The polar vortex may have chased me out of my birthday trip
to Chicago last weekend and forced me to miss a week of blogging, but I’m back
on track and creating spring flowers to remind me of what’s ahead. The
compositions reflect what I learned about each flower in my garden. Two weeks ago I was working on Black-eyed Susans,
which is part of my six-tile commissioned piece.
In our garden, the Rudbeckia are very
aggressive and spread as a dense carpet, meaning we had to weed them to keep
them in check. That’s why I made them so
plentiful on the tile. To make the petals
I stiffed and molded the petal shapes out of felt to get the apparent
pleating. The brown centers are needle
felted cones that capture the right shape and color. I’ll do three image views so you can sense
the depth.
This past week I focused on the last of the three flower
tiles that features Shasta daisies. The story
behind the art is that years ago, when we spent much more time in the garden,
Jim carefully prepared a garden bed and planted daisy seeds. He nursed them along and we had one bumper year
before the patch faltered.
Every year,
though, a few persistent volunteers will appear. They just feel dainty and traditional and
each one is special to us. This will be the
tile with the fewest flower heads on it, but plenty of buds because they need
to persist.
In between tile making came a wonderful weekend adventure in
Chicago. Jim had to visit for a recruiting
weekend, and I tagged along. I decided
to make it an art weekend, so when we arrived on a snowy Saturday afternoon we
drove straight to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I enjoyed the exhibits, but we both agreed
that the shaggy rug pieces of Jessica Campbell were the most provocative. They were colorful and the designs were not
complex, but you had to look closely and take them in. They were at once enchanting and comforting
but disturbing.
After checking into the
hotel and being upgraded to a forty-first level corner room with a spectacular
view, we ventured out to a wonderful dinner to celebrate my birthday at Eddie V’s. The cold and snow outside did not deter us
from having wonderful time, and our waiter Vladimir was entertaining and
helpful in finding a perfect entry, and treated me to champagne and a delightful dessert flambe.
On Sunday morning Jim had his
event, but I braved the extremely cold weather and took a taxi to the Art Institute
of Chicago where I spent the whole day.
The space is so huge that I had to plan my visit strategically,
beginning with the contemporary art I have engaged intellectually and finishing
with the impressionists I grew up with and love.
I found my new favorite contemporary artist, Tomma Abts, whose
exhibit features a series portrait sized abstract works. They are striking in their simplicity, and
yet the dimensionality is extraordinary--they just seem to peel off the page.
In the contemporary wing I encountered a piece by Jackson
Pollock. It was the first piece of his
that I had encountered up close and live, and I was amazed by how dimensional
the piece was. Because I don’t have a formal art education, I set a goal to
teach myself about modern artists and their styles. Walking straight up to an artwork and
recognizing the artist by their style is extremely satisfying, especially
because I have studied their techniques for creating the pieces and learning
what drove them to create in their distinctive approach.
My
last chapter was my comfort wing, where I found the impressionists I’ve studied
since high school. I think of them as
old friends. I have fond memories of seeing
Monet's lily pads and haystacks in Europe when I was still in college, and seeing several more
examples made me smile, especially as I appreciated how amazing and extensive the
collection is in Chicago.
I was just about to leave when I saw the sign for the Chagall’s
windows. Even though my brain
felt full I had to take those in. I’d
seen pictures, but to be able to experience each individual glass panel and each
subsections was inspiring. I could almost
feel his hand scratching details into the glass and painting.
I quickly scampered back to the hotel,
collected Jim and drove like the wind back home to avoid the gathering
snowstorm that blasted Chicago.
It's been a wonderful month having Tommie at home. He’s been doing his Oberlin winter term
working in Carl Bauer’s lab doing research and really enjoying it. The other day I saw his lab notebook on the kitchen
table and peeked in. It’s just warmed my
heart to see him laying out PCR protocols!
Gave me the warm and fuzzies because it’s what my life used to be. He’s heading back today, but will continue his
research this summer.
My big news on the art front is that I was accepted into theCherry Creek Art Festival in Denver, CO (wooohooo!!), so I’m plotting my travels
westward already. I’m super excited
because it is the number one rated art fair in the country and this marks the
first time I’ve gotten in. Now just have
to weave like crazy to build up my stock!
And yes, there were two pies, one for each week, and they were fabulous. Jim is on a citrus pie kick, and he
experimented with a creamy grapefruit pie first. That was nice, with a very delicate
flavor. I preferred the lemon version
that came next, with lemon zest included, which was in-your-face sour and
flavorful. He’s the best!
Until next week,
Martina Celerin
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