cosmos sun Americanizes

"I prefer to see with closed eyes." 

— Josef Albers

Isn't this the cutest?  I grabbed it from a whole series  taken at the same time where the bird was hesitant to get too close but eventually gave in.  Everybody likes bread, eh?  

I've gone missing again, sorry.  The trip to Boston got me out of the habit, then a couple of days with my laptop in the shop getting it's guts cleaned out, followed by the big computer getting the same treatment only to find that the HD is almost gone.  I thought it was 'new' since I got it when I opened the studio but they told me its circa 2009 so I feel a bit better about it's life cycle. AND I ordered a replacement version coming next week.  The sick one will go up in the guest space and I'll let the kids have at it and when it's gone it's gone.  

Meanwhile I am working on a big cleanup of the desk in the studio and that took most of the last two days-  seems I will do anything to avoid actual productive work.  Anyway, I ended up throwing out many files, old papers, out of date class plans from when I was teaching all over the place.  Also I am tossing my laser printer and the current printer will join the sick computer up on my second floor.  Hopefully I can send it along to Boston one day because I would love a permanent workspace there at some point.  AND I got the brand new big-ink-cartridges printer up and unpacked so I won't be tripping over the box on the floor that would hold two bodies if parts were dismembered...  Actually I now have to break it down for the dumpster and it's the kind of cardboard that does the work of plywood-  really thick and I need to get the jigsaw out to tackle.  

And to keep my head in, I am working through the huge basket of fabric I bought for making clothing I've accumulated for a couple of years.  I used to make everything for myself but got away from it-  lately it kills me to spend huge amounts of money on blouses shaped like tee shirts so I have taken several of my favorites and made patterns from them.  So far it's working well and I have a bunch of new shirts in the closet.  Wearing short sleeves year round contributed to this, easy to make stuff!  What I am doing is making a rule that I can't do any handwork on these things so I map out how to enclose seams and do facings and hem them all in one sitting.  I then hit them with the iron and take them home.  

Next I will make some jackets by simply adding some sleeves to the patterns I already made.  The one I am working on now was a miniskirt (circa 2000 and still hanging around) with embroidery on it that just happened to match up with scraps of plain brown linen with black lines of Kantha stitching.  I tried it on before leaving the studio last night and it's great but it's the first time I ventured into having to make the cloth for the darn things.  Matter of fact this might be the architectural version of what's happening with my sewing machine these days:

Retrofitting clothes.  Now all I need is a place to wear it all.  

In Other News-  I have been cleaning out old email and have deleted all before June 2010 so far.  In doing that it's amazing to see what has changed in email since then (and of course long before).  All the emails are from friends, names I know-  old friends, quilters, groups I belong to, some lists, etc.  Some thread are 12-15 messages long as we discuss stuff to death.  Looking at my emails now, it's all ads, and very few friends names!  Sure, I got on a lot of sites for building the house but I unsubscribe as I come to them.  I THINK that friends are texting more, not taking time to write more than a few words, and eliminating chatty messages.  And dammit, I miss it!  It was my 'rest' between tasks in the studio and a way to keep in touch.  Sad how I didn't even notice for all this time.

ARTY PARTY

Embroidered plastic shopping bags by  Nicoletta de la Brown. From her website: 

From my series of embroidered corner-store grocery bags. Rescued from the gutter; blowing down the street like city tumbleweed. I reclaim and elevate what once was discarded by creating embellished art objects. Growing up in Brooklyn and Harlem I’d visit my block’s bodega daily, with pennies in hand, and leave with priceless treasures. More than just bags, they reflect a sense of pride for my neighborhood and are a symbol of my cultural identity.

Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown, part of her El Barrio Bodega series.  Embroidered corner-store grocery bags. Rescued from the gutter; blowing down the street like city tumbleweed. I reclaim and elevate what once was discarded by creating embellished art objects. Growing up in Brooklyn and Harlem I’d visit my block’s bodega daily, with pennies in hand, and leave with priceless treasures. More than just bags, they reflect a sense of pride for my neighborhood and are a symbol of my cultural identity. 

From her website:  Embroidered corner-store grocery bags. Rescued from the gutter; blowing down the street like city tumbleweed. I reclaim and elevate what once was discarded by creating embellished art objects. Growing up in Brooklyn and Harlem I’d visit my block’s bodega daily, with pennies in hand, and leave with priceless treasures. More than just bags, they reflect a sense of pride for my neighborhood and are a symbol of my cultural identity. 

    

                               (Because I can't resist Kantha stitching, see above!)

Josh Blackwell

Thinking about the idea of consumer responsibility led me to begin collecting plastic bags from kitchen cupboards and city streets six years ago. What began as an exercise in environmental conservation evolved into a studio practice combining aspects of painting, sculpture, and installation.
Plastic bags are the second most common form of litter in the world after cigarette butts. Their degraded status and ubiquitous presence are fascinating to me, attempting to balance between convenience and excess. Quickly used and then discarded, their textured surfaces wear the remains of physical activity like dirty laundry left on the floor. The bags attempt to redress their impoverished status with the addition of colorful embroidery in geometric patterns.

OK?  That's all for the day.  Might take some pictures of all my new shirts for next time.