Birth of a Black Mermaid: A Tale of Art, Ale and Serendipity

Above: Monika, Kristin, Sue and Ahna tape before grouting the black mermaid.

Despite my extended absence from cyber-communications, Art Ruckus has by no means been on vacation!

On the contrary, this time has been rife with much art-full activity as I set up studio on my new houseboat abode in Sausalito, California.

I will have to save the details of my new digs for another day, because in this moment I have a more pressing matter to share with you: namely, the birth of Caledonia, the black mermaid!

Above: Caledonia the mermaid is named after the main street in Sausalito.

It all started with a vision I had of a mermaid swimming in to restore magic to a rather dark, dismal, Pepto-Bismol-colored purple bathroom on the boat. She wasn't just any mermaid, mind you – this was no stereotypical, shell-pink Barbie with scales, but a fierce, black, wild mer-goddess.

With a hearty dose of guileless gusto and a brazen beginner's mind, I decided that said mermaid should not just be a mural, but a mosaic mural (a medium I've had very little experience with), and that, of course, she should be larger than life.

Above: Monika and Kristin rub grout off Caledonia's tail.

One by one, with baffling alacrity, a stalwart team of mermaid-makers joined me to take on this deliciously formidable feat.

My cousin, Kristin, was the first to rally to the black mermaid's cause – together we began plotting, hoarding tiles and sketching the mermaid's imposing form on the freshly painted bathroom wall.

Above: Kristin lays out a loose tile mock-up of the mermaid. Check out my new pink walls behind her!

When it came time to lay the tiles, my friends Monika and Shawn joined our crew. The mermaid seemed to have a life of her own, and magnetized random people into her orbit, from friends who donated supplies, to hardware store grouting gurus and my previously unknown Peruvian neighbor, who showed up at the door one night with a cement mixer, a bottle of wine and an offer to cook our art team dinner.

Above: Monika dressed in fancy garb for our celebratory meal. Amilcar (l.) and Ernesto (r.), our fabulous cooks, chow down beside her.

In addition to many fabulous instances of creative serendipity, the mermaid's birth was also accompanied by a constant stream of running jokes, costumes and foul humor.

Monika brought over fake teeth. We banged on buckets and danced with brooms and tile-nippers. During long, delirious hours of grouting, we channeled strange characters, such as "Neal," a Marin-dwelling New Age spiritual type who enjoyed raving about the benefits of watsu water therapy and suggested we engage in periodic processing sessions to enhance our inter-group dynamics.

Above: Monika and Ahna get their groove on before grouting.

We also discovered that the black mermaid preferred beer to wine and could woo us all, with her siren wiles, into tossing back bottles like lovelorn sailors. In fact, she exercised particular clout in convincing us to drink too much stout while grouting.

Above: Grout and stout, anyone? Ahna, Kristin, Sue and Monika flout their brews.

This had rather severe repercussions.

Above: Where are the beer goggles when you need them?!

All in all, since the mermaid represents the first large-scale art piece born here during my time on the boat, I'd say we're off to a rollicking start. Stay tuned for news on the next creative adventure aboard this enchanted vessel…

Above: the proud artists admire their work.

** If you'd like to see more pictures of the making of Caledonia the mermaid, please visit my flickr page.

*** I'd like to thank the academy.... Er, uh, no... Wrong speech... ahem... I'd like to thank Kat for the amazing birthday pottery, Joui, Ernesto and Amilcar for cooking and feeding our hardworking crew, Eric for his trust and openness to creative boat renovations, the folks at Heath Ceramics for giving me a "nice person discount" at the counter, my passionate, playful collaborators and anyone else whom I am forgetting!