2 Weeks later..

Oh my... Hard to believe it's been over two weeks since I last posted on this blog..where did the time go? Here's a random update:

We went back to beautiful Truro for last week end:

I think it's my favorite time of the year to go there, there's hardly anybody and the light and colors are beautiful.  The weather was so gorgeous we were even able to do some kayaking on the Pamet. Lovely..

I finished a group of bags and smaller leather accessories to bring to the beautiful Michelle Willey store in the South End:

This group is made using reclaimed upholstery leather - super soft!

In my continuing search for German artists, I found this beautiful painting by Ulriche Panhorst (b. 1965 in Germany, lives in Holland) on Art Propelled:

 Found via ArtPropelled:  Ulrike Panhorst; “no 325 watcher and watched

It reminds me of Cy Twombly.

A huge thanks to  Kathryn Clark for showing my indigo  teabag panel in her article on Boros on Handful of Salt:

Make sure to read her article there and to visit her blog regularly if you aren't a regular follower yet; she always finds great fiber artists.

Have a good week everyone!

A little fix of Habu - NYC

I did a quick trip to New York this week end to look for various supplies and my favorite stop was Habu Textiles. If, like me, you have a weak spot for yarn and thread,

netting,

natural fibers,

and stitching

then Habu is the place..

Snow remedy

That's it. Every time we get snow from now on, I'll post something that evokes warmth and sun.



pics from misc trips to Oaxaca, Mexico (see them on flickr)



 Take that, Winter.. You are not the boss of me.

Woodblock Printing in Rajasthan

Oh my, how lovely, lovely, lovely...  One of the many things I want to learn how to do.. and one of the many places I want to go to.. that I know I will go to..

 from West Elm via Once Upon a Tea Time

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Embroidery thread on cotton, glass beads, approx.
4 x 2 3/4 in.

Oh boy do I wish I could be in Oaxaca right now, celebrating the Day of the Dead... I've been going every year for the last 5 years but never for this holiday which is probably one of the biggest celebration there. I love the idea of celebrating the deads in a joyful fashion and welcoming their spirit back to your life for the occasion.  Maybe next year... In the meantime, I found a few pictures on Flickr here and there; here are some of my favorites:



All above photographs (c) Glen Van Etten

 The top photograph was actually a student art project to commemorate the women killed along the Texas/Mexico border & each skull has the name of one woman killed in the Juarez, Mexico area. Read more about that here.

But I'm moving away from the JOYOUS spirit here... so some more pictures...





Above two photographs Copyright Luis M. Valdez M.

Above three photographs Copyright Christophe Morrisset



 Again, you can see more pictures on Flickr. Also a sweet video of the party in Oaxaca here.

And now, off to honor my own dead, with a glass of vino (in lieu of sugar skulls)...

Gallery for Oceanic Art at the Met - NYC

One of the hightlights of the week end was to walk through the "new" gallery for Oceanic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (it reopened in 2007).  In the early 70's, the Met commissioned 24 Kwoma artists to paint the panels needed to make the roof of a tipical ceremonial house. The Kwoma are a group of people living in the northeastern part of New Guinea. Most Kwoma villages have at least one ceremonial house where rituals take place. They consist of a roof supported by posts and the sides are left open. This roof in the gallery is over 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, and is composed of more than 270 individual paintings on bark-like panels, painted by those 24 artists..

That should be plenty to get me started on textile designs, right there...

I also loved the line patterns on these bark clothes from Futuna Island:

and those amazing totems:

Weekend in NYC

 

Just came back from NYC where we had a great time just wandering around, taking in the diversity, creativity and energy that comes with all of that.. I was so in need of a fix!

I'll post later this week about the great Richter drawings we saw at the Drawing Center as well as the amazing Arts of Oceania Gallery at the Met.. 

In the meantime, a few random pictures of our walks..



We ran into the Levi's Photo Workshop, a temporary public space that offers a professional-grade production studio, vintage camera rental, digital design stations, exciting printing equipment, etc to the community.  The space and equipment looked amazing, and all seemed fun and accessible.

I'll spare you the picture we took of us.. they looked horrible despite two attempts to get better shots...

Necessary stop in Little Italy for sweets..

   

Big Bambu installation on the Met rooftop 

 

Not sure how it all holds (they use these strings to tie the bamboo together) but there must be some big brain engineering behind it all..