Song and Stone: A Moxie Story
Hello beautiful Moxie community!
I'm Kimmerjae Macarus, a sculptor and musician in Lafayette. I got to know Andy, and a good number of you, playing together in those sweet sardine-packed Friday night music jams he hosted in Louisville, back before we had to learn to hug each other with our eyes from 6' away. Moxie met the Covid curveballs with grace & we held our friendships together.
Last April, Andy asked me to write a guest piece for the newsletter he was sending out. We thought about the right time to publish, & things got busy for both of us. Now I'm about to record a new album of some of my songs, & I'm ready to make some noise about it. I asked Laura if this is a good time to share this story. Laura says yes!
This is a story about one of my stone sculptures.
—
"I might need a subject"
I said, feeling honored and humbled to be invited to round up some words for you all.
"Stone" Andy said, without hesitation. "That one you're working on."
I wondered for a second how I might I connect this subject to what Moxie is up to. Then a string of lightbulbs tumbled into my head all lit up. The working nickname for the piece Andy was talking about is 'The Giant Peach'. Like James & the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, here's our hero with a generous nature and an affinity for magic, befriending all kinds of characters and feeding everyone....
And then, this giant stone is from Lyons. There was Moxie rolling Northward to sprout up in Lyons too, gazing right up at the hills that gave birth to this overgrown babe o' mine.
—
Love at First Sight
I had known and worked with Chuck and Eric Tribble at Tribble Stone Company for more than 30 years, beginning with landscape design/build projects, which were my 'bread & butter' for a long time.
I must have first seen the Peach around 2012 in Tribble's yard. She had a sibling almost the same size and shape, a pair of giant, more or less rectangular prisms. This one called out to me though, there was some strong affinity. The sheer size of this individual, and also some cracks she has in cautionary places tripped the "don't even think about it" reflex. So I didn't. Sort of. Except that every time I'd go to Tribble's I'd find the pair and climb up on this one, just because I liked being with her.
The flood happened in September 2013. It was awhile before I found myself in the stone yard again, which borders Left Hand Creek, and their entire landscape had been rearranged. I went looking for my friend. When she was not near the area I'd expected to find her, I felt a pang of grief and almost panic. I ran around the reshaped grounds. The relief & gladness on seeing her crashed through my attempt to be sensible. She was by herself. (I never did ask Eric where her companion went.) I surrendered right then without any idea how this could work and galloped up to the office. I asked. Eric gave me a good price. I made the commitment, went back & climbed up on her, this life-changing being, my friend. It was a windy day. We would all wait til resources showed up.
Forward to 2017 and City of Lafayette decided to purchase a significant work of mine called Boat of the Universe, which now lives in our Festival Plaza. That piece had just been invited to spend a year in Evergreen, so there was some dance between the municipalities working out details of Boat's sabbatical voyage. At the end of that year, I would have money from the sale and a crane in town that could move Boat and the Peach on the same day. Another whole year! And then here she came, my Giant Stone Peach.
She weighed 8 tons, that is 16,000 lbs., when she landed in my workspace.
I had no idea what form was going to emerge from this Stone until she sat in my work yard for a couple of weeks. There had been a leonine figure I’d been drawing for an art call in California. They chose another artist, & for some reason I continued drawing this figure obsessively. There are literally hundreds of these sketches in my journals. The magical beast would have different qualities each time I explored the form. One day I looked at the most recent drawing - ‘OH! It’s YOU!!!” I went out to see, and was astonished. The gesture of this lioness of Lyons was strong as could be for me, even in the raw block.
I am just back to work on her after completing other commissions with clear destinations. I don't yet know where the lioness of Lyons will land; pretty sure that will be exactly the right place at a perfect time.
Moral of the story is, like Joe Campbell said, Follow Your Bliss, Y’all!
And maybe a trail of breadcrumbs....
You can come see us!
I'm having a Launch Party & Art Auction for my new Patreon, which is
Kimmerjae on that platform. Friends of Moxie are welcome too. Message me on Instagram @Kimmerjae for details.
—
Meantime I'll see you at our favorite oasis on the Bliss path, with my oat milk matcha latte mustache, dusted with croissant flakes, at the end of a trail of the best breadcrumbs on the planet!
I'll leave you with the creation of this sculpture called 'Cora' and the song 'Light My Light' from the album 'Secret'.
Big Spring Smiles, Kimmerjae
