Friday, November 29, 2013

if…..

if your birthday
and thanksgiving
and hanukkah
are all the same day
i guess it's ok
to travel to toronto
to spend thanksgiving break away,
avoid buy nothing day
and come home on saturday
having
visited with two of the most amazing women in the world
aimee and wendy,
eaten a meal with paper people*
visited the ontario college of art and design
met amos kennedy (read his name with gusto and delight)
visited the japanese paper place
and wonderful nancy
eaten delicious soups and pesto
with dandelion and beet greens
walked in a city that's friendly and beautiful
visited soma (read with a sigh)
and looked at inuit art.
anyway,
that's what i did.
visiting the wendy/velma book
currently holding holy water! 
the prints
(i made one like this) 
amos hard at play 
aimee looking at prints that amos brought
for the ocad book arts fair.
we were a little disappointed that the textile museum
was between exhibitions, 
but we did find a quiet hidey-hole
to strip off some extra winter layers
so aimee could breathe.
and i found some friendly bones.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

guess where…

i will be in february, over winter break?
Austalia!
i will be teaching three classes.
the first will be at amazing and wonderful
in Melbourne.
we will be working on paper as/on/in textile
in BOOK format.
a codex will be made by every participant
'twill be a medieval style
with very contemporary implications.
your very personal marks
maybe not words, though, but you'll be making
the stationer's binding.
a medieval version of a three ring binder,
only with tackets and hideyholes.
my amazing friend
and proprietor of Beautiful Silks
Marion Gorr says there will be
a couple of surprises, too
a dyepot or more,
imagine: indigo, cochineal, ecoprints…
making paper sing.
making paper string.
making paper speak and listen.
 ~~~
and then after Melbourne,
i will be in a more faraway place called
where i will teach first a two, 
then a four day workshop!
shifu
enough time to delve lightly, 2 days,
or deeply, 4 days, into shifu making
shifu Shifu SHIFU!
we will spin and weave and color up our
paper/thread/books. the four days
will be enough time to go very deeply 
into a formal book presentation of your shifu.
you will reach a bit,
work hard,
and expect some amazing work.
 i am very excited
and i am hoping like mad
that the weather gods smile on this winter traveler!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

working at night

 working at night this week
parent teacher conferences.
i drove by the place where the geese still spend their nights
before it freezes.
 and by the corn ladies
(caught today in the daylight)
 and yes,
they do dance
 they twirl slowly
in the november wind
 allow themselves to be moved
ever so slightly
that no one (much) sees.
i did.
and
 i saw a ghost!
ghost prints
 indigo leaf
grown by josh for me
hidden away in my journal
in september.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

today's journey

"you're not a human on a spiritual journey, you're a spirit on a human journey."
a quote from a pine ridge organizer of skateboarding youth
think on this--
 my neighbor's small barn, 
with stripy roof
 wild cuke, looks like my hair
 when mine first dries this happens
 last night when i stepped into the shower
i saw this small one
 after the shower it went outside
how do these guys get in my house?
mice galore this fall-
many, many trapped so far.
 today i went to lake placid
to drop off five works for an invitational show
the big little art show
opening next friday, should you be in the area.
don't know if i'll make the opening, but four of the rock books will appear. 
the fifth is too BIG.
 i went all the way to keene valley
 a somewhat dizzying drive when the leaves are off
 but it was beautiful
 at home there are a few things i wanted to share: from carol
 from therese
 carol's new book is out
 a wonderul gift from frank
 he certainly has a lot to say about spuds
and the like
i'm reading this,
another very fine book.
 and these came
 elissa campbell's work

yep, i won these!!!
and this guy got none of my 
excellent potato salad from
the lakeside deli in saranac lake.
it was watching, waiting.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

morning commute

 work days are long lately
but on daylight savings time these mornings
 i get to see
waterfowl.
these geese are NOT swimming
they are walking on water--
ice actually.
 a bit further along my route i get to see these beings.
 i love the sunlight on them.
 they're practically lifelike
aflame, even
 and they exist only on amish farms.
where at each end of the day
i see teams of workhorses hitched and tied at the ends of rows
of corn grown against the dearth of winter.
 surprise!
 just outside of the town
where i'm working now
(and teaching a few extra hours)
there was what looked like a pullover of some kind 
(it's usually a car and a call on a cell phone)
it was, however,
a young man driving this hefty team
he was preforming a maneuver 
with the tree and harness.
the horses were getting untangled it looked like.
7:35 this morning.

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