92 County Tree Project
The Ornament
Star City, In. December 2009 Local artist Gina Marie was invited to participate in the Indiana State Museum's 92 County Tree Project. The project will be featuring ornaments from artists, from each county in the state. Gina Marie is quite excited to have been asked to represent Pulaski county in this project. The ornament for the 92 County Tree Project will be Gina Marie's debut museum exhibition piece. The 92 County Tree Project is a part of the museum's annual Celebration Crossing Christmas exhibition and program. A 25 foot tall tree in the State's Museum's Great Hall will be displaying each ornament. The Celebration Crossing exhibit will run from Nov. 27, to Dec. 31, 2009 at the museum. The museum is located at: 650 W. Washington St Indianapolis, IN. Museum Hours Mon-Sat 9a-5p, Sunday 11a-5p http://www.indianamuseum.org/
About the Ornament The ornament is meant to represent the every day ingenuity and old fashioned "waste not, want not" values of Pulaski county. The body of the ornament itself is a mini bottle gourd Gina Marie grew in her home garden. All other materials used to make the ornament were on hand items and not purchased. Even the clay was left over from previous projects. Three colors, gold, silver, and copper metallic rubs are used on the surface of the gourd. Next poinsettias, holly leaves, berries and vines made out of paper clay, and painted in metallic colors. The whole item was then antiqued in brown oxide. Then teeny, tiny, clear, bead glitter, (little round balls) where coated over the whole thing using decoupage. While the decoupage was still wet the entire item was rolled in white glitter. Lastly the Swarovski crystals were added, there are over 50 on the ornament. The entire ornament is a rich display of old fashioned style and new design that is just an eye blink's shy of outrageous. When placed on a tree, under glowing holiday lights, this ornament literally glows with today's sparkling splendor and traditional gilded old school charm.
