Calliope, Part V: The Muse Inspires

Calliope, the Muse

The original Calliope was a figure from Greek myth. One of Zeus’ many bastard daughters, she was also the eldest of the Muses; demigoddesses that inspired mortals to create divine works of art.

Calliope (pronounced “Kah-LYE-a-pee”) was the Muse of Eloquence and Heroic Poetry, and is credited with inspiring Homer to write the classical epics The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Now here we were, feverishly creating, dreaming of adventures, and I was yearning to tell our story, to share our enthusiasm, to visually express our selves and desires with brilliant color and graceful form. I wanted to paint the Heroic Poetry of Us.

Surely our patron Muse was smiling upon us.

Thus began my love affair with symbols.

Now, I had dabbled in such things before, I have several books on the subject and a basic appreciation for the topic. I’d even done art pieces in a similar vein before. But working on Calliope led me into a whole new world of wonder.

Having the vast library of the internet at my fingertips, I began to seek out ways to visually express the ideas I wanted to incorporate into Calliope. I began to research symbols from diverse cultures and philosophies from all over the world, throughout history. I began to bring them together, combining and entwining them, creating visual messages written in a global language comprised of the entirety of human experience and expression.

I really felt I was tapping into something very special and very powerful. I still do. It’s very exciting. I plan to dedicate much of this blog to sharing my explorations of this artistic path.

"The Garden"

The result of my initial foray into this new art method was The Garden, an elaborate piece that covers Calliope’s driver’s side wall.

Within this mobile canvas, I managed to squeeze in: Freedom, Love, Art, Joy, Wonder, Gratitude, A shaman’s eye, a circumpunct, an Endless Knot, a Chinese shou, the World Triad, an Om symbol, a heart, a sun, a double rainbow, a yin-yang, an Eye of Horus, a Claddagh, a peace sign, an ankh, our zodiac signs, a triskellion, a spiral, a pentagram, an infinity sign, a sunwheel swastika, a Vajra Cross, a Maori fish hook symbol, a double spiral, a Seed of Life, a key, a lock, a butterfly, a ladybug, a serpent, a selection of Ogham Tree Runes, a selection of I-Ching ideograms, a couple of adinkra symbols, and 4 phrases: “Prosperity to All” (in Latin), “Safe Journey” (In Sanskrit), “To Life!” (in Hebrew), and “Eat, Drink and Be Merry!” (in Gaelic).

Symbol Key to 'The Garden'

Here’s a more comprehensive guide:

While I’m happy with this piece, I don’t consider it a great masterpiece. I don’t even consider it one of my better artistic endeavors. However, I do feel that this piece marks a pivotal point for me, creatively.

My Muse, Calliope, had set me on a path that I have followed with passion and growing proficiency ever since.

(Continued in Part VI...)

Calliope, Part IV: We Do Stuff

early explorations

Dore refurbished the trailer base, replacing the axle, suspension and wheels and extending it slightly so we were sure we had a solid base that could handle what we wanted to do to it. He began measuring and sketching and buying big pieces of wood and metal, sawing and welding and sanding and whatever other arcane things he does in the back yard that makes a lot of noise and sometimes makes the lights flicker eerily.

For my part, I began designing Calliope’s New Look. I studied tons of pictures of what other folks had done with their vardos, deciding to do something a little different –my own unique twist on the elaborately-adorned traditional style. I played with color palettes, motifs, visual themes, etc.

final designs for front and back walls

At first my goal was just to make her look amazing. I wanted her to be intricate and beautiful and whimsical and eye-catching. I began sketching out designs that melded many of my artistic influences; art nouveau, Celtic knotwork, art deco, tribal design, organic forms and swirly shapes. A distinctive style was emerging.

As the project progressed and we became more invested in it – I found myself wanting Calliope to be more than just good looking. I wanted to infuse her with our hopes, our dreams, our joy, our passion, the things we hold dear. I wanted her adornments to be more than just decorative – I wanted the art to MEAN something.

(Continued in Part V...)

Calliope, Part III: Destruction, Lots of Sketching, Creation, Rebirth

early concept diagram

Brainstorming began in earnest; lists of Necessary Stuff, lists of Less Necessary But Cool Stuff, scribbly sketches, graph paper diagrams and computer mock-ups of exterior and interior possibilities.

Amazingly, our ideas were incredibly in synch – our individual ponderings were remarkably similar – we were definitely on the same page.

Of course, there really aren’t that many ways to fit all this stuff into a 6’ x 13’ space, so maybe it wasn’t all that incredible.

Nonetheless, we knew what we wanted and where we were going to put it. The basic design process was very organically collaborative and really fun.

As for making it happen, Dore would handle the structural building part of the project and I would be in charge of the visual design.

Dore was also in charge of beating the crap out of the camper with a sledgehammer, which he set to in earnest. 12 loads of garbage and another pile of salvaged bits of stuff for the driveway junk collection later, we had a blank canvas of welded steel and vulcanized rubber on which to project our bold dreams and creative powers.

Stripped and refurbished trailer ready for its second incarnation

Calliope was about to be reborn.

(Continued in Part IV...)

Calliope, Part II: The Beginning

Faced with the challenge of our new little fixer-upper project, I jumped right into doing one of my favorite things – looking up stuff on the interwebs. Stuff like: Can the rips be repaired? If so, how? Can we simply replace the canvas parts? How much would that cost? Ect., ect., etc.

The results of my initial research suggested that replacing or repairing the tent-parts of a pop-up camper from the 70’s was going to be prohibitively expensive, or a huge pain in the ass, most likely both.

To distract myself from this depressing prospect, I began to think about the other major repairs that were necessary – namely the interior cabinetry. Dore had already declared that he could build new cabinets, no problem.

So now I got to think about fun stuff like: Since we’re totally redoing the interior, what’s it going to look like inside? Immediately, I had a vision of a sumptuous, richly-colored, ornately-decorated bohemian lair.

This was a very fun thought.

I did some more poking around on the internet and found several sites dedicated to gypsy wagons (a.k.a. vardos, a.k.a. caravans) – those (originally horse-drawn), beautifully carved, colorfully painted mobile homes of the wandering bohemians of the 1800’s.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Possibilities swirling around. Really cool ones!!

Now I was getting excited about this fixer-upper project!

I emailed Dore some links to some photos of the beautiful interiors of these gypsy wagons, suggesting that we might be able to do something along those lines with the interior of our poor little broken camper.

Later that day, Dore emailed me back: “Why don’t we just demolish the old pop-up, except for the trailer base, and build a whole gypsy wagon from scratch?”.

“You can DO that???” I asked.

Please note that we’d been married a mere 2 years or so at this time – I was aware of some of his mad skillz (and suitably impressed), but had yet to witness the full range of his powers.

“No problem!” he replied.

Just one reason why my husband is AWESOME.

(Continued in Part III...)

Calliope Part I: The Origin

Welcome to the Gypsy Mystery Blog!

So…where to start?

[Edit out long, rambling paragraph exploring possible ways to start].

I guess I’ll start with Calliope, since she’s pretty darn cool and folks love her.

She’s also been instrumental in setting me on my current artistic path, so it seems appropriate.

Me, Dore and Calliope

Calliope, Part I: The Origin

Who is Calliope, you ask?

Calliope is our gypsy wagon.

She’s a handmade, fully functional camper trailer and a mobile work of art.

She’s the brightly-colored, eye-catching, grin-inspiring product of seven months of dreaming, designing, building, painting, decorating and running to our various local hardware stores at least twelve times every weekend.

She’s the cherished lovechild born of the joyful melding of my husband’s impressive mechanical/construction skills and my own visual art talents. The product of a serendipitous synergy of creativity, adventurous spirit, questionable sanity, blood, sweat, tears, occasional bursts of cursing and copious amounts of sawdust and satin-finish exterior latex house paint.

Calliope began life as a Coleman pop-up camper trailer from the 70’s, and served well in that capacity for decades. We didn't take a Before picture, but she looked something like THIS. In 2010, a friend of ours offered her up for sale at a price that we could not resist.

Were we in the market for a camper trailer? Not really – but we do go to a lot of camping events, including a wild week in the Nevada desert every summer, and after years of tent camping, the idea had its appeal.

And my husband, Dore, is one of those types who grabs stuff he thinks he might do something cool with someday and piles it in the garage and/or driveway. Fortunately, he usually DOES do something cool with it, eventually.

And truly – the price was too good to pass up.

So – in the spirit of impulsivity and optimism, we brought old Calliope home. She came with the name, given to her by her previous owners, and it proved to be quite appropriate (more on that later).

When we inspected our prize, we discovered that Calliope had seen better days, for sure. Her canvas was ripped and torn, her cabinetry all but demolished. The only ones camping out in this old gal were a family of mice who’d tucked their nest in a cozy corner.

Clearly, we had some work ahead of us to make our new camper campable.

(Continued in Part II)

Check out the Calliope Photo Gallery: http://cristinamcallister.blogspot.com/2013/10/calliope-photo-gallery_31.html