Art Shows

The concept and mystique of the Tree of Life spans millennia, cultures, and religions. In the autumn, trees shed their leaves and look dead in the winter. But, in springtime, buds appear on the naked branches, and soon the tree is renewed with a fresh garment of resplendent foliage. For the community Holiday Season art show this year, the BRC founder submitted a Tree of Life banjo to the exhibit offering a motif that we are all interconnected.

Bronze, brass, silver alloy, and mother of pearl trees are linked by a continuous network of roots on the peghead and fretboard. The pot displays a sine wave curve of dark cherry and black walnut sinuously coursing through a field of brightly toned ash wood like an endless cycle. The banjo was marketed via an online auction, and the new owner reported in the auction`s Feedback Profile, “Gosh, what a wonderful piece of “art” this banjo is. A pleasure doing business.”

As a class project, a team of university students from the School of Journalism attended the exhibit’s gala opening reception to interview the BRC founder about his curious banjos and Bluegrass music endeavors. They videotaped his band performing for the Children’s Hospital at the nearby brewpub and photographed the banjo builder in his workshop. Pictured below, the students stand beside a rare WWI poster published in 1917 by the university Journalism School, as this original document resides in the BRC founder`s military history memorabilia collection.

On Thanksgiving weekend, let us all take pause on our journeys and enjoy a moment with friends and family in the shade of the Tree of Life while gratefully sharing our interconnectedness.

For the 60th Annual Boone County Bank Art Show, the BRC founder submitted his “Pegasus Rising ” banjo to the autumn exhibit among over 200 paintings, sculptures, fiber, wood, and glass works. This creature from Greek mythology is the winged horse that heroic Bellerophon rode to defeat the monstrous Chimera.

During World War II, the image of Bellerophon astride Pegasus was adopted by the British paratrooper corps as their sleeve insignia. During the D-Day Invasion in 1944, the British 6th Airborne Division captured a vital French bridge near Caen amidst bitter fighting, and the span was forever renamed the Pegasus Bridge.

At the art show, the banjo garnered a ribbon and promptly sold as indicated by the red dot on the tag.

The British 16th Air Assault Brigade still wears the unchanged Pegasus sleeve insignia today, depicting a white steed and bold warrior on a field of crimson (below right).

A life long student of military history, the BRC founder crossed the English Channel in 1984 with a tour group of D-Day combat veterans inorder to share with them the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. They walked the sands of Omaha Beach together and attended commemorative ceremonies at Pegasus Bridge.

One of the tour group members recounted piloting a LCVP (Higgins boat) during the desperate June 6th assault ferrying tense platoons of infantry through troubled seas to landing beaches raked with shot and shell. He had since lived a quiet life in Miami and was active in administrating the annual Orange Bowl parade and festivities. He gave the BRC founder a souvenir stick-on fabric orange blossom that has adorned the truss rod cover of the banjo builder`s favorite mandolin (below left) ever since.

Pegasus, a prominent constellation in the northern sky, is signified by a mother of pearl sun and star on the truss rod cover of the BRC banjo. This theme is repeated on the heel of the 5-stringer with a winged horse bracketed by the sun and moon, and this signature mother of pearl locus is for the eyes only of the musician.

For its autumn exhibition, the local art league challenged its membership to fashion works based on paintings and drawings crafted by youngsters in a project at a nearby elementary school.  The BRC founder selected an image from this artful collection that appeared to depict a grade school athlete nearing the finish line in a foot race.

The running  figure with outstretched arms reminded him of his youngest granddaughter who devotedly pursues fluttering butterflies in her quest to someday capture one of these elusive winged creatures of fragile beauty.

 

In retrospect, the theme of a butterfly 5-stringer was subliminally suggested to the BRC founder months earlier when he visited a zoo with grandkids and was photographed in his “banjo is best” t-shirt next to a boldly colored poster of a swallow-tailed species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The incredible Monarch butterfly accomplishes a spectacular migration from North America to Central Mexico each autumn traveling 50-100 miles per day. On this yearly pilgrimage, these aerial travelers are mostly guided by the sun and internal photoreceptors. Because of environmental changes, the number of Monarchs is declining. Hopefully, these precious beauties will come under federal protection soon.

Grade-schoolers, parents, and teachers thronged the gala opening reception at the gallery to view the paintings, jewelry, stained glass and fiber works fashioned from the youngsters` inspirations. The curious kids were allowed to strum the “Chasing Butterflies” banjo while it was hand-held by the builder.

Clouded in mystery, the narwhal is the “unicorn of the sea” and first cousin to the beluga whale. Although a reclusive creature, the narwhal is a mammal that plies the Arctic waters in pods ranging from 10 to 100. It grows to 13-18 feet and can weigh up to 3500 pounds. Its swordlike tusk, which is actually a twisted tooth, can be sometimes 8 feet long and occasionally doubled in males. It is estimated that the population of this legendary deep diving (1300-4500 ft.) sea creature is 50K-170K.  Although not an endangered species, the narwhal is vulnerable to climate change. Its predators are polar bears that lurk at ice holes, and orcas that attack pods. Inspiration for a seafaring themed BRC 5-stringer came from a family trip to the island of Nantucket last summer and a visit to its Whaling Museum.

Amidst 113 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and mixed media works at the community Art League`s summer show, the BRC founder`s banjo “Seeking the Narwhal” hangs on a central pillar adjacent to his wife’s painting “River in the Woods.”  His spouse is seen discussing her oil painting with a curious patron while the banjo attracts little notice.

At the gala opening reception, however, The Narwal garnered a ribbon and was promptly purchased by a local blacksmith who forges metal sculptures for Art League shows.

 

 

 

 

 

The blacksmith then invited the banjo builder and grandkids to a tour of his smithy for a metal art demonstration, and the skillful artisan is pictured below at his anvil with hammer in hand.

A BRC granddaughter, whose favorite sea animal is the narwhal, later celebrated the ribbon and metal shop tour with an ice cream treat.

This week, two foxes have been busily trotting back and forth by the backdoor of the BRC workshop each morning. Neighbors report that the dog (or tod,  male) and vixen (female) have a brood of 9 newborn kits to feed. The collective noun for a group of foxes is: a skulk, a leash, or a troop. Might there be a phrase for a plurality of 5-stringers? Options could include: a melee of banjars, an opus of open backs, a posse of 5 stringers, or a holler of banjos.

 

Pictured is a recent collection of 4 BRC banjos which some pundits might describe as: 3 banjos too many.

 

 

 

The springtime community art show had “Icon” as its vexing theme, so only one of the above pictured banjos was submitted to the juried contest. The BRC`s entry “St. Paddy`s Partita” was centrally stationed in the exhibit hall among a gallery of 80 diverse works displaying eclectic iconography. At the award ceremony during the gala opening reception, the banjo garnered a ribbon to the pleasant surprise of all assembled.

While curious patrons closely study the `Partita` in the foreground, other visitors in the background examine the “Modern Worship” oil and cold wax painting by the BRC founder`s wife. The `Partita` was purchased by a women who reported that it was the third art show 5-stringer that she had acquired, as she wanted a BRC banjo for each one of her children. Three banjos too many?                                                                                   

 

The Celtic-themed fretboard presented alternating pagan and Christian symbols, and the peg head iconically alluded to the snakes that were driven from Ireland by St. Patrick.  If a cluster of serpents were to be called a knot, on the green isle they would likely be a called a not.