Brin Webster's project MASS VENTRILOQUISM, performed at Göteborg’s Natural History Museum in Sweden, beautifully draws our attention to the connection between Jackie Kennedy, public service and (here's the best part) a taxidermied whale. The well appointed salon inside Carolina the antique whale, was the setting for this staged reading by 15 Swedish women who interact with the public daily. The video, available on Brin's website here, gives us a rare intimate peek inside and the history of this quirky extremely large object that is now only open to the public once a year, on voting day. Be sure and listen to the footnotes at the end of the piece. They tie all of these seemingly unrelated topics together and at the same moment give you a new admiration for two first ladies, public servants, our right to vote and the world's largest mammal. pssssssssssst...in all fairness for those readers who don't know, Brin is my youngest daughter, an amazing artist, writer, listener, and pickler.
A remarkable by product of art is our connecting with the rest of the world. "If I love Mozart and you love Mozart, it's likely we won't try and kill each other" my badly paraphrased quote from Milton Glaser. I think that's what James Turrell's work does for anyone who sits in front of, beside or beneath it. A man with more tenacity than most of us, Turell has for the last 30 years been transforming an extinct volcano into a celestial observatory. Taught meditation and the search for inward light by his Quaker grandmother as a small child, his fascination with the phenomena of light is driven by the search for mankind’s place in the universe. If you can't make it to his crater for some introspective time, I'd like to suggest your local Quaker meeting house. For some reason I usually reap the benefits of a Sunday meeting on Tuesdays. Sitting in a silent meeting with a small group of strangers for about an hour is a powerful thing. Below are some images of Turell's work and to read more on him you can go here. He's also included in the PBS series, available on netflix or Hulu called Art in the 21st Century.
I have a friend, going through a pretty rough time right now. Some frightening health issues have made a lot his friends, many artists, want to do something. So we've started secretly folding origami cranes for him. The japanese tradition of folding 1000 cranes as a gift, Senbazu, is often done for a couple to be married, or a wellness wish for someone sick. What we're all finding, that after we finally get the folding down, the repetition has become addictive. We're texting each other results from obsessed lunch hour folding sessions. I find myself during stressful moments thinking, maybe I'll just fold for twenty minutes. The big number, the results we need, fades to the background and getting lost in the rhythmic moments brings a calm. Meditation. The irony is, my friend's illness is bringing so much of us gratitude for what we have, for having him as an exceptional friend, and now a peace through origami. It's a secret mission, a surprise, maybe for his birthday or just a day in the near future he may need 1000 little reminders of how we feel about him. In the meantime, my elbows are a little sore, the arthritis in my right thumb is flaring but I keep knowing he's going to be ok.
My friend, Alison Bruun, who often refers to herself as an art elf, is patiently teaching all of us how to fold. An amazing paper and metals artist in her own right, she can get a little extreme when she takes on a project. She's been seeing how tiny a crane she can fold. Yes, that is a regular size penny and Alison's finger. Photos thanks to Jason at Rag and Bone Bindery.
Self love, the most difficult love affair to have, seems to be where all love needs to begin. But we run so fast from it. Galway Kinnell's poem, St Francis and The Sow softens me to the idea every time I read it. Wouldn't it be remarkable if we didn't need to reteach ourselves our loveliness? Photo from one of the best journeys to self love ever made, Babe.
Saint Francis and the Sow
The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and
blowing beneath them: the long, perfect loveliness of sow.
-Galway Kinnell
pssst... I know I tell everyone I love all colors equally but green and I definitely have a special relationship. Green with green with green I can't get enough of. The clay artist Meredith Dittmar knows how to make a whole lot of greens hum together.
Bakelite. Don't get me started. Especially chunky, carved, dangling, warming, fragrant, lickable, seductive green bakelite. Even bakelite wanna-bees, I am in love. Some choice finds on etsy.
To steal these right out from under me go to banginbangles for the carved bracelet, buttons can be found at baklijewels here, that maple box here, get the bakelite look chain from ivorymorgan here, and it will hurt but the carved green onyx bracelet you can get from janeleven here.
My friend, Roanne Robbins is a wonderful force of nature, with mother nature's sometimes overlooked lovelies. She can take the lowliest twigs, bit of moss, whisper of shard and make an arrangement that will stop you, draw you closer, and catch your breathe. Ro does it all very casually with a little yeah, whatever twinkle. I love walking around my yard or any little patch of green with her. The trickle of information and inspiring possibilities she shares is genius. And I very rarely throw the overused "G" word around. She's written a book with Sara Begg Townsend for Storey Press that guides you through 4 seasons of container gardening. Beautifully executed, with photos by John Gruen, the book gives practical information that is a starting point for your own creativity. I keep sneaking peeks inside to remind myself Spring will come again and there's still a lot of beauty to be found outside my frozen door step. For more Roanne inspiration go to her blog, Nature Contained here.
For weeks prior, I always anticipate Valentines day with lots of romantic, sweet possibilities. Then all of a sudden it's here. Yikes do I have enough candy hearts to spell out exactly how much I love my sweetheart? Maybe not completely, but what it really comes down to is stopping and looking at each other and acknowledging he or she still makes the knees wobble. I am a sap, the whole falling in love and chemical attraction thing fills me with wonder and actually cracks me up. How do we go toward one person and not the other? Guess it is a lot of science. Or smelling they tell us. I've become totally addicted to Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno on the Sundance Chanel. If you haven't seen the series, sit with your valentine and giggle through these little shorts on how animal's mate. But be prepared, even though the sets and costumes are fabulously kitchy, and have child's play quality, there are A LOT of penises. And some shocking facts about how animals and bugs make love. Isabella writes and performs and the talented Andy Byers created the sets, costumes and wrote the score. I am green with envy, I would have loved to have done all of it. To see the whole collection you can go here.
I'm pretty proud of the work that's gone into this new site for my client, Mole Hollow Candles. A great trusting client, very talented friends, and of course a boyfriend who knows how to point and shoot, even in the dark. The transformation started 2 years ago for the logo, package design, product photography, lifestyle photography and today the switch was flipped for the new website. My friends do look beautiful sitting around a table by candle light, especially these candles.
My friend, Arley-Rose Torsone is a monster graphic designer, font maker, sign painter, letterpress printer, musician, and fine artist. She took a little jewelry making class at Penland last summer. As all her classmates lost themselves in earring findings and brooch clasps, Arley went nuts scrounging for scrap metal and banging it into letter form sculptures. Starting this Thursday night, January 27, these magnificent alphabet wonders can be seen at Craftland in Providence, along with many other pieces of Arley's art. I guarantee they will make you smile and look at letters in a new way. Arley has a twinkle in almost everything she does and has the following to say about her work-
"The thing I like about type is that each letter is like a person. They each have their own quirky way of existing, and yet they still seem to function properly. I like the way they fit and flirt with each other like capoeira dancers... or sometimes stand next to each other like strangers waiting in line at the DMV. I like to explore the wild world of type through letterpress, drawing, painting, digital type design and three-dimensional sculpture."
Opening reception January 27th, 5-8 pm and will run through February 26. For more info go here.
