Ships, Folk Art, and Whimsey in Bottles

When you enter the headquarters of Monsanto in St. Louis, you are soon met with a sign that reads MAKE SAFETY A PERSONAL PRIORITY. I have always thought that this slogan would be an excellent idea for a patience bottle. The United Way was looking for donations for an art auction at Monsanto. My wife asked me if I would donate a bottle whimsey. I figured that this would be the time to make this patience bottle. Here is a Monsanto employee taking the slogan to the extreme. He is wearing as much safety apparatus as he can think to wear. He has a clipboard to record the progress of the planted corn, while at the same time trampling much of it. The title of the work MAKE SAFETY A PERSONAL PRIORITY, is inlaid on the Walnut board making up part of the stopper mechanism and the maker's information: Steve Moseley, St. Louis 2001 is on the reverse.