02/06/2025
XIX
The first thing I did once I settled into my mountain view apartment, in April 2014, was build a staff. I wanted to make a work to mark my arrival in my new home.
I went walking out on my road in rural Candler, NC. It was hilly and sunny and beautiful. The first significant stick I found was in a grove of white pines on a neighboring property in the ditch. It was over 7 feet long, but I wasn't intimidated as I brought it back to my new apartment and began dreaming of what it could become.
I acquired a selenite tower I had bought downtown in Asheville. It took so much time to pick out the perfect one. I loved how the selenite was foggy white- it could hold the light better than any clear crystal. I had an idea- to take the selenite tower and install a flashlight underneath it to illuminate it.
So I made some sketches, and I began carving out a notch for the dream ring to set on top of the stick, as well as a channel for the flashlight. I had a pair of antlers my old roommate in Indiana had given me before I moved away. I experimented with different ways I could arrange them atop the staff. I finally settled on a stable configuration, one up and one down, that put weight on the wood, and the ring. I wrapped all the pieces together with wire, then leather suede lace. I used a cut of leather to cover the area where the flashlight was carved into. I decorated it with turkey feathers from a bird my brother had hunted. The flashlight set perfectly under the Selenite. It worked! The button to turn it on was a little inconvenient, but I was happy with how it turned out.
The Selenite Staff I took to Art Outside in Texas. I had hitched a ride out to Austin, TX with a girl I met who was driving out west. The weather was perfect, thank goodness because I only had a hammock, a backpack, and my art. Once I did the festival, I had to find my own way home, with my staves in tow. There was a greyhound line that went East back through Asheville. When I got on the bus, I got many inquisitive looks, but also many engaging conversations about my stikz. When I got off the bus in Memphis, TN, the greyhound workers behind the counter looked at me over their glasses and said "Girl- you are NOT taking that on the bus- you have to store it underneath. So I wrapped my Selenite Staff in bubble wrap and packaging tape, stowing it in the luggage compartment. It was probably for the best-I took up a whole extra seat with my art and oversized backpack. (I think I brought 3, my Turtle Shell Wand and another small piece that I could keep on my lap.) The greyhound bus was full of characters but I never felt unsafe. I always felt safe and protected.
I grew tired of the drive out to Candler so I moved closer to downtown, off Courtland Ave, Courtland Place with a friend. That winter we received a deep snow. Excitedly, I wanted to go tromp around on foot- so I brought my Selenite Staff. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity- I thought it looked so beautiful against the white ground and blue sky. I explored all around downtown, afternoon into evening, then met up with friends and made snow art. I clunkily wrote her name in the snow with my stick-it was my "snow paintbrush."{ L-I-Z } She wrote my name in the snow in gorgeous calligraphic font. { Kirstin }
Another night I went with a friend to have a photoshoot. I just bought a new sexy dress, it was form fitting black and the sleeves had long red fringe. I brought my Selenite Staff. We snuck into an old factory building in the River Arts District. Inside, the floor was littered with junk- building material was falling in all over the place. I wanted to get out of there. We went down the river road to the mulch yard, where people brought old trees and wood to be broken down into mulch. There were mountains of wooden brush and debris. It was an other-worldly, apocalyptic backdrop for photos. I wore my black-out contacts for a haunting look. It was exciting to trespass for some good photos.
I received art grants through TRANSFORMUS, the regional burn festival, to set up my art. It was held at the Deerfields, a beautiful property south of Asheville. The first year I set them up in an open field. Me and a friend brought large logs out of the forest and built up a temporary encampment type structure, decorated it with fabrics and made an alter for offerings to the forest deities. Thankfully the weather was nearly perfect all weekend, gorgeous sunshine.
The next year I set up deeper into the forest. Each staff was an alter, and I made temporal nature art signifying the space. The space was daintily lit with fairy string lights and small tealights. This space was my first attempt to do the "Fairy Light Workshop." I wanted to hold space for crafting. I brought my leather lace, wire and other materials. I had a vision to mod out others' staves with decorations, different gifts or trinkets they received or acquired during the burn. I admit, I was too much of a flighty fairy and spent most of my time going on long walks through the forest, exploring the property, and dancing at other peoples campsites- not at my own set up. It rained a lot that year but thankfully I was more prepared with a large tarp protecting my art from the downpours. I was visited by the art walk- I admired their dedication to completing the route in the pouring rain, showing off every art installation at the burn. I gifted air plants to strangers, one was beautifully blooming pink and purple.
I was gifted a wood block that was burned with the TRANSFORMUS logo. I tied it hanging on to my Selenite Staff. The turkey feathers softly moved in the breeze and the wood block sounded as I walked to the final Temple Burn on Sunday. It was such an impactful burn, and the people around me thanked me for my contribution to beautifying the moment. An older couple looked on in awe and a single tear fell from his eye as he embraced her.
XIX
