Seamless Skin

Expectations and Gratitude

Not much went as expected this weekend...University of Louisville lost to University of Kentucky.  I didn't make it to Trolley Hop or to the studio yesterday and today.  

The upside of what wasn't expected was meeting my great-nephew, the newest edition to our family, yesterday and my sisters and great-niece converging at my mother's for the basketball game.  None of who live in Louisville.  

Today I've been lazy, napping and snacking, reading and computering most of the day.  As part of finding gratitude everyday through the lense of my camera and using aperture setting, this is today's offerings:

dandelion from Carter

Sucession: September & October 2003, Juanita Yeager that hangs above the couch.

Its obvious I have a lot to learn about aperture...but I have a whole month.

 

 

Counting boats

It takes me on average about 45 minutes to do one boat.  I have around 125 remaining.  I've lost 2 days from the studio due to soar throat and irritated sinuses and upper chest.  The temps have dropped back down highs in the low 40s.  My great grandmother called this pnuemonia weather...when its unseasonably warm with sudden drops in temps.  She believed in dressing for the season with a hat or scarf always covering the head in winter when out and about. 

This Saturday is Demo Day at Mellwood...I'll be in my studio hand embroidering on the boats from 10-noon.  

 

Honoring Valerie & Robert White

Our Police Chief, Robert White, is leaving Louisville for Denver, Colorado.  The 2.5 years before he arrived were horrific ones marked by vigilante police justice and poorly trained officers that resulted in 10-11 deaths of suspects...one while incarcerated, one while already handcuffed with his hands behind his back, one mentally retarded man, and so on.  When I think how I've used my own dogged strength (to reference W.E.B. DuBois) from being torn asunder and that my anger and outrage eventually succumbed to brief periods of feeling like my life, and those of my children, had no value in this city solely based on the fact we were a Black People, I understood once again how those with less resolve and survival skills and consciousness fall prey/victim to enemies and the powerful.  Even as I write this and reflect on those 2.5 years, my stomach has knots and my skin is crawling.  Chief White turned the police department around by holding Accountability, with a capital A, for members who took the oath to serve and protect.  He embraced ALL of the community and updated training and focused on community policing.  Still not a perfect system, but SUBSTANTIAL progress was made and it made a difference.  I can't say I'm not apprehensive about who will replace him.

dignified 

With his leaving, the other loss, is to the artistic community.  Valerie White is married to Robert White.  She is a supremely intelligent and talented and gracious!  She is a blessing not only artistically, but makes me, as a woman, want to nuture the best part of me more than I do.  For that, I know she will always be a part of my soul-circle, but the gift of peeking into her artistic process from time to time will be sorely missed along with her critiques and assistance in my own work.  Valerie has held several shows while here and her imagery and craft never fails to leave me breathless!  No one is doing work like Valerie and it is extremely refreshing!  One of my treasured memories is her riding shotgun to my first time at the Crow Barn where we hooked up with Juanita Yeager, another Louisville artist and treasure who no longer lives here.

story-telling

Valerie and Robert will leave huge holes in the soul of this city...

Sign of the Times :)

It all started due to a mispelled name on a list for the pop-up gallery.  Deborah spelled Uneena's name with one e and 3 n's.  To make up for the innocent mistake, Deborah made Uneena a sign with her studio name engraved in wood...we all oohed and ahhed over and then each day after that whenever she came in I'd see another sign for another studio neighbor...all the while Deborah was just honing her skills for the best one!!!! TA DA!!!!!!!

me in my studio holding my new sign close upme and Uneena goofing around

Thank you Deborah!

My thoughts are quiet these days...

so really not to much new is happening in the studio.  Tomorrow is the last day to see Stanzas: Mixed Media Art Quilts at the Iroquois library branch.  It is my intent to make it back over with the camera tomorrow.  Those of you who are in a constant flux of exhibiting and preparing work to go out, I salute you!  It took quite a lot of focus and energy to get the small exhibit at the library ready.  I had to put aside every thing else to prepare the quilts for hanging/framing.

In all of the above doings, the studio had become a royal mess and I was feeling the emotional need for a complete overhaul, but after putting items back in place,throwing out some stuff, and giving away some stuff, I felt un-burdened again.  

The last 2 days I've spent painting wood signs for sign posts that sit outside in the courtyard intended to let visitors know we're in our studios.  I thought about blinging it out with some fabric but I went for "just get it done and move on".   I hope to be finished with these on Thursday with final coats of poly-acryllic.

I'm reading more these days...my current list:  Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due (Kindle for the PC); In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World by Judith Carney and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff; and The Artist Rule: Nuturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom.  The last thing I do before falling asleep is to grab a poem from Mythium-The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Cultural Voices #3.  

 

When keepin' it real goes right!

Its been a busy exciting and overwhelming week so far.  I'm still riding on cloud nine from hearing one of the best journalist of our time...Amy Goodman!

 She was here for the annual ACLU fund-raising dinner and my daughter said Al Sharpton spoke at St. Stephen Church on Sunday...and Julia Butterfly Hill was here yesterday at Bellarmine University.  When I first heard a radio story on Hill when she was still up in Luna, the tree, I was on my way to work and had to pull over to the side of the road because the story, the dedication and the sacrifice, moved me to ball like a baby.  The other time a radio story had this effect on me was listening to Regina Carter cuts from her cd Paganini: After the Dream.  I didn't hear Sharpton or Hill but the fact all 3 dynamos where in the city so close together, puts some jazzy joy in my heart.

I'm going to hang 3 pieces (Cilium 2, Crowbonics: The Scroll, Crowbonics: The Prayer) in a pop-up group exhibit on Friday for trolley hop and then for the month of November I'll have about 8-10 pieces at the Iroquois branch library.  This coincides with the release of poet Makalani Bandele's debut publication, Hellfightin' (Mud Man, my brother, did the cover).  Bandele will be doing a reading at the branch and myself and one other artist will be present to talk about our art forms afterwards.  I don't know the details really, so I'm rolling with the flow for the most part.  

Wishing you peace and joy, beloved...

Stop hitting the repeat button in my mind

I can't believe it is after 1am.  I was in the studio for  3 hours today.  Three hours of bliss.  I applied a second layer to the fabrics shown...the dye colour is brazilnut....looks black, so I'm eager to see what they will look like after the wash out.   My mind bounces between thinking about what comes next for the fabrics and imagining new quilt designs for them.  I try to lay down to sleep and end up wondering about any studio time tomorrow (today) and what will come next.  If I'm not thinking about this, then I'm being consumed with the upcoming garage sale and fielding phone calls and emails about items listed for it.  Its been this way all week so far...over and over and over my mind goes on like nothing else exists...I read/watch the news and it immediately gets pushed back.  The only thing I've given some thought to besides what I've mentioned is an agreement our public hospital has entered to honor the Catholic doctrine of being against tubaligations and will no longer perform them.  The article didn't mention vasectomies, but I'm assuming they will not do them as well.  This is OUR PUBLIC hospital...the one that cannot turn you away for not having insurance.  It is associated with University of Louisville and thus has a stellar reputation for being a public hospital.  I know there is a petition that has started and I will contact the person tomorrow, but this pisses me off, to put it mildly.  I mean couple this with the debate insurance companies are having about paying for birth control and there is nothing subtle about the erosion of human rights.  

I walked into the mother's garage today for the first time in over a year and thought I'm so in over my head because the place is a mess! It is not the mess I can see that bothers me as much as the messes I don't see...you know, the disorganized closets, attics, garages, etc.  But come what may, we're going to do this and get it done somehow, someway!  

overlapping writing in darker value

soy wax resist irregular scrapping stamped dye paint

Not sure how the day will go tomorrow but the one thing I'm really looking forward to is picking up my first crop of veggies and fruits from the organic food co-op I joined!  Woohoo! So I'll let you know what I score!

Okay, it is now almost 2 but writing this helped me to empty my mind...thanks you for stopping by...I believe I'll sleep now. :)

Memory vs. Imagination

My mother is giving up her home of 46 years.  I've been thinking about my attachment to the houses I've know in my 50 years.  There have been four with deep roots and the art of Kristin La Flamme kept creeping in my head today...specifically her Homes and Roots series.  I'm not certain how I will address the sense of rootlessness.  Its hard for me to know when I should push back against the weight of memory or when to relax into imaginings for tomorrows.  I've not been processing too heavily though, just trying to stay focused on what needs to be done.

Much of her household things will be going into the garage sale this weekend and next weekend, plus I've listed items on CL.  My mother's home was her pride and joy.  She appears to be okay and looking forward to her move into a contemporary 2 bedroom apartment for seniors.  

The heat and humidity have slowed my roll but I'm still making it into my studio.  Mo has been dropping me off and Peter picking me up.  Today, I was there about 2.5 hours and washed out my two lastest fabric crushes and painting soy wax on this fabric.  My inspiration is African Kuba cloth.  There are no meanings I've assigned to these symbols but I do keep wondering about how language and meanings transform and are fluid and not set cultural icons over time...again it is that weight of memory/history vs the imaginations into the future thing happening.

Last weekend Peter and I went to shoot pictures at the waterfront.  I just used my Nikon S630 point and shoot.   These are looking over the Ohio River.

 

 

 

Textile Mecca?!

Mellwood is a very large facility with lots of nooks and crannies so I like to stroll through ever so often to see who has moved out, who is still there, and who is new.  My hallway is nearly full and I love the energy that creates, but I swooned when I saw these 3 new studios all clustered together and around the corner from me...

Is it possible a textile mecca is on the horizon?! 

Yesterday's first Demo Saturday was held at Mellwood.  Myself and 4 other artists sat out in the court yard and, well, demo'ed.  I found my silk roving and supplies at the 25th hour so I was able to demo that.  The strollers were on the lite side but it was fun to socialize and get to know more about the artist that participated.  And Robbie Moriarty, who has been there 6 years, is closing her doors due to having too much work and not enough manpower.  Her shop is 50% off retail and open on Saturdays until closing.

Deconstructing

Someone asked me today that I hadn't seen in a while if I was still writing and I took too long to answer until I remember yes! I've been writing a blog for seven years! I added a brief intro to my textile work into the conversation.  Do you have difficulty explaining what you do and how you do it?  Textile work is so process driven before one gets to the final creation and I still haven't found a way to describe it when in casual conversations.

I have a demo coming up this Saturday.  I was going to make silk paper but can't put my hands on my supplies which has thrown me for a loop.  Then I was thinking about doing freehand cutting and strip piecing, but now I'm thinking about bringing the slow cloth piece and showing hand quilting.  But for viewers that might be like watching molasses pouring.   How about making yo-yos?  But I'm not sure where my yo-yo makers are...I'm also deconstructing my sewing space, a.k.a. The Basement Workshop, and have slowly been breaking it down the last few weeks and fitting what can fit into the Chitlin' Circuit studio and the rest will go into storage.  Painting cloth and dyeing will be my main groove for a while longer.    Here is some of this week's results:

3 different deconstructed screens on 1 piece of cloth

the beginning of something...see below the sophisticated tool I used 

 

Al Sharpton, my motivator

I slept like a rock...heavy and unmoving.  In spite of that I still woke on as if on cue, like I do every morning, at 6:30.  My arms feel like they weigh a gazzilion pounds and the muscles are inflammed.  Still, I wouldn't take yesterday back for anything and I'm still going to forge ahead (although much slower) and head to the gym.  I'm up to 20 minutes on the treadmill and get in over half a mile and burn about 100 calories.  On three upper body weight machines I'm still doing 1 set of 12 reps.  I'm going to add lower body weight machines next week.  

Some months ago the thought of "what if I'm physically unable to create like I want to?"  "what if I had to give it up?"  I tried to give this slow, serious thought but answers were not solid.  It was before leaving for Ohio that I decided I would join the gym with Mo, my daughter, after I returned with the goal of improving my strength and stamina.  My main motivation was to never have to answer these questions beyond pondering and refocus to turn them around (and I hear Al Sharpton's voice in my head saying "ride this art thing on out, ride it to the very end"...I know, I know...but whatever floats my boat)

Yesterday I started placing free hand cut pieces of contact paper on this...

The plan for this is to block out and go over with dye paint, etc. and then do in again.  I want this piece of fabric to take on an archaeological feel to...as if the writing appears embedded in a wall of rock.  My plan for today is to finish cutting out slivers of contact paper.

Also, today, Negotiating Territory or Cilium, will hang in a group exhibit in the Pigment Gallery at Mellwood.  I'm not sure which she'll select.  The Pigment Gallery is reserved for tenant artists but also shows non-tenant artists.  This exhibit is a combination and will be up for about a month.

Another bump on the road is losing The Basement Workshop, my sewing space.  My mother is moving into a senior living apartment in about a month.  My options are either placing my stuff in storage or either we move into a larger space...but in looking, the prices of rental property has increased very significantly in light of the decline in home ownership.  The apartments we are in  have increased by 30% for new tenants.  And housing for rent, pffff, a suitable house, forget about it!  Creating visual art requires space and I'm not doing the type of work that can be made all in the corner of a bedroom.  I'm not at a panic stage yet as I'm believing that "something" will work out.

Love a good storm...

Its storming here.  Pot of coffee.  Ice Cream.  House work.  Books and mags.  Sketchbook.  Sweetie snoring.  Computer.  Scrabble...describes my day.  

Mo left to take Carter to the barber and if I had had myself together I would have been dropped off at Mellwood while its storming.  I don't feel up to driving in this and then having to walk across the parking lot with my rolling pink book bag while juggling an umbrella overhead.  

The end of May I have a workshop with Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan at The Crow Barn.  I had already decided that this would be my last major workshop to travel to for a long while.  Since last summer I have had the overriding feeling that I really have everything and more to create the art work I want and that my focus should be concentrating on staying in the studio as much as I possible to even begin to make a dent on my ideas.  

The first of April, however, I decided to try and sell my spot.  So, if you're reading this and have an interest in taking an advanced workshop with 2 hard working instructors with incredible insight into the creative process, or know of someone who might be, email me at seamless_skin at yahoo dot com.  Go the www.nancycrow.com and check out the workshop, Working With Intent before emailing me.

Shortly after I made this decison I learned that Jane Dunnewold will be running a year long workshop based out of Louisville.  If I sell the spot at The Crow Barn, then I'll enroll.  If not then I plan to enroll with Jane the 2nd year.

If I haven't sold the spot by the end of April, then I'm going to forge ahead and plan to attend.  I have to set time frames for holding on and letting go of issues in order to move on.  

and in the vein of counting my blessings...I'm a recipient of a textile collage from Marion Coleman! I finally hung it a few days ago and when I turn my head left from my desk, this is what I see:

 

And this lovely inspirational card from Carol sits above my desk at The Chitlin' Circuit:

 

Here is what I left on Thursday:

 

There is a poem with a line...

"I'm not waving but drowning...." by Steve Smith.  (title is for dramatic re-entry to blogging)

My art making focus is being interrupted by bronchitis, yet again.  I haven't even had the physical energy to take up another creative diversion this time which accounts for me not having much to yak about here.   You may know how much I dislike winter.  I've not been well through most of this season.  It was just at the end of January that I had "a bout" (throwback term there).    And sometime in late Dec./early Jan. my pulmonologist called in antibiotic and I was hospitalized in mid-December w/ pnuemonia.   Its been a very sequestered winter indeed!  My log book of ideas for quilts is jammed and I just wish I could have a long, I mean really long time frame to focus  not on ideas but making the ideas manifest.  

The unspoken threads that weave through the above are realizations that I'll capsulize: one, death is not something one "gets over"...instead it sifts through you sometime slowly and gently, other times with more weigh.  two, now that my mother is a widow, her need for support in many things is growing.  three, it is very difficult to watch young adult children get "seasoned" into adulthood.  (Deb, I really think this is what your neighbor, (was her name Mrs. Sweatt?) meant when she would say "watch a monkey bump his head").  A friend said our generation is the panini generation; slap it on, turn up the heat and we get it from both sides at the same time.  If you been there or are here now, then you know what is going unsaid; and it is possible that the frequencies of illness have not been solely due to winter (ya think?) 

On the good days I've managed to get my studio ready to continue on Crowbonics (languishing) but actual work has been going back in to re-do what I wanted to be finished pieces but in my heart knew better.  This isn't a diversion as my goal is to have 10-15 small pieces to hang in a coffee shop where I'm on schedule this Fall, so I'm calling this my coffee house period (insert low snickering chuckle).  I think I selected October.  Here are some recent desk top snaps:

both still pieces still advancing toward completion

*************************

Annnndddddddddd, my really great news is I have a studio mate!  I started out in '09 with a mate, a sista-friend of over 30 years.  She mostly made her items at home and used the space for display, but since last summer when she moved out of state, I've been flying solo.  I had one serious contender but our combined needs didn't fit the space.  I looked at sharing larger space with 3-4 other artists there but then decided against it, looked at cheaper spaces there but the water source is too convenient and I have 2 entry doors which is a rarity for the price I pay, (I think 2 doors is a psychological comfort for people strolling through).  I gave up on the idea of moving or finding a art mate and then bam!  My new mate is Aimee.  She does daily paintings that are small enough to do on a table and wants to return to doing them now that she is close to graduating with a degree in history.  I felt very comfortable with her and she endeared herself when I didn't have to explain "Chitlin' Circuit".  Grant it, she didn't fall over herself telling me how brilliant a name it was,  but none of us are perfect, eh?  (a light snarky on my part)

Seems like there was more news I wanted to share....ummmmm, oh, the next Artist Interview is coming around the first week in April.

And now to close with an indulgence of being a Nana :) Here is the recent birthday girl!

 

General State of Affairs

Forthcoming, 2 new interviews with artists coming this month.  Both are members of LAFTA.

As for my own art making, I'm somewhat back on track.  The warmer teaser we had weather wise a few weeks ago helped but I started feeling "puny" (as my great grandmother would say) over the weekend and  the firbro is flaring today.  I had good sense enough to bring home some hand stitching to keep my momentum up.  I'm hanging in there and I know when I'm feeling better I'll do more.  

Another series started calling me when by accident 3 pieces of cloth fell together while organizing to get Crowbonics going again.  I'll show it when I actually put it together.  It is a small piece so it should be up sometime this month also.

 rearranged my front window display.

Available Postcards.

LOL Funny

my first laugh of the day

time...travelling

Yesterday we (Ade and I) finally got my supplies back into the studio.  The weather improved over the weekend but its predicted to turn nasty on Tuesday.  The studio is a 240 sq. feet of MESS! but it felt soooo good just to be in the space even though I wasn't there even long enough to take my coat off.  On our way out I ran into a new tenant, Don, and chatted his head off.  I'm a fairly reserved laid back person but there is something that happens to me when I'm inside Mellwood...I have these spells where I become a chatty cathy...when it happens I'm totally comfortable, but it always makes me notice myself because it is out of the ordinary for me.  Anyway, Don is a painter, who has a corner studio with wonderful natural light.  Mellwood has started a blog.

I also made it to hear Jane Dunnewold give a juror talk (she juried the LAFTA exhibit there) at the Patio Gallery in the Jewish Community Center with Mo and Petra in tow.  It was a great crowd but not so much so that it prevented me from introducing myself.  I identified with her perspectives on art-making and I have my fingers crossed that this will not be Jane's last visit to Louisville.  She is teaching her second workshop today and tomorrow on lamination.  I didn't feel the need to take that since that is what I did last year at the Crow barn and that is what I've been doing since my return.  The exhibit itself is one of the most well selected exhibits I've ever seen and had me questioning my relation with colour...no answers...but it is a "bright" exhibit and I see my own work as "subdued".  But I'm always reaching for intensity in colour which I don't think I've achieved yet.

As for making a prediction to returning to doing what I do at either the basement or the studio, I'm refraining.  I'm going to try to be loose enough to go when the weather is less threatening to me health-wise and be satisfied with that 'til the season breaks.  I'm still collaging and sketching and working through some of the exercises from The Learning Curve Curriculum here at home.  Now that I'm home alone during the day I've been spending a lot of time travelling the 'net on all subjects that interest me, genealogy, furniture painting, junking, cooking, photography...whatever strikes my fancy for the day.   Here is a recommendation from my travels: The 1st Annual of Iranian Contemporary Art.   My personal favorites from this collection are the works by Hamed Behrozkar and Raheleh Filsoofi.

Peace,

"Art thrives in constraint but dies of liberty." - André Gide.

 

 

How to speak of disappointment...

Internal dialogs are sometimes complicated.  Logic and Emotion speaking to one another.  It starts out slow, one listening to the other and then each vies for the last word forgetting they are not the separate entities that they think of themselves to be.  Forgetting they reside in one dark body...making the host exasperated.  

Since Wednesday night, the above reference has been me.  I'll just say it started on Monday for the sake of sanity.  I ran a short errand and the weather was not as cold considering it was in the low 40s...but it didn't matter, I still came in with a scratchy throat but not feeling really "sick".  Took some aspirin, sucked on a lemon, drank hot tea, rested, and stayed in on Tuesday.  Wednesday, my soul/sole goal was to gather supplies for the 3-day Screenprinting Workshop w/ Jane Dunnewold and hopefully attend her lecture.  (the back drop since the previous weekend has been a stream of annoying, not too serious, issues with our cars.  Pair this with the cold and you can fill in the blanks).  While loading up the last of the supplies, I could feel the pain settling in my lungs along with fever.  I was still thinking, "when I get home, I'll relax, do breathing treatments and go to bed, I'll be go".  Peter kept asking me how I was feeling (yeah, I knew it was showing) which annoyed me, but it was pushing the thermostat up past 80 and still complaining that I was cold (everyone else was too warm) when he finally came out and asked (I was thinking it but not wanting to admit it), "do you think you should go tomorrow?"  It was the answering out loud that helped me make the wise choice and forfeit my spot in the workshop.  Say damn! 84000 times.

My beloved Doctor called in all the necessary scripts, Peter is riding in my car that use to be his car with all my workshop supplies, and I'm home...will probably be here until Spring.

I need to go see a man about a horse...

My mother says this when she is asked about her destination when she heads out and it is her way of kindly saying "none of your business".  Carter has picked this up from her and says it sometimes when he is getting his coat on to go out.  Carter is 2; my mother is 83.  

I'm a babysitting Nana...yes I am.  Its me and Carter these days.  Mo is looking for another child care center and in between time I'm filling in.  He is spending the night with us and Mo is here after classes each evening.  He has tons of toys here and I'm once again evaluating children's programming.  I find myself singing without reason "there is an animal in trouble..." and I think the Backyardigans Rock!

In the photo you can see one of my  "highly prized" cups that I showed as a sketch in the post below.  The set up above is my sequestered winter art spot on the kitchen table.  When I need to clear the table, I turn around in my chair and pile it in the corner behind me...

The winter has warmed up in the last few days but I think ice and snow are being predicted again this weekend.  I'm sketching and collaging away here.  Strathmore selected the collage, Finding Peace, (post below) to feature in their eNewsletter, blog, and FB page.  Only 4 were selected so I'm pretty happy about that.  Here is the one I started this morning...

It is keeping me half way sane to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge and the Visual Journal Workshop.  I find the collaging much more intuitive and didactic in process than sketching.  I mentioned this on Liz Plummer's blog and she shared that her reaction was opposite.  Anyone else care to weigh in on this?  I'm curious to know.   I'm also going to participate in this year's One World One Heart Event for Bloggers.  I've never participated before but have always enjoyed the blog h0pping in previous years...if you're curious, click on the logo in my sidebar under "Dig This".

New Pages

Look up.  At the top of my blog.  There are 2 new page tabs.  One, my studio name has changed.  You might recall that I discussed the possibility of changing it a couple of months ago but stayed with The Beauty of Holiness because the time wasn't right.  The other day when I was there and didn't over think it but just went with my gut (pun intended) I knew it was time to go with it.  So Chitlin' Circuit: Studio of Karen R. Davis is the new name for the Mellwood space.  Other than the location being a former meat packing facility, there is a double meaning for me.  If you google "Chitlin' Circuit" or wikipedia it, you'll discover why the name is culturally relevant for me.

Also, the 2nd new page is for selling what is left of 2010 postcard-sized Art Going Postal.  They are sealed in a clear envelop.  There are about 20+ cards left.  Most of them are laminated.  I've discounted them at 20 plus 3 for s&h.  At the moment I've only scanned in 4 of them but more are on the way.  All transactions will be invoiced via Paypal.

I'm still not fully recuperated, so I've only been out on short jaunts to Barns&Nobles, JoAnn's, etc. I find myself needing the mental stimulus of colour and ideas plus the excitement of using some gift cards.  I picked back up the Learning Curves curriculum as best I can but I'm finding it difficult to concentrate.  The Visual Journaling and Sketchbook Journaling  are a soul saver, so to speak.  

I am going to miss the opening tonight for Form Not Function.  This was one of my main missions for January.  My other mission this month is to attend a 2 day workshop on screen printing with Jane Dunnewold and see her exhibit and hear her speak at U of L at the end of this month.  If you want to know more, see her Louisville schedule for public events, go here.

Peace,

Juba Jive

Crazy weather! Yesterday it was in the 50s...the overcast kept it cool and it was wet and gray but still I thought I'd make the best of the day and go into the studio.  Its been five weeks since I last laid eyes on the place! For the first hour I sat and and relaxed in order to get re-acclimated.  After solving all the problems of the world I then got busy doing my favorite avoidance activity...rearranging.  I reduced the display area to gain more work space.   Unlike at the basement, I have my portable o2  when in the studio which I sometimes forget that I'm wearing until it falls off a chair or I feel the tug of the tube as I attempt to move around...but it hinders me from moving gracefully (ah! like I ever did without it!) so finding the ideal arrangement is on-going.   The furniture has remained light weight and easily movable.  What I gained was a card table that I'm going to use for overflow items, like containers, paints, rags, etc. which will keep the paint/print table clearer and I can more easily lay the portable at one end without it getting in the way.  Also, I'm only going to keep one quilt up for display except for when I'm actively participating in open studios.  With the extra wall space I'll hang fabrics that I've either completed or are in progress.  

The studio space behind me that I had considered moving into some months ago is now occupied by a fashion retailer for the divas, skinny divas at that.  The shop is only open on Fridays and Saturdays so I didn't meet the new tenant.   A couple of spaces near me have become vacant and when I showed Moriah the one I would consider, she confirmed it was too small even if I streamlined.   I knew that but I just wanted to be hopeful since it would save me some cash.

I'm going to refrain from assessing 2010 but to sum it up, the first six months were great with some dings and the last six months were less than great with perks.    2011 is my Golden Jubilee year since I am FIFTY as of today, so "JUBILATION"  will be my operative word to carry me through the year.  When all else fails, express joy.

Peace,