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Semaphorism

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semaphorism 031316

n. a conversational hint that you have something personal to say on the subject but don’t go any further—an emphatic nod, a half-told anecdote, an enigmatic ‘I know the feeling’—which you place into conversations like those little flags that warn diggers of something buried underground: maybe a cable that secretly powers your house, maybe a fiberoptic link to some foreign country.

Created around 3-13-16
Strathmore art journal
glue stick
scissors
art paper

Keyframe

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key1

What is it like to move to another country?
To leave everything you’ve ever known behind?
What if not only is it another country, but culture?
What if even the language is different?
How would you find your way?
How would you know when you have inadvertently stepped over a line?
As if land were suddenly water, or you must suddenly live in the sky.
Alienating. Fear. Excitement.
Like learning to walk again.
Is this what paraplegics do? Are they unexpectedly immigrants?

(detail)
key2
I found this slip as I was trading cars (always stressful) and while meditating on how I long for community but have a very hard time maintaining it. So many people have violated my trust. The idea of all my ancestors cheering me on came to me just shortly before I found this. It helped validate my message.

Here is the legend from a map used as part of this. I like these – you need a reference point to know what you are looking at.

key3

Here is the definition of the word –
Keyframe
n. a moment that seemed innocuous at the time but ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life—set in motion not by a series of jolting epiphanies but by tiny imperceptible differences between one ordinary day and the next, until entire years of your memory can be compressed into a handful of indelible images—which prevents you from rewinding the past, but allows you to move forward without endless buffering.

Ingredients:
Strathmore visual journal
Glue stick
Magazine photos
Fortune cookie message
The distance key from a map

Created 3-2-16

The pictures were taken with my phone. Maybe I’ll remember to scan this and switch them out. This gives you an idea, at least.

(edit – here are the scanned, and thus brighter, images)
Keyframe A 030216

Keyframe A2 030216

Onism

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I like “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows” because it explains ideas that I not only didn’t know the word for, I also hadn’t even thought of the idea. New words help us see in new ways. This is part of why it is important to not let languages die out. Each language (like each person) has a unique perspective on the world. Without all perspectives, it is like looking at the sky through a straw – we miss so much.

I’m randomly picking these words from an envelope and using them when I play with art paper. It is kind of a two-for-one deal. I want to work with both things, so I’m doing them together. These are fairly easy to do in the morning before going to work. I like to think that I’m an artist first and that my paying job is a second job. Or, I think of making art as taking a vitamin or a supplement. It nourishes me in unseen ways.

Here is the page from my art journal –

onism 022816

Note the disconnected feet. They are from another piece I did that I have not posted. I didn’t need them for that, but they are really interesting so I kept them. Also note the “you are here” stamp. This is my favorite thing right now. I misplace myself sometimes and the stamp helps. Also, Queen Elizabeth shows up – I sure like the amazing assortment of colors the Brits use in their stamps. Not a whole lot of other variety, but they have color down. I have whole embroidery box bin full of them, sorted by color.

Here is the detail with the definition of the word.
onism b

Now to find an online dictionary of obscure joys.