Gold Fish in a Blue Ocean

The fish are swimming through my head this week. I’ve been working on a weaving project in the Creek-Love multiage classroom at Roger’s school this week. We recently completed a huge blue weaving of the ocean using recycled materials. I scoured the Recycle Center and Opportunity House for all things blue, black and weavable, and what I came up with were ties, socks, lanyards, and cords. Perfect! The kids, a little at a time, created the ocean. Then I made a compatible frame out of the recovered stretcher frames from Pygmalion’s. Of course we jazzed it up a little by gluing seashells on the face of the frame, another good class project. The kids also sketched the fish they wanted for their weaving. This meant that not only did I have to create fish out of recycled stuff, I had to meet the demanding specifications of six to eight year olds. Did I say I love a challenge?

Luckily, a school of fish appeared in my kitchen this week. I started out with soft foam from the recycle center and a pair of scissors. I’m sure this is how all the great master sculptors got their start—limestone is way overrated. Then I took thin blue Styrofoam trays—the kind that fish really come on from the store—and cut those into tails and fins that could be glued on to the fish. The whole thing turned out to be a little too soft and absorbent to paint, but the art teacher at Rogers—Jan Barnes—really helped me out. She suggested that I try using celluclay, which is finely ground paper and water. It filled in the crevices and dried to a rock-hard surface and my fish were swimming again. They’ll soon be painted and ready for release into the ocean. It’s kind of like the animal rescue missions that take in wounded animals, nurse them back to health and then release them into the wild.

If you think you’d like to see the piece when it’s done, it scheduled for display at Wonderlab from May 20 to June 30th, planned to coincide with the new water table opening. ‘Gold Fish in a Blue Ocean’ will then swim over to the John Waldron Arts Center to hang for July and August before taking up a more permanent residence in the Creek-Love classroom, the first grade home of my son Cubbie.

In other news, I dragged my scientist husband out of the lab for lunch on Friday. It was going on 80 degrees and we ate at the picnic table in the Third Street Park. It turns out we couldn’t park in our usual secret spot behind the police station and had to settle for a street spot almost a block away. Oh the horrors of the city! In any case the afternoon was the setting for an artistic epiphany (aka piffy). I’ve been trying to come up with a design for a commission piece that fuses a woman and a tree. Nothing worked for me—the face always detracts from the design. Then I was looking up at the trees as the started to bud out and realized my tree woman should be looking up! Her arms grow into the branches, her elegant neck is exposed and she reaches for the skies. It empowers her and has a feel that I really like. I’ll start that soon, but tomorrow (Sunday the 26th of April) is the Luna festival in the Showers building. I’ll be showing some of my work (and more is along the staircase leading upstairs). My friend Bonnie Gordon-Lucas will be there too, so we’ll have fun no matter what.


Until next week…

Wood Poppies

Spring is here, and it’s the week of the commission piece. This week I’ve been working on a green fern piece with wood (Celandine) poppies to add a splash of color. My projects always seem to involve a mixture of local or recycled materials, Bloomington landmarks and my own personal history. The recycled material this time is the brass flashing that seals doors to the outside. I cut this into fern leaflets that I wrap with green yarn to achieve the rigid structure I need to grow the ferns out of the frame. The brass comes from the ever-reliable Kleindorfers’ hardware store, one of the best-kept secrets among three dimensional fiber artists. The wood poppies have special meaning for me as they have taken over our backyard gardens. Shortly after I moved into the big gray house (now yellow!) with my husband, every time one of us spotted a wood poppy flower and said ‘wood poppy’ we had to kiss each other. It works like tapping your water glass at a wedding, only you’re less likely to break a glass or spill water.

The warmer weather of last week was also great for letting me move ahead with finishing frames. The magic temperature for a lot of the paints and stains I use is 50F, and we easily passed that last week. Tom Bertolacini is a local friend who makes my unfinished frames. He does an amazing job with mitering beautiful joints and drilling the rows of holes I need to display my pieces. I putty any imperfections, sand them into submission, and finish them on the veranda. Finishing means painting or staining and sealing, depending on the piece. It isn’t my favorite part of the process but I work hard at making them look nice.

I’ve also been out and about town this week. I met up with Amy Hamilton of Musgrave Orchard and Core Farms CSA fame. She had on her big muddy boots and was happy to be outside planting. The vegetables that will appear in big wicker baskets this summer are popping out of their seed coats and reaching for the sky. That means big Russian Black tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and apples. Plus all the zucchini we can eat, give away or compost. Amy is the only person I know who was happy for the rainy weather of the last weeks to get her seeds germinating. I also went with my son Jacob’s class (the Creek-Love room at Rogers Elementary) to the Indiana University Art Museum and Lilly library. The Art museum was an inspiration for me, especially seeing some of the patterns in the African art exhibit. I made some sketches and I’m sure some of the themes will end up in ornaments for the holiday season. The weather was fabulous and the kids were energized so I got my weekly dose of shrieking. The passing IU students looked a little confused, but that’s pretty normal. The highlight, though, was that I got to enjoy a rare lunch with my son Cubbie on my lap.


Until next week

One more week of winter!

This week was a transition week. I finished writing a grant proposal to BEAD (the Bloomington Entertaining and Arts District) to expand advertising for the Fourth Street Festival into larger markets. The goal is to bring more people to Bloomington to the Festival, which translates into more hotel occupancy, restaurant business and other sales for the community. I also finished my monthly quota for holiday ornaments (10 for April). Those are handy to work on anywhere, so I'm usually poking (needle felting) while the boys are doing their Tae Kwon Do practice under the watchful eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Scott at Monroe County Martial Arts. From there I transitioned back into making a commissioned piece called Winter Birches. This has been an extraordinarily popular piece, with strong card sales and interest since it was first made three years ago. I still make similar pieces on commission, so that was the goal for this week. The unseasonably cold weather provided just the right backdrop for the transition from winter to spring. That meant I didn't feel badly about working on a snowy piece this week.

The construction of Winter Birches is always an event. First I lay out the fifty or so required yarns as a gradient of color.
The feel of the piece is a cold serenity comprising black and white, but it really has a range of purples, greens, browns and grays. I've posted a picture so you can get an idea about what this means. Construction of the birches themselves is an adventure in recycled art itself. I wrap shoelaces, cord and old packing string in a special white yarn that has brown and beige strings hanging out. There are a few secret finishing touches, but well, they're secret! It gives me an inner pride to look at it, knowing all that's inside--kind of like watching your child at play.

The last transition for the week was unexpected and less welcome. I developed a kidney infection, which I first tried to overcome by drinking lots of water. I drank so much that the city people came by to see if we had a broken line in the house. OK, I'm kidding about that one, but my skin did start to dry out from all the hand washing. The situation got worse and worse until I got to the doctor and onto antibiotics. The good news is that I'm feeling better. The bad news is that I'll miss the Fleece Fair in Greencastle this weekend. That's very sad. I'll save some money, but I'll miss out on all the cool things I didn't know that I needed.

In the yard I'm still waiting for the newly planted cherry and peach trees to pop out of the bud stage. C'mon, c'mon! The tulips that are closest to the house are opening into purple, yellow, and red displays. The antlered grounds crew neatly cuts the rest back to the ground. On the road my show at the Shower's building looks lovely. Stop in and see 'Inch by Inch and Row by Row' while you're at the Farmer's Market this month!


Until next week…

The Pulitzer Prize for practical writing goes to…

This week my artistic side has taken a back seat to my business persona. What she’s doing back there, well, I don’t know, but I’m sure she’s dreaming up some new pieces. It is spring, though, so you never know. I put on my Fourth Street Festival hat this week and, along with Cappi Phillips and Dawn Adams, put together a presentation for the City Elders to try to expand the festival layout. The goal is to expand along the remaining segment of Fourth Street toward the University, and to capture a little of Dunn. We met with the Chief of police and the Fire Chief, as well as the person in charge of Engineering for the city. The committee members did a lot of legwork before the meeting and I think our plan was well received. Then it was off to lunch to celebrate with Cappi and Dawn to Samira for their excellent lunch buffet. We took advantage of the nice weather and strolled through some of the art venues. I picked up my ‘Tomatoes’ piece from the Wandering Turtle for the ‘Inch by Inch and Row by Row’ show in the Showers building atrium, meant to coincide with the opening of the Farmer’s Market. We also admired the new abstract pieces at Gallery North. It’s nice work, but it’s a little weak on the abstract fiber art in my estimation.

The other big projects this week all involve writing. I wrote a grant proposal to the BCAC (Bloomington City Arts Commission) to request support for our proposed Children’s booth project. Last year we had a great time creating the Community Tree. Amy Brier carved a limestone trunk for us and I made branches and leaves. Throughout the year I collected materials that children could use to decorate the leaves. We got some great pieces that ranged from painted leaves to mosaic pieces with glued-on materials in all colors and styles. It was great fun, and the piece now stands in the Showers building. This year we’re going to create a huge Community BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District) mosaic in four pieces. I also put together a press release to announce the show I’m doing with Cappi Phillips in Fort Wayne. To fill in the gaps I was needle-felting ornaments for the upcoming holiday season—I finished number 25 this week! They’re rather time intensive to make, so I have a target of ten each month to get ready for the winter season.

On a last note, we’re well into the spring bloom in the yard. The deer food—oops, I mean tulips—that are in protected areas near the house are just opening (hooray!). The rest are munched down the ground. The darn critters come right into the back yard and graze through the gardens. I’m also watching a huge tangle of foliage emerge that will soon send up a purple trial balloon for the rest of the garden to see if it’s really spring. OK, it’s actually just an allium with a big flower, but that’s the way it seems.


Until next week…

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

What a hectic week! I’m trying to get ready for two shows and the deadlines are approaching. The “Inch by Inch, Row by Row” show will hang in the Showers Building on March 31st, just in time for the outdoor Farmers Market. That’s our morning breakfast spot in the summer, which translates into a scone or muffin and juice at the picnic tables next to the market. When you can’t get the kids out of the house, the appeal of a fresh, big cookie usually does the trick. Back to the show—it turns out that art and deadlines don’t always mix well. I was hurrying to finish the last pieces because Tom the Photographer (Tom Bertolaccini) was coming at 10 a.m. Thursday to photograph my most recent work. I’ve been up early frantically finishing the hands and the bean plant you see in the picture. I also finished the signature piece (Inch by Inch, Row by Row) in time to be photographed, along with ‘Sangria’, ‘Fresh Fruit,’ ‘Beach Treasures’, ‘Lawn Flowers’ and a tropical fish piece for the Fort Wayne show called ‘Tropical Paradise’. All of Tom the Photographer’s new images will appear soon on my website, thanks to Tom the Web Guy (Tom Hume). None of these should be confused with Tom my son, Tom my father-in-law, or any other of the Toms who keep me going.

The spring theme also permeated the other corners of my life. I soaked and planted a bunch of peas in between the tulips in a bed in the back yard. I bought 100 red tulips (aka deer food) late last fall, and my supportive spouse distributed them around the gardens. There are 50 untouched tulips leaping up from a bed just behind the house that (shhhh) will be taken over by vegetables later in the spring. We also made a family trip to Mays greenhouse last weekend and came home with three fruit trees to bring spring color to the back yard. We got two cherry trees so they could cross-pollinate (I hope that doesn’t keep us up at night) and one peach tree so the HOA (husband of artist) can make me pies this summer. Life is good.

Some of the garden beds will also get a makeover, thanks to Tom the Photographer and his truck, who also delivered two yards of mulch to the driveway. The HOA thinks it’s headed for the center garden in the back yard that he painstakingly reclaimed last fall, but some is definitely going to cover the front yard plots I’ve been babying along the last year or two. Next week will have a little yard time built in when the HOA is at work.

I did reward myself a little for completing all the pieces on time. I made my first trip to Yarn in a Basket on South Walnut to check it out. It’s been around for a while, but I haven’t put it on my local rounds until now. My best find was a really funky pair of socks made in Vermont out of used t-shirts. They’re incredibly colorful and intentionally mismatched. I’d rather be obviously mismatched once a wash cycle than subtly mismatched most of the time like the HOA, but that’s a personal taste. I also got the good news that I was accepted at the Art Fair on the Square in downtown Madison Wisconsin this year. This will be our first big family road trip based on art, and now we have to start bringing all the travel details together. It will be an adventure!

Until next week…

Gentle Hands

This week’s highlight was a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa in Kawkawlin, Michigan. When we left home there were no signs of green on trees, but the willows were starting to come to life. We drove through warm weather, knowing that spring would come to Bloomington soon. With the transition to spring, my mind has been developing a spring piece that shows two cupped hands planting a seedling. The long drive was the perfect time to needle felt the two hands. It took a lot of detailed sculpting, but the work has benefits: I get to travel with naked models and nobody seems to care. After two long drives the basic shapes are complete for ‘The Offering’, and now I just have to add the skin and incorporate the hands into the weaving.

We did have some exciting adventures in Michigan. One afternoon we drove to the Midland Center for the Arts where they have a big exhibit on lizards and snakes. The layout was great, with plenty of spacing to comfortably view the big glass cases and very realistic exhibits. I think the most memorable was a huge monitor lizard stalking around its habitat. A brightly colored chameleon swiveled its eyes independently for us, which was very cool, and we saw some beautifully disguised lizards hanging upside down alongside vines of similar diameter. It was all very neat and a wonderful afternoon with Grandma and my family. Of course now I have to make another lizard piece!

My dark side did come through on the trip. I had heard my father-in-law talking about the secret M-30 store. This is a big supply and surplus store in the middle of the Michigan woods. I find a lot of my treasures at places like that, so of course I had to get there, secret or not. The location was so secret that we spent a morning searching M-30 north of M-61 with no success. It wasn’t until we got to West Branch and decided it was time for lunch did we figure out the problem. Over a pleasant lunch at The Willow restaurant, with carrot soup at the start and fresh cookies at the end of the meal, did we realize that the M-30 supply store wasn’t on M-30. It’s on the nearby and parallel-running M-33. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s actually called the M-33 supply store. Like good fishermen, most artists wouldn’t divulge their secret spots, but for you…

The drive back home from Michigan to Indiana was colder, but we got back just in time for spring. The landscape went from brown and black (and dirty white snow piles) to displays of subtle reds and greens as the trees started to bud. In suburban Bloomington the forsythias were bursting into yellow, another sure sign of spring. On our first full day back the boys and I rode our bikes to Bryan Park, past the first magnolia trees with blooms and the first cherry blossoms. On the way back we stopped in to see George and Annemarie Springer, our neighbors and the keepers of ‘Chunker’, our huge, aggressive goldfish who outgrew his tank. Chunker lives a contended life in George’s backyard pond, so the story has a happy ending that didn’t involve porcelain.

Back in the art studio I’ve been pulling out my rich brown yarns to create the earth for spring weavings. That makes me think about getting into the yard to plant my precious saved Marigold seeds. I’m hoping to get out my birthday present—a new leaf blower to help clear the garden beds without raking out or stepping on my little garden babies. It’s time to clean the yard and paint the trellises to get ready for spring!


Until next week…

Tropical Paradise

This week’s post will be a little short as I hurry around to prepare for a visit to see Grandma and Grandpa. The big art news of the week was the completion of a several pieces for a show I’ll do at the end of this month in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the Orchard Gallery. The title of the show is “Tropical Paradise”, and I’ll share space with my friend and Bloomington mosaic artist Cappi Phillips. I’ll show several new pieces, such as my new and improved ‘Fishes’ Frolic’. I tried a variation a while ago but wasn’t happy with the size of the fish in the piece. Now I have some larger colorful specimens under the waves. The piece is just waiting for a few bubbles (glass balls) that will be contributed by Mike Bell, local glassblower extraordinaire. I also just completed a piece called ‘Beach Treasures’ that incorporated shells and other treasures from our trip last year to North Carolina (see my Feb 28th blog entry!).

We’ve also had a calmer week after the near fire last weekend. I acted as junior electrician for Wayne Young, who is an excellent electrician and all around good person. He fixed our lights, checked out the fluorescent light ballasts in the house, and looked all around before giving us a good bill of health. I guess that’s what you call it—he put my mind at ease and taught me a bit about the wiring. He even drew a diagram explaining the cryptic wiring for some indoor lights we have.

Last, a highlight of the week has been the flowers. My husband brought home some glads one day for the table. Then my son Tommie picked me a bouquet of spring flowers, mostly yellow eranthus and purple crocuses from the yard. Then the surprise of the week was the bright yellow iris reticulata that started to peek up and flower. They’re just gorgeous. As usual, there’s a story behind them. After my loving spouse had bought and distributed an unusually large number of new bulbs and plants to remodel one of our garden beds, I saw a great deal on some dwarf irises that I really like. Luckily, with only a little grumbling, he planted all the late bulbs (50 irises) I came across. And now they’re coming up! It’s going to be a good season.


Until next week…