Had a great day yesterday- drove down to Delray to meet up with my friend from Boston. We have set up a semi-regular meeting where we do a bit of show n' tell and then a project kind of thing or field trip kind of thing- whatever, something to look forward to. Yesterday we saw what each other are working on- I am amazed at our different approaches and aesthetics- she is a minimalist and always removing extraneous parts to simplify and focus her designs while I just keep adding and layering until it works or collapses in on itself! I admire her ability to mix up commercial fabrics with her own hand dyed and marbled pieces- something I have seen so few people do with success. And especially I really love her new marbelized pieces.
I played around with marbelizing a long time ago and got something beautiful every time, but always small little chunks that I incorporated here and there, mostly in clothing. I'd love to do it again and that will be our next meet-up- I just have to gather the stuff and prep the studio for it's first messy paint project. Can't wait.
So, after we ate lunch we decided to get over to the Morikami Museum which was only down the street a bit. This is a fabulous place, a museum celebrating the Japanese culture and history which is integral to south Florida (I know, I didn't believe it either, but it's so!). They have a lovely lake with walking paths landscaped all around in the Japanese manner- Beverly was my guide and explained that at every vantage point it is designed to be beautiful all 360 degrees. The koi follow along the edge of the water, the bamboo plants click together way above our heads, there are gates to go through, sculptures directing your eye, speciman plantings, and little bridges WITH AN #$%^&*(@#$% IGUANA the size of a Volkswagon slithering right by my feet! No kidding, the thing had to be 6' long and covered with spikes!
Looked just like this one. Imagine. I couldn't try to cross the bridge until he was out of sight. And the thing is, if there is one iguana, there are many more- the rest of the stroll turned into one of those fun house rides where you are so afraid something icky will pop out and scare the crap out of you. Poor Beverly had my claw marks on her arm!
Then she told me about a kayak trip she took with her son where they saw a tree just laden with them sunning themselves. ick ick ick. Florida is the recipient of all sorts of wile life like this- pets that were unloaded by unwilling owners or people who had their pet for the season and then free it to live in the wilds. There are whole flocks of parrots and parakeets that have been let go- they congregate on power lines and eat the wires. There are wild cats in the swamps, and boa constrictors set loose to fend for themselves. People just talk about dogs and cats going feral and breeding when they are wild but it's every species down here, most of them introduced to the area by stupid people.
Off my soapbox now. Dammit.
We did really enjoy the museum and the grounds while INSIDE. The walk, even before the iguana was very cold but so beautiful that we couldn't turn around. There was a major sculpture show in the galleries with Jun Kaneko, an artist I had become familiar with back at the Decordova so it was fun to see his huge vessel shapes again. Also fun to see what resinated with Beverly and what I liked better. Next thing I knew it was 4 pm and time to race home to put on party clothes to go to a farewell dinner for friends (the same that I am making the quilt for). Damn it's cold here- don't come to Florida if you don't have to- it's warmer in Juneau I think- Tell Al Gore quick!
1 comment :
Had Chinese food in Puerto Rico once that I swear was iguana roadkill. Blechhh.
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