Tag: Happy
The Little Engine That Could
When I received the box I thought, “Why me? I’m not an artist”, but the box itself intrigued me. I loved its fragrance, its smooth lines and the fact that it could hold my secrets or be open with the story I wanted to tell. Almost immediately, the box became a train for me.
Growing up in Denmark I was very familiar with fairy tales, and I thought the train would become part of my own fairy tale. But as I worked on the train, it took on the intensity of the American children’s book, The Little Engine That Could.
I came to the United States when I was twenty-one years old with the dream in my heart that I could start my life over again. And I could. And I did. I am a wife to a wonderful husband, I have two beautiful grown children who love me. After years as a psychotherapist and consultant, I decided to become a toffee maker. It gives me great joy to create something sweet that brings joy to so many people.
After the train was finished I was on board as The Queen of Toffee, waving to the crowd. I was right back in my Danish fairy tale where I had started out, and I think I’ll stay there.
The Childhood
I spent my childhood hiding in yellow rice in the beautiful sun-filled countryside, cheerfully crying out for an egg in a straw mat or discovering shiny shells.
The memories are carefully retained since that distant time.
Letting It All Hang Out
This box is sort of a self-portrait. It is about me, anyway. It represents some of the things inside of me that I like, get pleasure from, are positive and good, and that I am grateful for in my life. It’s a celebration.
Millennium Box
Tomiko Fraser Revealed
Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.
TOMIKO FRASER, MAYBELLINE SPOKESPERSON/ACTRESS
Tomiko Fraser has benefitted greatly in her life from mentoring and, in return, wishes to nurture and empower other women. An exuberant, playful woman, she has been able to find her way and break free of the confines of others’ expectations.
In appreciation of Faith Ringgold and her painted story quilt “Sunflower Quilting Bee of Arles” (1991) and the women depicted within.
Heartease
This box is about joy and renewal. Everything begins and ends, lives and dies in circles. There is such power in each little thought, small gestures and tiny boxes. The heart is a sure image of love, feeling and strength. It has infinite capacity for both great joy and great sorrow, even after the ache and grief of loss:
The core remains intact.
Pink budded, protected
with swathes of leaf,
and occasional thorn.
My Little Box
It is just a box of surprises.
The Key to Happiness
Honeymoon
Pandora’s Box
Where do my thoughts and language come from?
Do they arise out of a chaotic flux of sensations and mental images? Are there some rules or a deep structure underlying this apparent chaos? Is the Right Brain, more intuitive part, more closely related to the unconscious (if there is such a thing) than the Left, logical, verbal part of the brain? My painting suggests these questions to me. I wonder how the part of me that knows is related to the part of me that doesn’t know what it knows.
In making this box for Women Beyond Borders I am reminded of that wonderfully curious woman, Pandora, who for centuries has been, to my way of thinking, erroneously blamed for all evils on earth. I discovered there’s another version of the story, and it goes like this:
The box which she opened contained everything that was good, and when, (against her husband’s advice) she raised the lid, ALL THAT WAS GOOD escaped out into the world. I like this story and think it’s a fine metaphor for the creative, open-minded nature of womankind.
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Age 5
It’s the Little Things…
This box is a design to remind me of the happy things that are a part of my life most every day. The things inside are necessary material things that keep us together… in more ways than one.
Missing Piece
To me, a basic unchanging form is the most beautiful, no matter what period of art you are examining. For any material or event there exists a basic framework. Within this basic frame, there exists a core which comes through the work of art above all else.
I use many materials, but I especially like to use materials with soul in them. I then strive to create a work in which the essence of the materials shows through. I would like to create artwork with a central form of happiness, pain, or sadness.
Garden of Life
Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. My flower gardens bring much pleasure to myself as well as many others. Through gardening and art, I have made many friends who enrich my life. Friends in far-reaching places oftentimes come to mind. I like to think of them as flowers given to me in my garden of life. True blessings.
It is my hope that my box will convey to others how important friends are. May my little traveling garden bring a smile to the viewer, along with a reminder of someone special—a flower placed in their garden of life.
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The reason of having this kind of picture of a hen on this box is that I like eating it or seeing its appearance.
Mime School
Face
Soon after the birth of my first child, I became aware of a sense that on a grander scale, all children were my children. Universal.
I am now a grandmother for the first time. Mostly, I am happy. Sometimes I feel sad, maybe a bit jealous because I no longer carry the egg that becomes the baby. Look at my little grandson in utero. He is perfect, just like the one perfect living cell, the egg. What gift this is that we may, “…bring forth those who bring forth.”
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The flower makes me happy and excited. I feel like offering it to the person I love.
Domestic Goddess
Yomama’s Chair
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The Earth moves me
The branches protect me
And her beauty fills my soul
Coca-Cola Wind Chime
Coca-Cola Box Project.
As a child actor, Kelsey was in an ad for Coca-Cola when she was ten years old. The set was designed to look like a tree house. Kelsey was dressed as a tomboy and just wanted to hang out with the boys who were sitting around a table in the tree house drinking glass bottles of Coca-Cola. With longing, Kelsey was pictured peeking at the boys as they enjoyed Coca-Cola.
Celebration
My box is a celebration of the joy of life, magic and imagination. I used the red part of the cardboard and some of the words found on the carton the words joy and oz., referring to the Wizard of Oz, and Coke. I cut the cardboard in the manner of Matisse with shapes of women dancing.
I teach eight art classes at four different colleges, sixty hours a week including driving time. Needless to say, I have little time to stop for a meal. So when my blood sugar starts to drop, I have a Coke. There is nothing like it–the two major food groups of sugar and caffeine. Coca Cola gives me a lift and makes me feel good.
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Survivors of Genocide.
I have drawn a volcano in eruption and fruits on a tray. I have also drawn a person in a boat. An active volcano is very destructive. Fruits are nutritious. If you take a ride in a boat you take a rest and feel happy when you look at the water.
My World
My box is a small square world, and part of my world is in the box. On opening My World and looking closer one sees part of my individual history. A mirrored reflection of my wedding day. It represents love, culture, and intimacy. The bottom of the box is a coffin.
Fannie’s Soap Box: The Story of an American Cheerleader
Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.
Fannie Flagg, ACTRESS, COMEDIAN, AND AUTHOR with Ramona Otto, ARTIST.
When I was told that I would be doing a piece on Fannie Flagg, I was honored. We are from the same generation, and I’ve always enjoyed her TV and film work, and was impressed that she was also a brilliant author and screenwriter. Because word play is often a part of my work, my original thought was to make the box into a soapbox, and then I could make the theme into whatever message was important to Fannie.
Fannie’s wish was to have a positive art piece because she was tired of all the negative art and energy being released into the world. She hoped her piece could reflect that life was good.
I hope my title gives a whole new meaning to the word “cheerleader.”
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Arrivederci Roma
In a world of many and endless wars, this music box of memories represents moments of happiness from the past that offer us hope for a better future.
Invitation reverberates within the box’s walls. Notes hang from the ceiling, filling the shallow emptiness, filling us with the joy of a new moment, a new life, a sharing, a memory.