Setting the Stage

Everyone should have a leviathan at their wedding.

For our recent nuptial celebration, Maestro and I let the Slovenian Hall, only a few blocks from our home, with a small stage just begging for some decorating. Such a splendid event after all, required the proper setting.

The Slovenian Hall stage, lots of polysester drapes and potential

Friends far and near contributed ideas and inspiration.  Carla Eagleton lent me some fantastic vintage Fortuny drapes  from her wonderful textile collection, delightfully shredded and faded in all the right places, and I painted a valance to match their colors, with a metallic shell motif in its center. Something old, borrowed, and blue, and something new to go with it!

Shell valence in progress

I am also lucky to have as a friend, the sage and talented  Ziska Childs, who sent me the enormous gift of a suitably  fantastic designer elevation, with a baroque grotto, complete with a leviathan or two, of course.

grotto backdrop in progress in the studio

.... this would have been far easier to produce if  my studio were a bit bigger.  The backdrop had to be projected in  twelve parts.  The ground row had to be cut into  six pieces just so we could get it out the door (something we thought of at about 11 pm after nearly finishing the assembly of it. oops.)  Thanks to my volunteers Erling and Erika, and my assistant Sierra, it all gone done in plenty of time, and once installed was quite fabulous.

 

In addition to our ceremony, in which Erling pledged to be my  liege-man against all manner of folks, the grotto played host to many great performances throughout the evening. 

Woody Woodman and Igor Finger reading "The Devil in the Drain"  in their own inimitable style 

(photo by Marty Takagawa)

Griffin Runnels (my nephew) performing  "The Rainbow Connection"

which little monster is cuter, now I ask you.

More about the performances and happenings  are mentioned at Erling's blog
Endless thanks  are due to all our creative  friends and family who contributed their time and skill, painting and singing and playing and  tying ribbons and dancing and remixing things to make beautiful noise and clear the room just when I needed the space to dance, and all conspiring to make this all such an extraordinary evening.

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting