“We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.” – Abraham Lincoln, “Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, 1864″ (emphasis in original)
Template III of the Four Templates of Paradise, 1995 by Tetman Callis (2 ft. by 2 ft. with sharp rusty projections; mixed media–paper, tin, and sawdust on wood)
“The advice of a father to his son, ‘Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee,’ is good, and yet not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.” – Abraham Lincoln, “Letter to James M. Cutts, Jr.”
Template II of the Four Templates of Paradise, 1995 by Tetman Callis (about two foot square and four inches high; mixed media–wood, glass, and acrylic)
“It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary for the public safety, from time to time, to adopt.” – Abraham Lincoln, “To the Workingmen of Manchester, England”
Sun, Bringer of Life, 2002 by Tetman Callis (about 32 in. by 48 in.; mixed media–acrylic and cotton on primed canvas)
“That Congress has the power to regulate the currency of the country can hardly admit of doubt; and that a judicious measure to prevent the deterioration of this currency, by a reasonable taxation of bank circulation or otherwise if needed, seems equally clear. Independently of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large to exempt banks, enjoying the special privilege of circulation, from their just proportion of the public burden.” – Abraham Lincoln, “To the Senate and House of Representatives”
Stapled #2, 1998 by Tetman Callis (about 8 in. by about 6 in.; mixed media–flowers stapled to rag board and mounted in a box)
“It is not the qualified voters, but the qualified voters who choose to vote, that constitute the political power of the state.” – Abraham Lincoln, “Opinion on Admission of West Virginia into the Union” (emphasis in original)
Stapled #1, 1998 by Tetman Callis (about 8 in. by about 6 in.; mixed media–flowers stapled to rag board and mounted in a box)
My most recent published story, “The Tiny Toy Train,” is available at Snow Monkey
Here’s to you. Let the day begin
Slats, 1998 by Tetman Callis (about 3 ft. by 4 ft.; mixed media–wood and cardboard on primed canvas)
“One of the few rules I live by: Never, ever fuck with the people handling your food.” — ravingmadscientists (comment posted to “I Hate People WHen THey’re Not Polite,” on Betsy Lerner’s The Forest for the Trees)
Shard Izhar, 1991 by Tetman Callis (roughly 1 ft. by about 2 ft.; mixed media–glass, glue, dye-transfer dye, metal)
“Hell is a place on earth. Heaven is a place in your head.” David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives
Sex for One, 1992 by Tetman Callis (about 12 in. x 18 in.; mixed media–paper, playing cards, photograph, adhesive stickers, electrical tape, conditioner, blood, and semen, on painted pine)
“My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit.” – Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music (quoted by Bridget Riley in “At the End of My Pencil”)
St. Sebastian, 1994 by Tetman Callis (about 2 ft. x 2 ft.; mixed media–doll, nails, screw, photographs, paper, blood, and saliva, on pine plywood)
“No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty—none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost.” – Abraham Lincoln, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1861
Santa Teresa, 1994 by Tetman Callis (2 ft. x 2 ft.; mixed media–doll, nails, screw, paper, blood, semen, photographs, on pine plywood)
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation.” – Abraham Lincoln, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1861
Plate, 1992 by Tetman Callis (about 8 in. x 2 ft.; mixed media–ceramic, glue, hair, lithium batteries, paper, berries, cloth, chewing gum, sewing needles)
“While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.” – Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”
Necklace #3, 1995 by Tetman Callis (components purchased from Stone Mountain Bead Gallery)
“The candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide the cases properly brought before them; and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.” – Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”
Necklace #1, 1995 by Tetman Callis (components purchased from Stone Mountain Bead Gallery)
from long ago and far away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjcPS4ekOA
“A majority, held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissable; so that rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.” – Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”
Marilyn on a Stick, 1991 by Tetman Callis (about 2 ft. tall by about 8 in. round; mixed media–gift bag, painted metal decoration, toothpicks, little plastic babies, dried cholla stem, plaster of Paris, KFC bucket, gift wrap)