Monday, March 31, 2008

settling in


I attempt to settle back in to normal life.
Things seem so out of wack?
I am a slave to routine so when my routine goes askew so do I.

But I keep thinking about the beautifully written interview in this months Elle, that I read on the plane,  with Michelle Williams.  It is a unique and wonderfully written interview.  The journalist, Holly Millea, had the difficult task of the interview being before the death of Heath Ledger and it going to press after his death.  She handles it with great grace.  But...
My real point is, that Michelle Williams quotes a poem by Galway Kinnell and I can't get it out of my head so ... I share it, in part,  with you. 

Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight

1

You scream, waking from a nightmare.

When I sleepwalk
into your room, and pick you up,
and hold you up in the moonlight, you cling to me
hard,
as if clinging could save us. I think
you think
I will never die, I think I exude
to you the permanence of smoke or stars,
even as
my broken arms heal themselves around you.

7

Back you go, into your crib.

The last blackbird lights up his gold wings: farewell.
Your eyes close inside your head,
in sleep. Already
in your dreams the hours begin to sing.

Little sleep's-head sprouting hair in the moonlight,
when I come back
we will go out together,
we will walk out together among
the ten thousand things,
each scratched too late with such knowledge, the wages
of dying is love.

To read the complete poem go here.

so lovely...

While getting caught up on all the blogs I read...
I found this amazing work via (still trying to remember, sorry)

Bun with a Red Thread




Not only do I simply love the work of artist Diem Chau.
Especially how the thread continues out of the piece... I am a big fan of doing that in my own work as well.  But the description  of her work on her site is :

... combines common mediums and common means to create delicate vignettes of fleeting memory, gesture and form,
resulting in works that combine egalitarian sensibility and minimalist restraint. Her work touches on the value of   
Storytelling, Myths and its ability to connect us to each other through cultural and humanistic similarities. 

I am a huge fan of art that has the ability to connect us as we, as a world and culture,  need connection....

Sunday, March 30, 2008

sad day...


This image is from this morning when we were basking in the loveliness of a simple Sunday.
But today has taken a tough turn.

Our new "neighbors" a mama and papa bird and their eggs have lost in the battle of nature.
The eggs have been lost.  But Mama and Papa are ok.
C and I are very sad. 
I must say I truly loved saying my morning hello's and having little conversations with the little family.  

I debated if I should share this news with you.
But the reality is death, sadness, and loss is a part of life.  And though in the grand scheme of things this loss is small.  Even the small losses create sadness much like the small joys create great moments and lives.

Enjoy all the little moments of life in your day today.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

loving...

Still getting my brain back on ... hopefully I will be able to do a real post tonight.
love.

Friday, March 28, 2008

time, time, what time.


I am running around. Trying to figure out how I am going to get caught up.
and why  I am doing all this.
agh... life can be so hectic and it is so easy to lose perspective.
As soon as I was home from Seattle I was rushing back to Mass. and will soon be rushing back to NYC.  All while trying to apply for jobs, prepare my show, write my thesis, be a wife, clean my house, love my kitties...oh and take care of  myself?  Apparently the plants got forgotten, whoops.

I think I need a down day, agh!!!!! 

I love all your comments so much, they give me a little lift in  my step.
Thanks so much.
I will try to fit in a more thorough post of sorts later today.
But glad to be back and have lots to share.....

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

ski and slope


So a quick hello. The internet is sooooo slow so no pictures until I am back in real civilization.

but oh my goodness it is beautiful here. Snowcapped mountains and trees as far as the eye can see.

We went skiing yesterday and I have to say I impressed myself. I have not skiied in awhile and I didn't do to bad. It is all about conquering the fear!!

My sister in law ended up splayed across the mountain, hilarious, since she wass not hurt.

Today is shopping and wine tasting, sounds perfect to me
I can't imagine how many posts and things I will have waiting on my computer when I get back.


"Happiness is not destination but a method of life"


Saturday, March 22, 2008

up, up, and away...


I am off bright and early tomorrow for my girls weekend with C's sister's and his Mom.
We are skiing for a few days north of Seattle and then just enjoying a day of being very sore.
It should be great fun.  
I am looking forward to the time with them and... since I am choosing not to take my computer, some time off thinking about my thesis.
So I will try to pop a post in if I can but it might be a few days...I am back Friday and will hopefully have many fun stories to tell...  
I look forward to letting you know how it goes.
Have a wonderful Easter and week.

image from squareamerica

Spring love....


So we are not big easter people around here, to be honest if it were not for all the easter posts I might have forgotten.
But oh we are in love with spring so here is a list of a few things I love about spring...
1. sunshine
2. vegetables that taste good
3. C in a way better mood
4. open windows and fresh air (well kinda, we are in Brooklyn)
5. no socks, my toes hate socks
6. walks were you can slooow down
7. flowering trees (nyc is pretty good but in boston it takes your breathe away)
8. baby animals such as ...
9. spring cleaning
10. dresses coming out of the closet
11. did i mention no socks?
What are the things you love about spring?

2 + 2 = ?


We spent the morning with our new accountant and though I am not "too pretty" I am too busy to do math...
especially our complicated kind.
I cannot even explain the heavenly light that opened and the ginormous weight that was lifted of my petite shoulders as he took our pile of paperwork away.
If I had known how amazing it would be to not be doing our taxes and having someone else do them...
I would have done this years ago.
I have been as light as a bird all day....
plus it is GORGEOUS out.

Now when he tells us how much we owe the weight might partially return but I am going to enjoy this while I can.....

image from www.imagecache2.allposters.com

Friday, March 21, 2008

Searching...


Searching for rainbows today....

she does it all...


Blue Radial Scottish Waters, detail

  Branches Becoming Breaking Waves
Unraveled Coastline as Isles

Another friend and colleague is having an opening this week in Chelsea. 

Jeremy's was great last night and packed, I mean crowded, and hot.
It reminds me of all those summer openings you end up going to and sweating to death at...
hopefully I will be in one of those???


Anyway Shona Macdonald is a beautiful artist, loving mama, and committed professor. So yes she does it all, and for me, a woman who wants to do it all, she is a true role model.
Her work is really beautiful and very subtle.  She deals a lot with the ideas of landscape but in a non-traditional way. 


Sea of Envelopes

      detail

This work (above) will be at the show and I am so excited to see it in person.  These are really large collages created from part of the inside of european envelopes (the part you lick).  I imagine both texturally and color wise they are interesting.


These (above) are from a recent series, Materials Passing Through.  Shona made these within the last year or so, while she was adjusting to a new place, new job, new house, new studio, oh... and she was pregnant with her 2nd child too.  Piles neatly arranged seem to put me at peace too, we try to order the chaos of our lives.
Her show is at Reeves Contemporary in Chelsea.  And I highly recommend stopping by.
She is also showing with Beth Galston, who looks pretty great too.

Hanging Vines


Luminous Gardens


Ice Forest

Thursday, March 20, 2008

things they do...


I memorized this poem when I was about 12 or so.
Since I was a bit odd, not out-casted but not "normal"... 
I memorized this,
so that whenever
I felt bad about being different I could just say this in my head and feel better.


And it still works.

I find it hard to understand others as they come and go
The things they do 
the things they say 
are things I just don't know.

So I think I'll try to fool them
and do things differently 
by trying just to understand myself
and let them understand me

By Javan

I do try to understand others now, but only by understanding myself first.
Hope you like it:)

sound as art



My friend and colleague Jeremy Boyle has an opening tonight at Hudson Franklin in Chelsea.
Jeremy makes work mostly dealing with sound.  
But not sound art in which we hear, more like are that is "about" sound.  For example he has made sculptures that represent the wave lengths of white noise and pink noise visually...and he does explorations in color. This piece is a color wheel made of plant growths.


With a background in engineering and a previous life as a musician he also builds instruments that he plays from a computer system and is in the process of constructing an entire band.



His work is very fascinating and intelligent and is presented in a very pristine minimalist way.
If you are in Chelsea, because there are lots of openings tonight and this weekend, make sure to take a peek.


He also happens to be married to the amazing Wendy from Moop handmade bags.  They are sweet designs and so utlilitarian.


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Feeling droopy...


So it is gray and rainy and it is the hump day and I am feeling droopy.
I really want to wallow in my bed and be lazy, especially since my hips are sore from the last 2 days of yoga...good sore, but sore.
But alas no wallowing allowed, though I slept in nice, so who I am to complain.
Maybe I will do some reading for my thesis research, or knit for my show, or....wallow in bed?
Anyway here are some inspiring find out in the blogworld that just sort of made my days...

and her crying babies and these 2 cuties.

I already feel less droopy as I re-look at this stuff.
Thanks...Have a un-droopy day.

Women of the CLoth, Pt. end-

Jody Stevens

So these are the last 2 ladies to feature and sadly they also do not have a web site or any info that I could find. They end my features on the women of the cloth show.  It is an amazing show with some truly talented artists so if anyone is near Boston you should really check it out.
Jody (above) is a woman after my heart, embroidered little pillows, I mean little, this pile fits on a pedestal. and...

from where I sit, Sherry Autor
Sherry's piece is lovely with its textural collage and the use of fabrics...and it makes me want to own that chair.
Hope you have enjoyed all the excellent work and artists that have been a part of my featuring of this show.

spring guests!!!


Look at the lovely Mama that has moved in as our new neighbor.
She has built her little nest right inside our planter on the fire escape.
C said that he saw 2 eggs.
I am delighted that we get to watch this special part of spring...and we literally just look out the window.
Now I do question this Mama as she has my 3 kitties sitting at the window watching her all day, that sounds stressful to me.
I look forward to watching the birth of spring and my new quests...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Desire to be.....

Color Rules?

From Sequence by Jenny Perlin

I just had a great meeting with my Thesis Chair (in her great little space in Manhattan, flooded with light)  and she had so many great suggestions to think about for my presentation.  I have to admit that I am getting so excited.  
One of the major suggestions was thinking more about how I present the work as I deal with color...
Perhaps set up rules
or codes
or systems 
in the installation....
And I have to say I am intrigued as I start to think about what that means for the work.
And then she showed me her....


From Sequence by Jenny Perlin

and after researching  artist Jenny Perlin and reading about what she does I am really inspired and intrigued.  
She has a show opening next week in Manahattan, I will have to go see it so I can see the subtleties of the work.    Here are some more images of other work and she has a vast filmography as well.



From Addendum by Jenny Perlin


From Box Office by Jenny Perlin


I am looking forward to researching her more...
and of course since I am thinking about color I have to go to the Color Chart show at the MoMA.

favorite things...

The Red Blaze- is the morning

                                                              Except in song

My 2 favorite things to see used in art are pretty much birds ands fabric/thread...
and artist Bonita Sennott uses both.  I really liked the lace work and then when I researched further and found her collages I was floored...
I would really love to see her new work in person.
It seems that the paintings underneath the lace would be much more relevant in ones experience that way.  I would be interested to see the direction this work takes her as an artist.

Polar Privacy

The bird collages I love... but I am a total sucker for birds.   I really like the book pages in the background too...  the bird illustrations are so sweet, they remind me of some illustrations I bought for a Mexican poster that identified local birds.

                                                                                         A short summer, a vast sea

Coincidentally she lives near me in Mass.  teaching at one of the schools out there.  It's funny I keep finding artists that are near here or near there.  Small world.

Monday, March 17, 2008

I wish...


I wish...I could go to my studio and work on my work all day.  Embroider, knit, print.  
But as my Thesis show approaches I have all this other stuff I have to do meetings, framing, cleaning, cutting, writing, applying for jobs....
Urgh.
Sometimes, It is so frustrating  how so much of being an artist has nothing to do with making art.

The good news is a love the vintage basket I got to be my yarn basket!!!

Domestic...




I have been really loving the work of photographer Takashi Yasumura.  His most recent NY Show at Yossi Milo was Domestic Scandals.  Yasumura takes my favorite subject, the domestic space, to talk about the changes going on in contemporary Japan.  
He documents his parents middle classs home in Japan and photographs the mass produced with the traditional. 
He uses a 4x5 so the detail is gorgeous and his eye for color is perfect.
He has both critique, irony, and humor in his images.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

in with the old, out with the new...


So... I am excited to tell you all that I am moving into a studio in Brooklyn at the beginning of April.  I am so ready to have a space here as it has NOT BEEN fun working at my kitchen table for the last 7 months when I am in Brooklyn.  
I will have a studio both here and in Massachusetts for 2 months, which is nice... that way there is no BIG move and as I get comfortable in my Brooklyn studio as I start to say goodbye to my Mass.  studio.  The above image is a little project I am cooking up with my sewing machine.

New handkerchief drawings...


Some doilies I bought last week, they are going to be embroidered to spell a word and then sewn onto a larger linen....

My Mass. space...oh the great times we have had together, and it is huge!!!

The door to my new space, I know it is going to be great, the community in the building, and my space is charming.  The artist building is MadArts Once I start moving in I will show you the space as it evolves.
Come on I know you are excited.

Back to cleaning house and knitting....Enjoy your Sunday....