Tee and Creative Community - Part 2 - Make Life Art

Excerpt from “Make Life Art”, by Jan McLaughlin

Diston, Oregon  1994

“’MAKE LIFE ART!’ That’s what Tee Corinne has told me numerous times,” I told my studio cat, Cori, Tee’s namesake. She is a constant reminder of my friend and mentor.

Sunny Valley, Oregon  September 23, 2006

                                                       

Nine months after my beloved mother’s death. Today I received a call; my father was about to be removed from life support. I had said my good-byes to my cruel and racist father two months earlier.

          Today, I choose to attend Tee’s memorial celebration.

*******

Diston, November, 2008

          Reflection: my cat Cori died earlier this year of Graves Disease, the same disease that began my twenty years of chronic illness, fatigue, and pain.

*******

Eugene, Oregon,  U of O Knight Library           December 9, 2008

          ... yes, Tee, I believe that I have MADE LIFE ART! I’ve channeled my personal pain as you had often done, into my art. In addition to the series of work about the Witch-hunts, my body of work also includes a bit of erotica, cartoons of autographical incidents in my life, land & seascapes, graphics of found lace combined with vintage photos of women and of more contemporary women.

          We continue to paint, dance, perform; we chant, we write, we cook & we sing! I celebrate you Tee! I celebrate us! Tee you would be proud. I finally can say that I celebrate me and all my witchy ways!

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Jan McLaughlin (JaLaina):  B.F.A. : Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts & the University of Pennsylvania 1971; Masters of Science in Community Art & Art Administration:  University of Oregon 1994. An artist since the age of 12, she and her partner, LaVerne Gagehabib, have been part of the Southern Oregon Writers’ Group since 1981.

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from

Tee Corinne and Creative Community

A Reading by The Southern Oregon

Women’s Writers’ Group

University of Oregon  Knight Library

December 9, 2008

as part of

Woman Love: The Life, Art, and Legacy of Tee Corinne

an exhibit September 29 to December 31, 2008

Edited by Helen Laurence

This book will soon be available in a 2^nd  edition. If you are interested in purchasing a copy for $7, please  leave a message with the editor (look to the left in side column).  Be sure to leave contact information so we can reach you.