Taking the Redeye to Ohio

This was a week when lots of projects came together. First, I finished the red-eyed tree frog piece, and I’m delighted with how it turned out. I think it’s actually cuter than the first version. He has a much more mischievous look about him as he climbs further out on the fern frond. He’s all packaged up and ready to travel to his new home. I’m also pleased that I was able to finish my new ‘Trail to the Clearing” piece. I’ve been taking pictures as the piece progressed, which I’ll share. I began by needle felting the path, which is made out of fleece that I dyed with goldenrod collected in Michigan earlier this summer, a little brown alpaca that I bought at the annual Spinners and Weaver’s guild auction and wool that I dyed using sumac stems that I collected from last year’s overwintered berry clusters. Tommie and I harvested the fading berries and stems on our spring break trip to Michigan waaaaay back in March. I then attached the tree trunks I made last week and I filled out the trees with copper-wire (thanks to our local scrap yard) wrapped branches. I added crocheted leaf clumps that I’ve been making while attending art-related meetings and while watching my boys at their after-school activities. I like the idea that the piece has materials and influences from all over, which is a concept that I can identify with. I embellished the path with some collected materials. I dug into my nifty collection of ‘rocks with holes’, mostly from Jackson Creek in the Yellowwood state forest, and found pieces that matched the path colors. I finished the piece by making the understory plants out of all sorts of green bits and pieces to give it the real feel of an area where

filtered sunlight comes through the forest canopy over a trail. I stitched the whole thing onto the frame and called it done! If you’re in the area you can check out the piece at the Bloomington Bagel Company on Dunn Street.

That reminds me—I have a show currently hanging in town, split over two locations. Half is at the BBC downtown, and that part reflects my bipolar artistic tendencies.

The pieces comprising the left half of the show are quite representational, and they include my forest woodland scenes and summer birches. And on the right the pieces become more whimsical and fun. The other half of the show is hanging at the Bloomington Playwright’s project on Ninth Street. Friday was the opening
reception, so I got to try out my new fancy top and stylish shoes I got in Michigan. Wearing the shoes was fun that night, but my back was a little sore the next day. Age condemns you to sensible shoes, I guess. Anyway, I had some very nice conversations with friends, old and new, and had a pleasant evening at the BPP.

As fall approaches the grand harvest of roots and tubers flood the farmer’s market, an inner signal goes off in me that says it’s time to make soup. When the onion skins cleared I had fourteen meal units of two varieties of soup. The first was a batch of pumpkin-potato-pepper soup that Jim thought was fabulous. We had it for lunch right after the pot came off the stove. At the same time I filled our second stockpot with ‘three sisters’ soup. I got this delightful recipe from a Bloomingfoods flyer, and it too is now a local favorite. It’s basically a corn-butternut squash-bean soup that’s a ‘stick-to-your-ribs’ kind of thick and hearty. Perfect for a cool fall afternoon, which we had in abundance this past week. And while the weavings came together and the soups filled the freezer, it marked an ending to the summer phase of my busy artists schedule. That means new projects and new things to make in the kitchen! Come back next week to see what’s new!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

From Frog Toes to Fall Cooking

My week started off with frog toes. I needed eighteen fresh ones for my red-eyed tree frog piece. Fortunately, I had lots of art-in-the-community meetings this week, plus my usual afternoon slots watching the boys do Tae Kwon Do at Monroe County Martial Arts. I started off by cutting copper wire pieces create the toe structure, then I searched out just the right shade of peachy pink for the sticky orbs. A little wrapping here, a little poking there, and before I knew it the little toes emerged. They’re so cute! They even get cuter when they’re attached to the red-eyed tree frog. The whole project was made all the more satisfying because I had a support section at MCMA that watched the whole thing come together and encouraged me at every step of the process. Except for poking the frog eyes, anyway. The frog is done—Oh happy day! Soon it will be hopping into the fern background before snuggling down in protective packaging for the trip to Ohio.

I also hung a show at the Bellevue Gallery at the Bloomington Playwright’s Project (BPP) front foyer. This fall exhibit is called “Reduce, Reuse and Re-weave.” It's part of this year's Aware-fest: A Greener World and happily, I was the recipient of a BPP/BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts Districts) grant to create the show. The exhibit is actually spread out over two venues, the BPP and the downtown Bloomington Bagel Company (BBC). I spent my time at the BPP today and on October 1st I’ll set up the rest of the exhibit at the BBC. The opening night reception will be on Friday, October 1st from 5-8 pm—please come! I can’t promise a lot of excitement, but I will bring some nice bruschetta from Trader Joe’s and a fresh baguette from The Bakehouse to contribute to the finger food spread.

My new art endeavor for the week center around a dimensional forest piece that features a secluded walk. I started with some dark brown yarns that I’ve been using to wrap around a core of shoelaces, used packing cords and old lanyards to create the tree trunks and reclaimed copper wire to create the tree branches. For the trees in the background, I’ve been mixing in some lighter brown yarns together to create the illusion of depth. With plenty of meeting this week I had ample time multitask and crochet leaf clumps using my suite of freshly dyed green yarns from last week. The piece construction has been moving right along in hopes of having it ready to hang at the BBC location on October 1st. I finished the woven background a few weeks ago and the piece has hung on my art studio wall in a place where I could see it every day. Sometimes the composition takes a while to develop, and seeing the unfinished background stimulates my ideas about which direction to take the piece.

We had a noticeable weather change this week with summer temperatures in the mid nineties giving way to the first hints of cooler fall weather. That got me into a baking mood; today I whipped out fresh bread, peanut butter cookies, and a big batch of peppered salmon using loads of peppers from the morning’s Farmer’s Market adventure. A lot of that will go into the freezer. I even planned out a recipe for pumpkin and red pepper fall soup to make soon. And so the choice becomes cook, felt, or weave, which should I do first!?

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

My September 11th

Today is anniversary day—Jim and I were married on September 11, 1999! Two boys and a lot of art later, I’m sooo happy with how things have worked out.

Today was a low-key rainy Saturday, which is what I have needed after a long summer of art fairs. I spent a bit of time today wrapping fern leaves for a commissioned piece featuring a red-eyed tree frog. I finished the woven background a while ago, and I’ve felted the body of the frog in my spare moments over the past few weeks. The frog’s skin should start appearing this week! That left the green yarn I needed for the fern leaves, which meant a dip in my big dye pots. I did some experimenting with overdyeing some wool and wool blend yarns and the final colors were very interesting. The wool showed a lot of variegation, which is just what I was looking for to create plant tissues. Plant leaves normally have a lot of depth and variation of color that often goes unnoticed until you look carefully. To create the fern leaves I wrap brass flashing with the just-right green yarn I dyed, and the flashing came from one of my secret supply stores in Michigan. I’ve got a big salad-sized bowl full of leaflets wrapped and ready to attach to the spine of the fern frond.

The end of the summer art fair seasons means that it’s time to restock my card inventories. I even ran out of card five-packs during the Fourth Street show, which shows how depleted I was. I’ve been traipsing back and forth between the printer (to get the cards) and home (to score and pack the cards) and my local venues to get them restocked. It’s been fun to catch up with friends at places such as Wonderlab, By Hand Gallery and Bloomingfoods when I bring in fresh cards. It’s also nice to get the checks in the mail when the cards sell! It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling when people buy the cards to share or frame them, especially when they’re familiar with the art pieces they’re based on.

As summer fades and the heat yields to cooler temperatures, it’s time to start thinking about fall traditions. My newest ‘tradition’ is wet-felting merino wool scarves, and I have to get busy on that front. Happily, I’ve been accepted into the Krasl Holly Market (in St. Joseph, MI) this November to show my scarves. I want to send about a dozen pieces, and I want to test out some new design ideas. Rather than having solid or lattice scarves, which was my starting point, I want to experiment with connected ring designs. It may not be a surprise, but I want to incorporate some more dimensional aspects into the designs, such as leaves dangling from the scarves. I also want to work with some more earthy tones, bringing in more browns and golds. I think I’m channeling the drying and fading plants in the garden after a long, hot, dry summer. The cooler air just makes me want to switch from bright greens to Midwest autumn browns. It’s also time to abandon summer-fresh bruschetta and start thinking about chopping up vegetables for fall soups! There’s always something to look forward to, isn’t there!


Until next week…

Martina Celerin