Every since I was young I’ve been drawn to the image of the hand with an eye in the palm. I can actually trace my interest to the film, “the Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (filmed in Dynarama), where there was a woman with an eye tattooed on her hand. After seeing the film, I actually drew eyes on my hands with magic markers for several weeks and if I could have gotten a tattoo, I totally would have. So what is this symbol that I was/am so smitten with?
In Judaic and Middle Eastern it is called the Chamsah (also known as the Hand of Miriam or the Eye of Fatima) it is a symbol used to ward off the “evil eye”. In this class we are going to make sure no bad mumbo jumbo comes your way. To do this, we will be creating a Chamsah reliquary using a variety of found objects and the process of assemblage. So get ready for a bit of civil-eye-zation…I know, I know…maybe we should be building reliquaries to ward off my bad puns.
Supply List:
- Some little hands. Could be from dolls, Barbies, G.I.Joes, even smaller mannequin hands, and could be made of anything (clay, metal, plastic, etc.)
- Small box - to house your hand (make sure the hand/hands will fit inside). The box could be a sardine can, Altoid tin, music box, anything.
- Eyes- Options- any or all of the following:
- Doll eyes
- Taxidermy eyes.
- Printed images of eyes and place them behind lenses
- Lenses or glasses
- Variety of other found objects that might be interesting additions to the reliquary. Items like watch parts, gears, typewriter parts….just about anything, really.
- Paint Brushes (a couple small detail brushes, and some cheap brushes)
- String, twine and wire (a couple of different gauges)
- Basic Tools…pliers, scissors
- Paint (acrylic…preferably Golden brand…either fluid or heavy body will work):
- Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold
- Black (Mars or Carbon)
- Titanium White
- Pthalo Green (blue shade)
- Dioxazine Purple
- Quinacridone Crimson
- Adhesives:
- Dap Kwik Seal Plus (white)- get this at the hardware store
- E6000
- Aves Apoxy Clay
Optional:
- Interference Colors (blue, violet or any others)
- Anthraquinone Blue
- Pthalo Blue
- Van Dyke Brown
- Iridescent colors (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, etc)
- Micaceous Iron Oxide
- Heat gun
- Dremel with cut off wheel
A Little About ME
Michael deMeng is an artist who travels the world teaching and creating mixed media shrines and deMented toys. He has exhibited throughout the world with is unique style of assemblage. His book, “Secrets of Rusty Things”, published by North Light Books was released in May of 2007. His second book, Dusty Diablos focuses on his love affair with Mexico and the art it inspires.
Artist statement:
Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in my work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning. These assemblages are metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth, from new to old to renewed, from construction to destruction to reconstruction. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever changing.
