Mid-Winter

What birthday gift do you get the 17 year old boy who only wants items related to video games that any right-thinking parent would abhor?

A flowering plant, that's what!

You laugh, but I tried it.  At first, Finnian laughed too but, as it rapidly grew and changed, I noticed him taking good care of it.  Tending it with tenderness, if I may say so.

Now it is blooming in the most absurdly, outrageously gorgeous manner.  Do I detect a note of pride in his voice when he points this out?

Who Knew?

A little bird told me...

Working on two exhibitions at once can get a little confusing.  I sometimes forget where the piece I am working on is headed and, lately, I have been seeing some boundaries blurring between them.  For one thing, both will be a departure from my earlier work in a variety of ways.  This is very, very exciting.  I can't wait to get to my studio these days.  Heck - I actually GET to my studio these days.  After a very long stretch of feeling neither here nor there, I am filled with energy and excitement about what I am doing.  I feel a lot of self-imposed limitations slipping away and I am feel playful and daring and ready to take risks.

It might seem silly to say such a thing about making art, because, really, how risky can it be?  No one is going to be injured if things go downhill.  At worse, I will feel badly about myself but that's hardly new.  Also, the notion of risk is relative even within the realm of art.  I remember realizing that, for a friend and fellow artist, her introduction of a small new element into her collages was her version of a "big risk" and I mean that seriously.  For her, it was taking a huge leap of faith.   We all have our context.  For me, risky involves presenting new work, venturing into video projections, audio installations and playing with lighting.  I know almost nothing about any of these things.  But my feeling is:
 if you are going to play - PLAY.

Plus, it's fun.

Did you know that?  Making art is fun!

The 'citment

Several years ago, Finnian came up with some phrases that are, in fact, gibberish but, when put to use in everyday language, seem just perfect.

One of these is "the 'citment" which isn't so gibberish-y because it is simply a somewhat sarcastic way of saying that what you are getting all excited about isn't very interesting to me.  As in, "oh, the citment..." said in a deadpan way.

Another is "jazz the mo-mo" which means "I'll be ready in a minute".  Gotta admit, it's catchy.  And jazzy.

My mo-mo is totally jazzed (I think I just changed the meaning of Finn's phrase, but I like it) about the work I am preparing for the exhibition in Brooklyn.  I was side-tracked with some sewing work - more on that later - but after spending the day in my studio, I am really excited about how things are coming together.

I am reluctant to show too much before it is all installed.  Suffice to say...

...the 'citment is palpable.

Yes, 2014.  Pencil and ink on paper, 10" x 14"

542

For the chandelier piece for my exhibition at bkbx, I chose a colour from my box of française crochet coton purchased at a vente de garage outside of Montreal.  I still plan to use the rest of it for my unfinished Knitting Sprawl project (I swear!) but surely I could spare one cone of the more neutral colours for this.

It speaks only french but we still get along just fine.  I chose the grey.  Then I charted my pattern, bravely forging ahead into the unknown.  When all was said and done, my calculations told me to create a foundation chain of 542 stitches.  One can only laugh at such a number because otherwise one would cry.

I use my "memory of a fruit fly" technique for counting the stitches, which is to stick a pin in every 20th stitch.  Remarkably, I had chained 540 when I stopped to take count.  It has taken, ahem, several hours to work the first row but things will ease up for the next 13 rows (there are only 15 rows in total).

Morceau de gâteau, oui?

Invisible

Preparations for the two exhibitions opening in March feel like they have been inching along.  It feels a little alarming how little actual work I have to show for it, so far.  

I did finish my first hooked rug, which is fun and exciting, but it is one of the few actual objects that I have to show for myself lately.  Most of the work for these two shows has been invisible up to this point.  I have been planning and make decisions and cooking ideas.

Stick a fork in it, baby, because those ideas are cooked and ready to come out!

For the exhibition in Brooklyn, I am presenting several of my crocheted text pieces along with some of the ceramic work I have been making that has never been shown before.  I also will be making two mini-installations in the space and taking advantage of a fancy chandelier that hangs from the ceiling.

So, while this might be one of the most boring photographs ever taken, it represents something pretty exciting for me.  I will be taking my crocheted text pieces to the next level.  Tee hee...I don't even want to say more.  You gotta come see it yourself!  Save the date:  the show opens on March 7th.

As for Northern University in South Dakota...honey, it will blow your mind.

A Possum and A Mandate

Although I have achieved the age where I don't receive many Christmas presents and that is a really good thing, some stuff has entered the household this past holiday season.  

First, there is the hat made from yarn spun from perhaps the most beautiful Widdershins roving ever.  It is organic Polworth and so soft that it doesn't feel like wool, especially if your idea of wool includes the word, scratchy.  After much looking and deciding (about a year's worth), it kept telling me to spin it as a thick two-ply.  What could I do but obey?  

And then I made the hat.

It is not the best photograph of the hat but it does include "Drunk Santa" who is our holiday friend that we bring out each year since I found him abandoned (and clearly half-sloshed) on the street.  I'll leave you to wonder at who would willingly dispose of DS while you admire the pretty yarn made into a hat. And yes, Dan, there are echoes of Gerald Ford's football helmet in it.

Our 38th President.

Next up is my Gradient cowl (Rav link).  I had a lot of this mohair-esque alpaca yarn from a sweater that I gave up on many years ago and it was just the ticket.  It is a very fun project, especially if you don't mind yards of seed stitch.  You knit with three strands of yarn and every four inches, you drop one colour and add in the next so that you end up with a gradual colour change.  It is so darn clever!

And so darn pretty too.  I think Lucy will be the primary recipient of this one.  Personally, I am not a fan of alpaca so I may yet make another one in wool for myself.

Photographing knitwear is serious business.

One can wear it in a single, long loop or double it up as pictured above.  I only include this rather embarrassing photograph because it also shows another item that I have welcomed into our home - a genuine vintage Shetland sweater from Shetland.  I found it on etsy and I have barely taken it off since it arrived.  Love, love, love, love!

Finally, here are three skeins of yarn that also traveled the globe to arrive in Queens.  They are from New Zealand, made from NZ merino and possum.  The possum are not like the kind we see around here and, apparently, they are destructive and some kind of invasive menace so making yarn from their fur is a good thing.  Or so I was assured when I kept asking, "you mean, they kill them to get the fibre for the yarn?"  In New Zealand, it's every patriot's duty to knit with as much possum as possible.

A friend who was living in NZ for a year brought it back for me.  He is an avid cycler and can get very esoteric about bike parts and various cycling paraphernalia very quickly.  Walking down the street with him, I noticed that he checks out bicycles the way some men check out women.  In any case, he was totally amused to encounter a similar level of geeking out when he went into the yarn store to purchase this yarn.  He had no idea what to buy and soon had several eager knitters asking him all sorts of questions to help him along in his decision.

We knitters don't need all that titanium this and alloy that, just give us a possum and a national mandate and we are all set!  I think they did quite well by him, don't you?

Don't Forget to Breathe

The aptly named Kukutasana

Taking a break from art, art, art, let's talk yoga.

This year also looks full and fun on the yoga front.  My plan is to apply to a three-year yoga therapy training course that will begin in June.  After teaching group classes for several years, I repeatedly find myself feeling frustrated at how often my biggest goal is to simply not hurt anyone.  Frankly, group classes are not a good way to teach yoga - at all.  I have had experiences where the class consists of a woman in her last trimester of pregnancy, a 30 yo guy, a 50 yo woman and a smattering of mostly healthy 30+ yo women but each with enough varieties of needs to make the whole thing a farce.  What exactly am I supposed to "teach" a group like that?  What makes it extra challenging is that I see the disappointed looks on their faces when we don't do some crazy, amped up power yoga flow thing but instead spend some real time actually connecting with our breath, extending it and (get this!), slowing down.

New Yorkers don't like that very much.  But we need it, darlings.  We need it.

Yet, as a fellow Desikachar teacher once said, (the student) did a great job rolling her eyes to her breath.  I often see this reaction too.  What people don't realize is that doing, say, a sun salutation where each movement is done with an eight-second inhale or exhale is kicking your butt in a very different, much more challenging way.  Or, even more, that NOT having your butt kicked and allowing the practice to be gentle can be the most challenging yoga practice ever...she says from hard-earned experience...

So, yes, yoga therapy.  It will be a training that will allow me to work 1:1 with people with specific (or vague) issues, both physical and mental.  It is very comprehensive program lead by three amazing people with decades of experience between them and all of them are/were personal students of Mr. Desikachar.

I do have my own 2014 asana resolutions although I know I am at the risk of negating almost everything I said above by even mentioning them.  Last year, as you may remember, my goal was to conquer kukutasana.  As it turned out, it was not so difficult.  I still need at least two tries to get up into the arm balance but that's ok.  It feels pretty strong.  My goal for this year is to stand up from my drop backs.  Ever, ever so slowly, I am beginning to see that it might be possible.  Still, as one of the other Mysore students said one morning, I fully expect to hear the finale of the William Tell Overture if/when it ever happens.

And if it doesn't....that's fine too.

Advice about this from Kino.



Stranger things have happened!

Welcome 2014!

The new year brings with it several very exciting new projects and opportunities for me and I am thrilled to share some of them with you here, now.  Some of them will be revealed in the fullness of time.  Actually, they probably can be revealed now but I just like to use that phrase.

First, I am very excited to be included as one of the featured artists on the homepage of culturehall.com for the month of January.  I was among the first artists to be featured when the site was launched in 2008.  The founder, David Andrew Frey, has been a steady supporter of my work and I am very grateful to him for his support and his insights.  Check it out!  The other featured artists are quite interesting as well, so you can't lose.

Next up will be two solo exhibitions happening in March.  Yes, two.  In one month.  Tra la la....

It is a busy time at Studio Love.

The first exhibition will be at bkbx, the artist space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn.  This show will feature studio-based works: drawings, ceramic pieces and textiles.  I also will have a selection of functional ceramics for sale - bowls, mainly.  One of the goals of bkbx is to make art accessible and affordable so each participating artist has a mandate to create objects that are in a reasonable price range.  I will post more details as the event gets closer but pencil March 7th into your datebook - the opening reception will be held that evening.

The second exhibition will be at the gallery at Northern University in Aberdeen, SD.  This project will be more of a collaborative, interactive installation with the fine art students at the University.  I will say more later but I am quite excited about the direction things are taking.

Also have a couple of publication projects in the works - as a contributor not as the main focus.  These also are very exciting and both will feature my project, Spindle 7.

So, stay tuned!  2014 is already shaping up to be full and fun.  It will be great to share it all with you over the coming months.

The Spinster's Bubble?

The holiday sale went well.  I sold a few skeins of yarn and traded one for a beautiful ceramic piece by Anne-Marie McIntyre.  There is something about yarn and ceramics...they go together so well, especially as trades.

Here is one interesting difference between selling handspun yarn in Brooklyn vs. Newfoundland: people in Brooklyn had to be told that the yarn was handspun (this, despite the tags labeling it as such). For a good long while, I did not understand that visitors did not understand that it was handspun until someone asked me if I was the distributor for the yarn or what.  When I replied that I actually made the yarn, she still looked perplexed, no doubt trying imagine what kind of massive machinery I must own.  Finally I said, "I handspun it".

"Oh!!  You mean you spun this yourself?  Like on a spinning wheel?  Wow!"

What seemed obvious to me was clearly not even on people's radar here.  After that exchange, I mentioned it to everyone who seemed even vaguely interested in the yarn.  Nearly every single person had the same reaction, as if the notion of spinning wool into yarn was so out there as to be unimaginable.

I guess we all live in our own version of The Bubble.

Give WalMart a Break

The bkbx (Brooklyn Box) collective will be hosting a holiday sale this Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.  There will be small works by many of the collective artists for sale at very reasonable prices.  So, give WalMart a break and purchase your gifts this weekend on the banks of the Gowanus Canal.  They need a rest after all that Black Friday melee stuff and we need your money!

(Does anyone besides me remember the self-appointed economic ambassador/homeless guy who used stand outside the entrance to the 9th Street PATH station in Manhattan greeting people with "Welcome to New York!  The city needs your money!"?)

Anyhoo, I will have handspun yarns for sale along with a small selection of handknit items.

bkbx holiday sale
Saturday, December 14th &
Sunday, December 15th
12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

bkbx will be joining Proteus Gowanus and Morbid Anatomy Library to bring you a fabulous array of beautiful, curious and protean artist-made gifts for the holidays.

bkbx (Brooklyn Box)
543 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215

This = Yes

Paul Chahidi & Jenny Tiramani from Shakespeare's Globe on Vimeo.

It was my extreme good fortune to be able to see this amazing production of Twelfth Night.  If you are in NYC, go see it.  Why are you still sitting here?  Go!

Really, I laughed 'til I cried.

And the costumes!  The actors get dressed on stage, which sounds a little gimmicky but really it is quite remarkable.  Somehow, although you see these people begin as regular, 21st Century people, by the time they are dressed, you are already forgetting that.  Minutes into the play, you are completely convinced that (1) it is the 16th Century and (2) men are women.

Ok, now please go see it.

Priorities

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Holiday gifts to make, student robes to sew, two solo exhibitions to make work for (say what??), not to mention actual work to do, applications to send, teenagers to feed, housework to be done...

...I could go on.  But really that is all so ho-hum.  What is more important is this skein of yarn and the marathon of watching Project Runway that spawned it.

Ms. Olyve approves.

And so do I.

Problem Solved?

Thanks to Zabeth for pointing this out!

MY KNITTED BOYFRIEND from Noortje de Keijzer on Vimeo.

Mojo is No Go

Coffee, books and yarn.  This is the good kind of multi-tasking.

Somewhere among all my trips these past two months, I lost my multi-tasking mojo.  I am definitely a "more is more" kind of person.  Homeschooling?  Art making?  Yoga teaching?  Zen practice?  Bring. It. On.

Or so I thought.  These past couple of weeks, however, I have noticed that I keep losing things.  Important things.  Things that need to be deposited into bank accounts and things that cost real money.  I am taking it as a sign that, perhaps, I need to stay home just a little bit more.

Early on in my homeschooling career when the kids were quite young, I remember hearing another mother (of five, no less!) saying how the solution to almost all of her family's problems could be solved by staying home more and running around the city less.  I think of it often, in fact.  Even now, as the mother of teenagers, I see how my being home - not necessarily interacting with anyone - is very important to the general happiness of everyone involved.  But the schedule has been a bit more hectic than usual and things feel like they are leaking out at the edges.  Leaking out and, apparently, disappearing because I can not find anything anymore.

Now I will leave you so I can search for that sheet of stamps that I know I left somewhere around here...

We Are What We Sew?

During sesshin, we spend about 1.5 hours each day doing "work practice".  The question becomes, how can I continue my mind of zazen while engaged in activity.  Also, we need to do certain tasks to keep the place running - there are bathroom to clean and vegetables to chop - so it is a beautiful melding of practical necessity and practice.  I freely confess that I love work practice, even when my job is shoveling shit (ok, it is really just compost), as it sometimes has been.  For me, the bareness of the silence and stillness in zazen is far more challenging than being present while I slice up apples for the next morning's breakfast.  Often my work practice seems more about letting go of work practice and my opinions about it - how I look forward to it and how I wish it would last just a bit longer.  I even have had thoughts like, "we should have a sesshin that is all work practice!" until I realized that sesshin that is all work practice also could be called ordinary life.

Ah, well...

This past week, however, my job was to learn how to make a student robe.  I had essentially one pattern piece for the top of the robe and a closet of existing robes in various sizes as my guide.  It was a little like showing someone a picture of a house and giving them a pile of lumber and saying, ok, now make a house!

At first glance, it was an impossible task.  I had the measurements of two new students-to-be so this exercise was not just theoretical; real people will be wearing these robes for as long as they are students.  But, you know, no pressure.  I definitely spent the first day somewhat overwhelmed with the task.  Then I took a deep breath and thought about how even the most complicated project (oh, say, like, you know, realizing one's own true nature perhaps?) is really just a series of steps taken one at a time.  How could it be anything else?  So, I thought about what I did know, what I needed to figure out and what the first step needed to be.  And that told me what the next step needed to be.  And so a conversation began between me and the fabric that wanted to be a robe.

This conversation was not all easy nor pleasant.  The reality of fabric and thread isn't quite as smooth and simple as the idea of it, so I ended up tearing out almost every single seam I stitched in.  But I learned a lot.  And yes, I did wish I could have kept working each day.  And yes, I did spend some time during zazen thinking about what I needed to do next and surreptitiously checking out the robes of the people sitting around me.  Why does she have six little pleats in back and he has only four?  There were so many questions to be asked.

By the end of sesshin, I had most of the top of a robe completed and all the pieces cut.  More than that, I actually had a pretty clear sense of the order of things and the robe, that looked so impenetrably complex on Wednesday morning seemed much, much simpler by Sunday morning.  But as I sewed and ripped out and sewed and ripped out, I began to wonder about the person who would receive this particular robe.  He will be wearing all my mistakes - mistakes that were corrected! - but still.  What will his practice be like in that robe?  Was I stitching in good jou-jou - patience, perseverance, and a good dose of humility?  Or was I guaranteeing that his practice will just be one mistake after another?

I guess it will be up to him.  Meanwhile, I will definitely be (secretly) keeping an eye on him to see how it goes.

One Thing Leads to Another

What?  Were you trying to do something?

Because the pinnacle of human achievement maybe the internets.
Because the internets were invented to post Kute Kitty Kat photos.
Because I have actually been selling some yarn (and batts!) lately.
Because selling yarn then means needing to buy envelopes, printer ink and a trip to the dreaded Sunnyside Post Office.
Because the Sunnyside PO has improved, ever so slightly.
Because these errands are still extra taxing as I am preparing for a week of sesshin.
Because I always put off today what I can do tomorrow.
Because I can not do them tomorrow, I must do them today.
Because I will be away starting this afternoon.
Because I want you to know this - have a wonderful week!

Helpful Hint #1749

If you have a jar of dye made from marigolds sitting on your counter for well over a month, do not open it up, pour it into a pot and heat it up.

Oh, my dear.  I have been in public latrines at bus stops in India that had a more kindly fragrance than what emerged from that pot.  I am still slightly stunned.  The kids may never speak to me again.

Yet, it was all in service of intensifying the colour on the recycled silk that I dyed a while back.  I knit it up into a cowl that will be a gift but once I decided who would receive it and for what, I realized it needed a bit more snazz.

Or, rather, it will be a gift if I can make it smell less appalling.

It is very pretty, no?

But it's also a bit stinky.

Update:  Some lavender essential oil seems to have done the trick.  Now it smells like lavender instead of rotting corpse marigolds.  I hope the recipient likes lavender!

Fair Trade

After packing and unpacking three times in three weeks, I discovered that I am a little disorganized.  I thought I was holding on by a hair's breath (hare's breath?  Are hares particularly breathless?) but today I had to admit that I was not holding on at all and things have pretty much fallen apart in certain areas of my life.

But!  But I did finally find one of the several items that seem to have disappeared mysteriously, which is the cord to my camera that connects it to my laptop.  So, now I can show you some pictures.

These particular photographs are of two items that I acquired in Sackville at the Heart and Pocket Revue as part of A Handmade Assembly.  I acquired them through trade, which is a most excellent way of acquiring things in my opinion.

First up are a bowl and cup made by Kaeli Cook.  She does all sorts of fibre-y things, including knitting amazing socks, and she also makes beautiful pottery.  The bowl has become my go-to bowl for everything because it is so beautifully simple and elegant but also because it is deep.  I didn't realize how much I wanted a really deep bowl but now I know that I had been hungering for such a bowl all my life.

This is the cup made with a design of birch trees on it.  I have noticed that I have to be quick in the morning to claim the bowl and cup before Fin and Lucy get their paws on them.  I take it as a sign that these are welcomed additions to the household.  In exchange, Kaeli received a skein of handspun which she promptly turned into slippers.  May they keep your multi-talented feet warm, Kaeli!  Thanks so much for trading with me!

You can get your own Kaeli Cook bowl or cup by visiting her etsy shop here.

My other trade was with Rilla Marshall.  I own one of her scarves and I had been jonesing for another one for some time.  I had my eye on one particular one all day at the H&PR and I finally worked up my courage to ask Rilla if she would be willing to trade yarn for a scarf.  She said yes!  And fortunately for me no one bought my scarf by the end of the day.

It is silk and wool.  She weaves it then felts it so the wool shrinks creating a great shape.  It is warm and soft and so, so beautiful.  I love it.  Thank you, Rilla!  I promise that I will not lose it at the post office or anywhere.  I promise!

You can buy a scarf or other woven item from Rilla in her etsy shop here.

One Word

When I wrote the other day about feeling not completely at home in the craft-only world nor in the art-only world, a person commented and asked me to say more.  Well, you hardly have to twist my arm to get me to say more (it is far more challenging to say less!), so I will do my best to explain further and clarify what I was getting at.

My thoughts were sparked by a question that someone asked at the closing remarks of A Handmade Assembly, which was, can you describe in one word what is different about what we are up to (if I may use the word, "we") as opposed to any other artist.  People came up with all sorts of replies, mostly more than one word but some of the words that did get spoken of were: sincerity, attitude, honesty.  I especially like attitude.  Maybe I would add: generousity.

But it is a slippery slope.  Everything we said also could be applied to painters or others who use "traditional" art materials.  It clearly isn't the materials that make the difference.  "Attitude" resonated well with me.  One of the moderators made a comparison of what we had been doing all weekend to people who engage with a church community - get together to do things, have meals, discuss ideas, tell stories, and generally appreciate and honour what we were all doing.  He was going out a limb to use a religious metaphor in that crowd but he had a point.  

I am not afraid of religious talk, so I could see what he was getting at and I think he isn't far off.  In the end, I don't think there is one word that can be said to sum up whatever difference there is between those of us who take up handmade as part of exactly what we want to talk about in our work.  

As I worked in my studio yesterday, I felt something that felt like an answer to the ongoing dialogue about this that has been happening in my head.  It didn't come out as words exactly.  Well, it did come out as words but not answering kind of words...more questioning kinds of words.  

But who wants answers anyway?

Incognito

It has been quite a week of border crossings.  Last week, I was in New Brunswick for A Handmade Assembly and this week, Lucy and I went to Toronto so we could attend the opening of Colette Urban's retrospective exhibition at Museum London in London, ON.  Colette died before the exhibition opened, making the experience quite sad even as it is a beautiful celebration of her life and talent.

We found a very inexpensive place to stay in Scarborough via airbnb.  We feel right at home here because Scarborough is to Toronto what Queens is to Manhattan.  It is where many new immigrants land.  Here is Lucy at Bismillah Pizza.  How could we not have a slice at such an authentically Italian sounding place like that?

It was actually not too bad.

 Then we drove out to London for the opening.  We shall not speak of traffic or poor google map directions.  Suffice to say, we made it and joined a throng of people who we have only seen in Newfoundland.  A funny and wonderful mix of people that only Colette could have gathered together.

Some of her performances were re-enacted throughout the evening.

Her last drawings, which were very much about her bodily experiences of cancer, although made before her diagnosis.

I think Colette would have approved of this!

Feeling her presence so strongly, it was hard not to wish her presence was really there.  She has left such a large hole...we scrambled to fill it with talk and laughing and reminiscence.  But....

I've said it before and I will say it again:  we miss you, Colette.