × 12”)
2. Cat and Indian Bedspread—oil pastel (8” × 12”)
3. Fern and Bottle—watercolor (8” × 12”)
4. People Pile—ink (13” × 11”)
5. ditto (18” × 12”)
6. ditto (14” × 10”)
7. ditto (13” × 10”)
8. ditto (12” × 10”)
9. ditto (9” × 6”—vertical).
10. Personal Space—ink (7” × 5”)
11. Odalisque (after Matisse)—watercolor (10” × 12”)
12. ditto
13. ditto
14. ditto
15. ditto
16. Hunter—Mr. Marriage—oil bar (8” × 10¼”)
17. Drawing for sculpture—charcoal (10” × 12”)
18. ditto
19. ditto
20. ditto
21. ditto
22. ditto
23. ditto
24. ditto
25. ditto
26. ditto
27. ditto
28. ditto
29. Monster Eye—ink (6” × 8”)
30. Self-portrait—oil pastel (9” × 10”)
*
INSTALLATION
1997: Primordial Egg—ready-made and found materials, white emulsion paint, string, metal pulleys (264” × 349” × 349”)
*
COZINESS SCULPTURES (A SELECTION)
1. 2001: Creaky Boat in Maine—found materials: wooden boat remnants, card, stones, artificial foliage, lighting effects, audio element (approx. 98” × 66” × 53”)
2. 2002: Twilight Snow—wooden window-frame, oil paint on canvas, lighting effects, audio element (48” × 30” × 6”)
3. 2003: Paris café—found materials: round metal table and chair, china ashtray, small glass tumbler, audio element (28¾” diameter; 14” diameter; × 38”)
4. 2004: Fall Rain—wooden window-frame, painted backdrop (acrylic), audio element. (50” × 34” × 9”)
5. 2005: Infant Coziness—found materials: conglomeration of knitwear (baby garments), child�
��s building blocks, buttons, plastic toys, wooden spoon, cardboard box (approx. 27” × 29” × 20”)
6. 2005: Period Coziness—found materials: antique candlestick, clock, inkwell, footstool, doily, teacup and saucer, stuffed cat, chaise longue, paisley shawl, frayed carpet (approx. 86” × 49” × 36”)
7. 2005: Vacation Coziness—Sand pile, artificial sedge grass, stones, shells, towel, wine bottle, two wine glasses, lighting effects, audio element (240” × 230” × 17”)
8. 2007: Log Cabin in Wisconsin—found materials: eiderdown quilt, feather mattress and pillows, camp bed, partial banister or balcony, lighting effects, audio element (40” × 48” × 67”)
9. 2009: Spring—found materials: wood planks suggesting porch, banister portion, rocking chair and cushion, lighting effects, audio element (120” × 65” × 60”)
10. 2010: Fireside—found materials: table, lamp, chair, book (by Dickens), sherry glass, lace tablecloth, mantelpiece (with imitation fire in fireplace), lighting effects (67” × 72” × 59”)
11. 2011: Mom’s Bed—some found materials: cotton stuffing, woolen bedspread, pillows, oversize wooden bed frame, audio element (96½” × 89½” × 60½”)
*
WORKS IN STONE (PRICES VARY)
1. 2011: Bradbridge’s Widow, Wilson’s Wife—plaster reproduction of the original two figures carved in white sandstone
(46¾” × 11” × 5”; ditto) (originals not available)
2. 2011: Five untitled works in sandstone (48” × 18” × 12”; 6” × 5” × 5”; 39” × 9” × 5”; 66” × 48” × 17”; 2” × 2” × 4”)
All proceeds, minus commission, go to the Bee Hanafan Foundation, which helps women artists by offering them loans and other forms of support.
CACOPHONY
THE MAN OF FEELING:
[Did] you know by what complicated misfortunes she had fallen to that miserable state in which you now behold her, I should have no need of words to excite your compassion. Think, Sir, of what once she was! Would you abandon her to the insults of an unfeeling world…?
The Man of Feeling, by Henry Mackenzie
MELANCHOLY:
I have always carried a large load of melancholy [un gran sacco di melanconia] with me. I have no reason for it, but so I am made and so are made all men who feel and who are not altogether stupid.
Giacomo Puccini
What we think is secondhand, what we experience is chaotic, what we are is unclear. We don’t have to be ashamed, but we are nothing, and we earn nothing but chaos.
My Prizes, by Thomas Bernhard
COZINESS:
Think how cosy it must be in its nest.
W. H. Auden
HEROES:
This is your farewell kiss, you dog. This is for the widows and children of Iraq!
Muntadhar al-Zaidi
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus
But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and then you will never hurt anyone as long as you live, and you may help many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born. And that is the best of all… it is better than everything else, that the world should be a little better because one man has lived—even ever so little better, dearest.
Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
[Each] month the ovum undertakes an extraordinary expedition through the Fallopian tubes to the uterus, an unseen equivalent of going down the Mississippi on a raft or over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Ordinarily too, the ovum travels singly, like Lewis or Clark, in [a] kind of existential loneliness… One might say that the activity of ova involves a daring and independence absent, in fact, from the activity of spermatozoa, which move in jostling masses, swarming out on signal like a crowd of commuters from the 5:15.
Thinking About Women, by Mary Ellmann
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
I’ll just say that I believe—not empirically, alas, but only theoretically—that, for someone who has read a lot of Dickens, to shoot his like in the name of some idea is more problematic than for someone who has read no Dickens. And I am speaking precisely about reading Dickens, Sterne, Stendhal, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Balzac, Melville, Proust, Musil, and so forth; that is, about literature, not literacy or education. A literate, educated person, to be sure, is fully capable, after reading this or that political treatise or tract, of killing his like, and even of experiencing, in so doing, a rapture of conviction. Lenin was literate, Stalin was literate, so was Hitler; as for Mao Zedong, he even wrote verse. What all these men had in common, though, was that their hit list was longer than their reading list.
Nobel Lecture, by Joseph Brodsky
MUSIC:
I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. … Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence.
An Autobiography, by Igor Stravinsky
PUBLIC SPEAKING:
There can be few honours more pleasing to an old boy than to be called upon to speak at his old school… [Face] the audience squarely and then commence the peroration.
Speeches and Toasts, by Leslie F. Stemp and Frank Shackleton
Avoid distracting gestures…
– The commander places her hands on her hips.
– The chilly presenter crosses his arms over his chest.
– The gun-shot victim clings to her upper arm with one hand.
– The armless presenter leaves his hands behind his back.
– The pocket jingler puts a hand in her pocket, shaking keys and coins.
– The clutcher grasps a pen or pointer and never puts the object down.
– The slapper makes noise as he hits his palms against his thighs.
– The exposed presenter clasps her hands in front of her, where a “fig leaf” would be.
Guide to Presentations, by Lynn Russell and Mary Munter
DUALISM:
[It] is characteristic of men-values that they set the world apart in sharply divided pairs of opposites, one of which is favoured, and the other not… [This] is like a solar mythic view, since all shadows flee from the sun.… [In] the lunar mythic view, however, which is the more naturally feminine one,… the interplay of the opposites creates wholeness.
The Wise Wound, by Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgrove
FEMALE PLEASURE:
[The] important question for a male is not: Can I place my sperm inside this female? Rather the crucial question is: Can I persuade this female to use my sperm instead of some other male’s?… [The] primary role of the penis is none other than to act as an internal courting device—shaped to provide the vagina with the best possible and reproductively successful stimulation.
The Story of V, by Catherine Blackledge
THE COLONIZA
TION OF WOMEN:
I don’t think about men. I really don’t care about them. I’m concerned with women’s capacities, which have been infinitely diminished under patriarchy.
Mary Daly
While European cultures continued a peaceful existence and reached a true florescence and sophistication of art and architecture in the 5th millennium B.C., a very different Neolithic culture… emerged in the Volga basin of South Russia… This new force inevitably changed the course of European prehistory. [Its] basic features [included] patriarchy; patrilineality; small-scale agriculture and animal husbandry… the eminent place of the horse in cult; and, of great importance, armaments—bow and arrow, spear, and dagger. These characteristics… stand in opposition to the Old European… peaceful, sedentary culture with highly developed agriculture and with great architectural, sculptural and ceramic traditions.
The Language of the Goddess, by Marija Gimbutas
[Political myths] codify men’s consciousness of and violent maintenance of their own sexual-political supremacy which can be sustained only through an endless process of vigilant suppression, exploitation and ideological deception of the female sex.
Blood Relations, by Chris Knight
[The] more warlike and authoritarian a society is, the stronger its menstrual taboo… Warlike, aggressive male societies are in rivalry with women over which sex sheds the most sacred blood.
Margaret Mead
[Only] the bad effects of the menstrual cycle have ever been systematically described.
The Wise Wound, by Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgrove
I’m convinced that accounts are kept somewhere, that everything is entered on the record somewhere… and the bill will have to be paid. Sooner or later, the time will come. So let us imagine women (that hardly negligible half of humankind, after all), those Baba Yagas… sallying forth to settle the accounts?! For every smack in the face, every rape, every affront, every hurt… widows rising from the ashes where they were burned alive… homeless women, beggar women… women with faces scorched by acid… hundreds of thousands of girls destroyed by AIDs, victims of insane men, paedophiles… the circumcised women with their vaginas sewn up… the women with silicone breasts and lips, botoxed faces and cloned smiles… the millions of famished women who give birth to famished children…
Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, by Dubravka Ugrešić
MALE NUTTINESS:
People would sooner watch the natural environment collapse than transfer the responsibility of governance from men to women.