Skeletons in the Closet

Check Mate

The total inspiration for this piece came in my DAD’S basement when I pulled the two dollar plaster chess mold from its moldy slip-on cover, of the king and queen, pawn and bishop. The mold itself was stamped “1954.” That’s older than I am! It was clean and sparkling white inside. Didn’t have to do much scrubbing to prepare it for use. Yihoo!

I’ve patronized a pottery/ceramic studio, and seen a plaster mold of a concave face representing Jesus Christ. When you shine a light on “Him,” the face appears convex. More than that, the whole head turns to follow you as you move from side to side. That’s what MY mold does. That’s what I’m going to do with this mold, make a shrine for it. Ya gotta see this piece in person.

I wanted to put the queen/king mold in a high gloss, pillared, Greek “building” with an arch. Then I had the idea to have the pottery/ceramic studio make some black and white chess pieces for me to put with the mold in the shrine, and then I’d use the rest of the mold as texture in the background. I’d find a box big enough to hold everything, then make some black spaces in the back for…something, after I found the perfect box which had been sitting in my basement the whole 2 months I was planning it. Then I’d….To make a story I could make very long, short, the whole thing literally EXPLODED into what it is—lights from the thrift store and all. I humbly consider it… a masterpiece. It amazes me every time I look at it.

The best ideas were left for the something I was to put in the black spaces. I painted two of the compartments black, one on the left and one on the right. I wanted to put something in those spaces, but I didn’t know what. I wanted to placed white grates (part of a wooden dish drainer) over whatever I put in the black spaces. My 10 year old son, Ben, suggested I put some armor in my piece somewhere. Hmm, what kind? Where would I find armor? The day after Halloween I got my best inspiration. Bones, that’s what it needs. Every castle needs a dungeon with bones, even the whitest castles. I knew I could find bones on clearance since it was the day after Halloween. I ran to the closest store to find “bones”. “Ha ha! Perfect. Bones!” I ran to the dollar store next door hoping to find armor. Ca’ching! Ca’ching! Unbelievable! Armor the right size! I begged some “cobwebs” and a plastic spider from a stranger’s porch, strategically placed the armor and bones in the black compartments, then placed the white grates over them to finish my dungeon and armory. Pure inspiration. It looks great!