Seventy Degrees and Summer Beckons!

After a heavy focus on making costumes, this week I launched back into making pieces for the summer art fair circuit.  Yesterday the thermometer reached seventy and the day was sunny.  Eranthis, snowdrops and crocuses started flowering across the yard, filling it up with fresh colors.  The weather seduced my mind with thoughts of summer, so off I went to make some summer birches by a stony lake shore.  I picked up some florist wire remnants and have been wrapping them with yarn from alpacas that I buy at the summer farmer’s market.   

My friend Cathy Crosson of RedRosa farm raises alpacas and sells a yarn, spun from a particular color of charcoal grey alpaca that work well for me.  The wrapped wires contribute the narrow diameter branches of the birches, and I can bend them as I like to make natural tree pieces that hold their shape.  I wove the background for the piece about a month ago, but other responsibilities prevented me from advancing the piece.  I stretched out the weaving in one of the oak frames that Thom Bertolacini builds for me, so now I’m ready to build forward the background using a dimensional crochet technique.  When everything is in place I’ll attach the birch trees and start listening for the waves splashing up on the rocky shore. 

Friday marked a milestone in my other major focus, making circus costumes for the current Sounds of South members in the upcoming production of ‘Pippin’.  I’ll share a few individual pictures, but I think the image I like best shows the two racks jam packed and bursting with purples, blues and greens.  I even threw in some black, silver and white for good measure.  That was a good stopping point for my costuming, which allowed me to go back to creating weavings.  I’ll use the next month to focus on making art to travel to summer fairs.  

 I also need to develop pieces for a fall exhibit I’m working on titled ‘Treasures from the Earth’.  In April I’ll go back to Bloomington South and making circus costumes after the freshmen class has been selected and measured.  I’ll continue collecting used clothing in the color palette for the show until then to draw on for the new costumes. 

Speaking of costumes, yesterday I delivered twelve mannequins (a big thank you to Deb Christiansen from IU!) to the Blue LineGallery.  These will support my costumes from last fall’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ production.  

 The gallery will host a joint exhibit with a fashion designer that will take you behind the scenes a little bit.  I’ll share my rough sketches for the costumes so people can see the thought process that connects the conception with costume building and leads to the final, wearable product.  Jim Andrews is curating the exhibit so I’m looking forward to getting a list from him describing which characters he would like to include.  I know he’s partial to the grater, the whisk and the potato mashers.  Mark your calendars and come out on March 4^th for the opening reception, although the show will be up for a couple of months. 

In travel news, I’m packing for a workshop in Memphis,Tennessee next weekend.  I do know that my three big boxes with fifteen looms and mountains of colorful yarn have arrived.  That helps give me confidence that everything will go smoothly when I get there.  I’m looking forward to the explosion of color when they come out.  I just need to remember to pack my Swiss army knife in my suitcase and not my carry on when I travel!  

 I probably won’t be able to write a blog next weekend, but I should have lots of news and pictures when I write again on March 5^th.   On the home front, Jim surprised me with a cherry pie on Saturday morning.  Hooray, my favorite!  I think he knew that.  We definitely need to pack more fresh farmer’s market cherries into the freezer for the cold months.  I’m going to have to muddle through on blueberry and raspberry pies until May.  

Until next week,

Martina Celerin

Weave, weave weave...

I think I have finally settled into a routine back at home.  I get to weave every day!  It feels nice to return to a regular rhythm in my art studio and at home with my family.  The only other big project from the week was to wash a pail full of rusty things.  Jim says I’m the only person he knows that washes rusty stuff.  I found some of my treasures in Champaign, Illinois, on our trip home from the Madison show.  Champaign isn’t as meticulous at keeping all their roads as spotless as Bloomington does.   

We discovered a secret gravel alleyway close to Papa Del’s where we found some great rusty things all over the road, including a rusty caster from a chair.  When I got home, I also discovered a use for the boys’ jeans that are blown out at the knees and are no longer wearable (that’s my opinion, anyway).  They make great drying pads for clean, rusty things!  Who knew!  Anyway, the rusty pieces will be for a new piece that features a crocus emerging from the rusty ground.  I have an orange, needle-felted crocus in hand from an earlier project, so I’m hoping I can bring a piece similar to ‘Spring Treasures’ together pretty quickly.

As I described last week, I had a terrific summer season that depleted me of my finished weavings.  That translates into a need to make new pieces for the upcoming Fourth Street Festival.  That’s my last summer art fair of the season, held over the Labor Day weekend.  I felt very comfortable making some new birch pieces that feature water as I worked in the cool July air.  How often do I ever get to report that!  I found several yarns that are really good for making sparkly water, which is a nice shade of blue with sparkly material incorporated into it.  I found it on our trip to Madison at the Knitting Tree.  The owner saw my work at the show and offered for me to come in to scour her place for yarns that might work in my pieces.  The previous owner had purchased a lot of novelty yarns, so there was quite a selection to look through.  While I mostly use reclaimed and recycled materials and dye and overdye a lot of my own yarns, sometimes I need small amounts of materials to create a specific effect, like sun on the water.  

 I’m really pleased with how the water on my latest piece turned out.  The whole thing came together came together pretty quickly because I had some birch trunks left over from a day-long birch wrapping fest earlier in the year. 

My family life has been pretty full too, since the boys don’t go back to school until next Wednesday, August 7^th.  Last night we went to the Monroe County Fair to see the pigs and rabbits, and I got my annual elephant ear.  I had to go through several rounds of “No, we are not getting a pet bunny!” and “Yes, they are very cute!”  Not always in that order, but you get the idea.  It has been a week of birthday parties, trips to the pool, and zip lining at eXplore Brown County.   

We had an amazing day in the park, with 75 degree weather and sunny, with a gentle breeze to keep it perfect.   We had the option to do one run backwards, free-falling off into oblivion.  That was quite a rush.  We zipped over lakes and threw in stones.  The people who ran the lines were friendly and fun, making it a very pleasant day.   

We went to the farmer’s market before going to Bollywood at Panache Dance Studio on Saturday morning, and I got pretty excited when Jim bought a big batch (three quarts) of perfectly ripe blackberries.  Unfortunately, he put them in the freezer for a winter pie.  Ouch!  Oh, and the last big news—I bought a trailer to haul my stuff to art fairs each year.  Grandma snooped it out for us in Bay City, and it’s just what I need.  We were planning on buying a used trailer in rough shape so we could personalize it with our own graffiti, but this one is very classy.  Hmmm.  Did I say I didn’t get a pie?

Until next week,

Martina Celerin