Exquisite Corpse 18 - The Saucy Wench

Exquisite Corpse 18 - The Saucy Wench
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 18 - The saucy wench zealously seized the forthcoming day.

I love this piece. It feels like Shakespeare would be proud to make her part of a future play.

The devilishly delightful smile on her face was supplied from a sketch by Rubens. I just know she’s up to something.

The body is a big metal urn which kind of reminds me of something you might put the ashes of your Great Aunt Ethel in. There are some sculpted marble wings, Michelangelo torso and Leonardo legs, and a large modern fashion eye. Finished with gold metallic Krink marker dots and halo.

This is so much fun!

Exquisite Corpse 17 - Her Illuminating Epiphany

Exquisite Corpse 17 - Her Illuminating Epiphany
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 17 - Her illuminating epiphany immediately transfigured her dolorous life.

When doing an analog collage, you have a couple of choices. You can photocopy/Photoshop a picture to be the correct scale for what you want, or you can “play the hand you’ve been dealt” and use what you’ve got in the size it came in.

I’m a “play the hand you’ve been dealt” person.

Things being out of scale or being lit from multiple angles by impossible light sources never bothered me, but I was pleasantly surprised by having this sculpted collar and the painted face lit by a comparable source, thus leading me to the aforementioned epiphany.

The head is Michelangelo, something Sistine perhaps? I don’t recall who did the sculpted collar and cape. The lower body is the layout of some floor mosaics from Italy, which has this stuff everywhere. The halo is from the same cathedral floor. The hands and feet are from Glamour or InStyle or some modern fashion magazine.

What’s not to love about denim platform shoes? If I had some, my life would, indeed, be far less dolorous.

Exquisite Corpse 16 - Her Improvised Wings

Exquisite Corpse 16 - Her Improvised Wings
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 16 - Her improvised wings greatly broadened her meager opportunities.

Now that I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of cutting up my old art books, I really feel the creative juices flowing again. So I started putting together a series of fun little pieces in this long, thin format.

If you are of “a certain age,” you may remember Sally Field as The Flying Nun, which was a little bit of the inspiration behind this piece. I found a painting of a nun in an impossibly cumbersome robe that made her look like she’d been attacked by silk worms, and decided to liberate her.

The halo is Michelangelo, the arms Leonardo. The body is an Egyptian sculpture below which we find a Ralph Lauren belt, a fashion mag skirt bottom, eye and mouth, and some delightful brocade shoes. It’s finished off with a bit of marker and a gold metallic Krink paint pen.

Exquisite Corpse 14 - The Unconventional Mermaid

Exquisite Corpse 14 - The Unconventional Mermaid
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 14 - The unconventional mermaid secretly suspected a questionable ancestry.

I have often wondered through the years if maybe I had somehow been switched at birth. I think my real parents are living in a yurt in the Pacific Northwest carving gourds for a living while their upwardly mobile Republican daughter wonders how she got there.

Yeah, I tend to exaggerate, but it sure would sure explain a lot.

My boss’s boss’s boss loves mermaids, and I mentioned that I had a mermaid in my upcoming show so she’s really excited. I hope that doesn’t wane when she sees this piece. I’m pretty excited about the show, too, although I have a huge number of friends and coworkers who have no idea what I do in my off hours.

It’ll be a revelation, no doubt.

Exquisite Corpse 13 - Her Patchwork Attire

Exquisite Corpse 13 - Her patchwork attire perfectly mirrored her essential quiddity.

Exquisite Corpse 13 - Her Patchwork Attire
© Natalie Schorr 2023

A quiddity is a peculiarity. That’s pretty much my world.

I’ve never been too good at conforming, which is fine for me but not so great for my parents and siblings who love an orderly, conforming world. Surely the pandemic would have disrupted that, but apparently not as everyone seems to have slipped back into their old ways.

I have a big solo show coming up at the North Carolina A&T State University galleries. It’s my first big solo show, and I’ve been working like a fiend every night after work and weekends for the past few months to get ready. I mentioned it vaguely to my older brother, who seems to like me despite my quiddities, but I’m unsure what to do about my mother and younger siblings.

My mother won’t come to see the show primarily because she is physically unable, and that’s certainly for the best. She would only be confused.

My younger siblings, however, are likely to be embarrassed on some level - pick a reason, any reason - so I’m unsure how to deal with them. I suppose the thing to do is invite them and in the same breath say they are under no obligation to come. That should absolve me of the faux pas of not inviting them while giving them an out to say they are busy for the next two months. This way we can remain on speaking terms, sort of, and they don’t have to be exposed to stuff that will doubtless make them uncomfortable.

Everyone else I know or have ever met for more than two seconds is invited, which includes you. I hope you will be there too.

Exquisite Corpse 12 - Her Augmentation Obsession

Your mother always said to eat your fruits and vegetables.

Mixed media collage of a woman clutching two watermelon halves in the area of her breasts.

Exquisite Corpse 12 - Her Augmentation Obsession
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I enjoy most types of vegetation, but growing up we didn’t have a great variety because we only ate the things my mother liked and cooked. Mom is not a big veggie eater and she’s 91, so you can’t really rag on her about it. She’s gonna do what she’s gonna do, and since she’s lived this long on about 8 different vegetables, you can’t reasonably argue with that.

Breast augmentation began in earnest in the 1970s. It was around before, though, albeit not very successfully. It’s safety is still in question, but that doesn’t stop people from getting them. I think in the end, you should do you and if augmentation is your thing, by all means go for it.

This piece is #12 in the Exquisite Corpse series. It includes ephemera from cookbooks and seed catalogs, vintage wallpapers, an old yearbook, linocut, colored pencils and acrylic.

Exquisite Corpse 11 - Her Bounteous Self-Love

Exquisite Corpse 11 - Her Bounteous Self-Love
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 11 - Her bounteous self-love woefully quashed her amorous prospects

I have a young friend who would just love to be in a relationship if only she could find someone who would love her the way she deserves to be loved.

If only.

I’m not sure where compromise went. My dear friend, no one will love you exactly the way you want them to, and besides, are you going to be able to reciprocate? Or is this a one way street?

I can feel that I’m getting weary of cheering and making a fuss over every little thing someone I know does. Yes, that’s great when you’re two and learning to do stuff that really matters like actually get the Cheerio into your mouth on your own, but as an adult, you should be able to adjust to the ups and downs of life without a mental health day, a grande mocha latte and five hours of aroma therapy each week.

Just sayin.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for a good dose of wellbeing and healthy self esteem. Just please don’t make me have to jump up and down and cheer endlessly for you. I’ve got my own stuff to do.

Exquisite Corpse 10 - Her Approaching Parturition

Exquisite Corpse 10 - Her approaching parturition only amplified her uninhibited attitude.

Exquisite Corpse 10 - Her Approaching Parturition
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Pregnancy is far back in my rear view mirror, although there are aspects I remember quite clearly. Like nausea. I was nauseated for the entire 9 months or my pregnancy. I dry heaved all day most days. Just one part of so many things that made me tie my tubes a mere 6 weeks after my daughter’s birth.

I was always in awe of the women who stated that they never felt better or more vital than when they were pregnant. They ate what they wanted, they slept well at night, their husbands were loving and supportive and everyone was happy.

Totally not my experience.

Still, it’s great to know that that experience is still out there, and I want to celebrate the women that love being pregnant. Good on you!

Exquisite Corpse 9 - The Frightful Concussion

Exquisite Corpse 9 - The Frightful Concussion
© Natalie Schorr 2023

Exquisite Corpse 9 - The frightful concussion nevertheless buoyed her dodgeball fantasy.

I work at a small private university. It’s a vastly different world from the college experience I endured. When I went to college, you simply put on your big girl panties and did the work or you went and got a job at the mall. Simple as that. Today’s students are coddled and cajoled to the point that a student actually called and asked me if she really had to take her finals since she didn’t really feel like it.

Uh… yes.

She concluded I was a moron that had no idea what I was talking about. Maybe so, but at some point isn’t it appropriate to expect a student to do the work required? But I digress.

One thing I have noticed that’s on a steeply upward trajectory is the number of concussions these students seem to have. At first I assumed that they were still learning to walk and text at the same time, which is part of it, but I think it’s become a thing for doctors to say that the slightest head boo-boo is a concussion in these cover-your-ass times.

I can’t blame the doctors, but it really messes with the students who then assume they should not have to attend class for the next month and usually end up taking a medical withdrawal for the semester because, once again, no work got done.

So I made this chaotic collage around the notion that a concussion can be a bit disorienting, which was my experience. Points for you if you see the dodgeball humor.