Monthly Archives: July 2016

Before moving to Chesterton again and the possible climax of the 2016 Bigfoot Art Happening, here’s a couple more pictures from the improvised skateboarding park at the Plateau of Raw Art. I took these fairly early in the morning before the coming of skateboard people, who almost invariably arrive on any given day in the afternoon, sometimes en-masse (up to 15 or 20 perhaps).

There’s those Boos again. Such happy creatures in general.

But this one — not so much. Perhaps that’s because he (or she) is the more uncommon vampire boo.

KOOL-ade, hehe. That actually could be a representation of a toy avatar. Remember this guy?

But to the actual toy avatars down in Chesterton… I can’t pretend there’s much rhyme or reason for this particular arrangement of toys except to say I’ve eliminated some from the crowd and replaced them with others. Okay, there might be a story behind Cpt. America and the (female?) chipmunk with an “A” on its sweater almost holding hands, while another chipmunk (jealous male?) watches. And the central tiger PEZ dispenser goes along with the already established tiger theme of Chesterton and Bigfoot as a whole this year. I also wanted to make sure the Simpsons family was on hand this day to watch the completion and fulfillment of the marble race. Homer’s always indiscriminately encouraging the competing marbles onward; he didn’t choose sides. There might be something to the pig seeming to climb, King Kong like, the Empire State Building, while The Joker looks on. Probably not, though. I also like the way the orange rust on the track mirrors the orange tiger head.

This photo depicts the central part of Chesterton North built around the Original 12, the name I’ve given to the 12 rustier tracks that I had planned to be a permanent fixture of Chesterton. Didn’t quite work out like that, but the idea is still in place.

Part of the new track I layed down this day — and the day before. Not nearly as rusty; much more silver in color. The picture takes in what probably amounts to be at least the beginning of a Chesterton Central, between North and South parts and acting as a bridge community. Earlier in the day it contains several more bricks (“houses”?), but these were then removed and used to help prop up the higher part of the marble race track. And, yes, it was a very successful race this day! Get to that in a bit.

This photo couples the spots on the track where the racing marbles are traveling about the least speed (upper part) and the greatest speed (lower part).

Chesterton South. Not much happened in this area today, its residents being more distant onlookers to the race going on over in Chesterton North. “We’ll have our day in the sun,” they perhaps collectively thought, their inward eyes turned to the future.

Rejected toy avatars for the race, many of which couldn’t stand on their own power. Did they loose their souls upon rejection? No longer avatars? It could be something to ponder.

These animals are actually part of the happening, but on a more outlying area north of the race track’s end.

Nearby (broken) hoop, a primary icon for Chesterton. LINK

Wireway 61 separates one from the other.

The Chesterton/Bigfoot summer art event is closing in on a peak and possible conclusion with the projected creation of a working marble track tomorrow. Great excitement! The two parts of Chesterton, North and South, seem to be bridged together as much as possible right now through the track. More details tomorrow with photos.

Bigfoot has its own resident *weasel*. Can’t recall seeing one in the wild, but this past Friday I witnessed the creature enter Bigfeet Swamp from The Bramble not once not twice but three times, obviously following a path. And he exited Bigfeet Swamp at the same spot on the first two of the three visits: Mina’s Pool, where he seemed to enjoy a brief splash in the water before heading uphill again. My guess is that he might even make his home in The Bramble, and hunt for frogs, salamanders, and such in the swamp (I don’t think he lives in the swamp). Maybe he was after some particular creature that day. But anyway, I am not alone at Bigfoot! I don’t want to run directly into Mr. Weasel on my walks, but I’m sure he’s aware of my presence by now.

Tomorrow:
… make sure to take several sizes of marbles to Chesterton so that at least one successful marble run can be accomplished. Right now, the count of the track segments for the race totals 49, I believe, taking it beyond Bigfoot Proper’s 42 1/2 from last fall. Biggest one yet.
… take paper towels so that I can clean off my yellow Adirondack chair imported to Bigfoot Proper this weekend. I’d like to sit there and enjoy the swamp tomorrow for a bit before heading uphill to Chesterton. Maybe I’ll see Mr. Weasel, once more.
… I’ll have to take down the track tomorrow after a projected successful marble run (except for the 12 pieces of permanent track). Rain is more likely tomorrow afternoon than it was on either Fri or Sat. And scattered showers are in the forecast for the foreseeable future. Now is the time…

Other:
… study Boos collages again to see how Bigfoot and, especially now, the balance of Bigfoot Proper and Chesterton art events are possibly coded within. I believe they are associated with yang and yin energies respectively. Will new collages also further this association? How about a/v synchs?

Bigfoot Marble Race almost completed!

The Silvers help.

These next 5 photos come from an apartment complex just east of Bigfoot, or wedged between it and the Blue Mtn. Urban Landscape. A picnic table awaits at Leola Creek for future thinking purposes. Can’t wait!

There’s a very elaborate set of stairs leading from the apartments up on the ridge down to the creek and table. A lot of work was put into this!

Gazebo on the east end of the apartment buildings.

Nice view of the Blue Mtn. Urban Landscape from the fence there.

A new object has entered Bigfoot today: a plastic yellow Adirondack chair formerly located just across Leola Creek. It never crossed my mind that I could easily carry the chair back into Bigfoot Proper until this day. It could replace the metal folding chair as the primary sitting and thinking spot of BP.

A sync connected with this: a second after resizing the below photo to insert in this blog, my wife asked if she could buy a couple of plastic Adirondack chairs from the local Lowes. She hadn’t seen what I was doing, and then even doubted that the yellow chair in my photo was an Adirondack because of the side view, which turned out to be untrue as I checked. I took the obvious psychic conjunction to mean that we were both on the right track. The new chair will fit nicely into Bigfoot Proper! Fate.

So… Chesterton. Went there not once but twice yesterday. Couple of new developments. Chesterton, at least for now, has definitely split into two parts. Let’s call them Chesterton North and Chesterton South for present purposes. Below we have the center of this Chesterton North, with the 3 nice little Avon buildings already discussed before. A merger with animals also recently purchased has occurred. A giraffe poses between two of the three structures, standing taller than each. A large gorilla pulls a King Kong beside it. A pelican, elephant, goose, alligator, emu, horse, hippo, monkey, and lion also roam the village. A bag of marbles awaits opening. An apple infected with worm is also in the display. Is it the apple that poisoned nearby Snow White? I think in one way it has to be. The worm actually drives the apple around. Applecart? (don’t upset?)

Another decision made this day was to make 12 rustier pieces of connected model railroad track *permanent* within Chesterton (North). This has never happened before in one of my toy/junk, um, happenings. I’ve always removed track when the event was over, like with the Fall 2015 Bigfoot one. The track is also exactly symmetrical: 4 straight pieces on each end, centered by 4 curved segment forming a hoop shaped eastern veer and passing between the 3 Avon buildings. Hoop, hmmm…

Northern part:

Southern part with displayed toys to one side (return to them soon):

Looking toward Chesterton North’s center over Wireway 61, which kind of parallels the permanent track.

The Veer.

Upon returning to Chesterton Monday, Pocket Rock had been overturned. Raccoons? Why, then? No, I think this is [another] message. Pocket Rock could even have a certain, specific power of its own. Is it the same as space explorer Rock Meadows of Whitehead Crossing legend? They’re about the same size. “We see front and back of things?”

Looking down the track track I set up that day, Barbie Head to left, which the toy avatars of the original Bigfoot happening last fall chose to call Brian Head — not Brain Head, which might have been more logical. Now she’s beside the headless, blue Snow White container found on The Island, obviously making two parts of one thing; head and body together now, or at least beside each other. The head even has a blue dress on as a continuation.

Snow White fears wind now, understandably. That’s why she’s tucked tightly underneath the double stair platform, an object which also happens to be from The Island. Another 2-n-1.

The center of Chesterton, or a *second* center beyond the downtown (get to that new rivalry in a minute), are these 3 really cute model houses, an Avon product retailing for at least 25 dollars apiece. I bought all three at the Mythopolis flea market the day before for a mere 5 bucks. The woman who sold them to me said another man bought them for his model railroad layout. I said I was kind of doing the same, but couldn’t explain in detail, since the idea of a toy happening is difficult to grasp for the uninitiated. So when she asked if I had a model train layout too, I just told her I was planning on getting one. I think the purchase was fate, however, since I was looking online just one or two nights before this for, yes, model train buildings. They’re expensive! Hard to get a decent looking one for under 20 dollars. I was very lucky.

Since taking these pictures, I figured out a way to remove the plugs and attached bulbs from the buildings. So when they are returned to Chesterton, they’ll be cordless. I’m just showing these pictures to prefigure a “final” layout.

More new stuff: Winnie the Pooh with a butterfly on his nose standing close to a princess or queen of some kind — I’m not sure from which show or movie. Not “Frozen,” I don’t think, judging from images online. But for here, we can say that this is probably another version of Snow White because of the white outfit involved. She holds a white purse in her lap. The butterfly flutters just above. The butterfly may have just escaped from the purse. Anyhoot, this is connected to Collagesity’s Curse Purse that both Baker Blinker and Dr. Mulholland have possessed at one time, collected from the distant planet of Muff-Birmingham. More on that soon, but here we seem to have a direct bleed-through between Chesterton and Collagesity, perhaps even a portal of some kind.

Closeup of one of the 3 Avon buildings: a church. The mossy rock beside it might simply be refered to as The Rock, around which all else is built. The 4 colors of the Mmmmmm’s to one side seem to refer to TILE, another “religion”. Is this a TILE Church, then, and not a Christian one? Or has the former transplanted the latter?

The new Chesterton center looking south toward the downtown, which may no longer be the downtown.

Looking north, with The Bramble in the background now, which one cannot get through. Impenetrable.

We move south of Chesterton now on Second Road to uncover this day yet another root loop, a stumpier and shorter one this time. I’ll have to make a more detailed map of both Chesterton and Second Road soon. Preliminary examination has the southern part of Second Road below The Bramble divided into about 14 logical segments, with Chesterton occupying the first 4 or 5.

This particular Bigfoot visit also took me to The Island (and beyond) on its northern side for closer examination. I didn’t find any new objects there to add to the Snow White container and the double stairs platform, but I did find this bee posing on a rock while preening itself.

The Cliffs just across Leola Creek from The Island. Quite impressive. Maybe 20-25 feet high and much longer.

The Beach of The Island. Even has bagged sand awaiting distribution. I briefly contemplated taking these 2 sand bags back to Bigfoot Proper or Chesterton but balked after picking one up. Too heavy to lug that distance while hopping across creeks, etc.

I discovered this little rock with a face beneath The Bridge of The Island, or the way back into Bigfoot proper. The bridge into Bigfoot, in essence, since I’m fairly sure The Island is not technically within its boundaries.

On the same day, another object from Bigfoot Proper was moved up to Chesterton, with the thinking being that it could serve as a prop for the developing railroad track loop.

But that plan didn’t quite pan out this day of experimenting, so I added it to the downtown region next to the pressure canner.

Another shot of Pooh and “Snow White” princess.

Head and body reunited, again.

And I also decided to lay this metal butterfly found in the same box as Winnie the Pooh at the Mythopolis flea market directly about the much smaller butterfly on his nose. Together they set me back one dollar. The association is obvious; the butterfly (and attached purse) become central. The metal butterfly also reminds me of a white horse decorating hillsides of Wiltshire and other English counties.

I was unable to finish the full track today, but the idea of running it all the way to Chesterton’s downtown area and back has been scuttled. And I don’t even have enough pieces to complete this shortened version. I’ll have to dig around our junky basement more in coming days — because I *know* the number was greater than the 40 pieces brought in so far. The Bigfoot happening last fall, by itself, contained 47 segments of track, I believe, and I remember at the time that I had a significant additional amount to play around with, if desired.

In connection with this at least temporary loss, a reorganization of our house is most likely in order. Toy gathering and indexing, for example, could easily get out of hand.