Bruce Michael Winn 1959-2012

Holding an object in your hands often makes an abstract idea real. I lost a dear friend recently and it wasn't a reality till I held the bookmark for his memorial service in my hand today.

Bruce Winn had the biggest and strongest hands I've ever seen. Which made perfect sense because he was a ceramics artist. He worked in clay with a textile designers sensibility. Lush, intricate patterns rippled over his thick, sexy slabbed clay. His love for asian color balance and William Morris pattern was evident in all his fine art and production work. 

Bruce and his husband Mike, were clients first and friends immediately after meeting. Talented in so many ways, one of Bruce's best art forms was picking friends. Interns from over 25 years ago are still part of the family of artists he's nurtured with Mike. The choices he made in friends showed the most in his last year of life. When hearing the news of his cancer a steady stream of peeps made their way to his sunny bedroom in Tiverton to help, hang out, quilt, read, eat, and paint. While holding court a floor away from his kitchen, Bruce knew it's inventory and took care of guests as he always had. "I think there's a few more slices of banana bread left" or my favorite "I think Grey's ice cream doesn't close for an hour. Chocolate would be nice with the orange zest cupcakes"

My times with him in the last few year were underscored with his gratitude. Whether we were reading, drawing, or watching Glee he often turned to me and said "Thank you so much. This is so wonderful to be together. I love you"  He taught me many things but maybe the most cherished, is artists have to create to feel alive. Even when they are knocked off their feet. And creating things for friends to see, hold, taste and enjoy may be the best reality we have. 

His memorial celebration will be held February 12 at 1:00 on the first floor gallery space at 1 West Street, Fall River where Bruce, Mike and many of us share studio space.

Bruce, Mike and a few pals were patient models for us at shoot in the church, just after Bruce was diagnosed. So happy we have these to share.

Lovely Threads by Yumiko Arimoto

I love the idea of an abstract drawing, made with thread, that's wearable. 

Must be meditative to do. You can find more of Yumiko and her brand sina here.

Oh baby baby baby

It's baby central here at the church with my second grandchild due to arrive next month. Tiny things are so satisfying to make, same amount of achievement with 1/4 of the work and materials. Here are some things I've been busy with in the last month.

The quilt I made was inspired by a mini Flying in Formation quilt by Jaybird Quilts and can be found here. Julie Herman, the designer and quilter helped me find fabric online in the same color range she used. My friend and client John Kubiniec from Big Rig Quilting was kind enough to help scale the quilt pattern to a crib size.

Folkware Patterns, my favorite when my children were little for sweet little shirts and dresses is still around and has an amazing array of authentic historic and ethnic patterns. So the Mexican baby shirts I made have been created for 100's of years by Mexican mamas and grandmothers. I went with flannel and my own embroidery.

Lastly the baby shoe tutorial, so quick and easy you can make 2-3 pair in an evening, came from Heather Bailey. She has a flickr site you can upload your finished product to. She just asks you use it for personal use only. 

Lively Lovely Letterform

I can't seem to get enough of Maricor/Maricar. Twin sisters from Australia that make letterforms especially cozy. Thanks Grace, nice posting.

Sweater Babies

While editing some piles for the new year, I came across a basket of old sweaters. I got inspired to repurpose them and I've made a little gang of squishy, soft, cashmere, marino wool toys. With a new grand child on the way, it's been a nice sit by the fire project. So much fun, I can't stop. And yes, I went a little nuts with the embroidery.

A Place for Everything

And everything in its place. It's true. If there isn't a good storage spot for my things they don't get put away. And this time of year the piles are high. It's time to visit Saver's curbside, drop off and make a fast getaway. I have spotted some fun ways to make storage work in a better, more beautiful way and may reward myself with one or two, but only after I make the drop off. I promise. 


www.klauserandcarpenter.com

www.j1studio.com

via ikea blog, binder clips with storage boxes. 

using wooden palettes by josh premuda

Helen Frankenthaler 1928-2011

Helen Frankenthaler, beauty, grace, courage, tenacity.

Linen Lovelies from South St.Linen

I recently discovered the Portland based South Street Linen and instantly fell for their bold and playful scarves. I'm a sucker for anything linen and never thought of it as material for a scarf, but it makes sense. It feels nice against your skin, softens with age and any color sings on it.  These three mid career artists, painters and print makers Mary Ruth Hedstrom, Jane Ryan and Lynn Krauss find their inspiration from some of my favorites- all things Japanese and Scandinavian. And you know how I feel about anything from Maine.

A Gift for the Gourmand and Gardener

I've posted about my friend Roanne's magic in the garden before. If you're looking for a beautiful, inspiring and informative book on seasonal container gardens, her book Continuous Container Gardens, is the one to pick up. The book is full of projects that are manageable for the weekend gardener, using and reusing your favorite vessels through each season.
But this winter Roanne has focussed her impeccable eye and palette on her kitchen. Using the organic harvest from her newly established HoneyField Flowers based in Harvard Mass, she's put together a gift box of treats that will make you very popular with both your gardening and gourmand friends.
She dropped off a little sample box for me and well, it was very hard to share.  But I am now and this is the gift a few of my lucky friends are finding under their tree. You can purchase the HoneyField Box of garden/kitchen treats on etsy, here. Continuous Container Gardens here. Be warned, I may have to start a support group just to stay away from her lavender brittle.

Finding comfort in making OCD Art

As you can guess with all the directions I go in, arranging my stuff in a linear fashion isn't a high priority for me. Especially when I'm finishing up a long term project like the catalogue I send to the printer Monday. But I love with a virgo's passion when I stop to do it. Why is there so much comfort in looking around at everything in it's place? Haven't I discovered that to make art we must make a mess? I was recently raving about the neat and tidy home envy I have for an artist I admire. My friend Jim responded with "Have you seen the blog Things Organized Neatly?" Looking at it confirms for me how obsessed we are with repetition, grids, patterns... we see it emerging in art constantly. I'm drawn to it in my own work too. All the little water color bubbles I can paint for hours?
Here's my theory. As artists we have to be a little OCD to make art right? And we can all admit there is way too much information at our fingertips. Exhausting. So how do we deal and react as artists? Grouping, collecting, making colors in rainbow order, repeating dots, zentangles, charts and graphs, making patterns. I'm attracted to it but it can wear me down. Tired. The answer for me? Making art and designing in a no-tech zone, free of seductive information portals. Walking, smelling, listening, tasting, turning pages in a book, far from all the devices helps a lot. I'm walking away from this computer now to go do some cleaning then I'll make a mess in my studio, which I won't clean up. But do check out the blog below. A lot of fun. Just maybe you shouldn't let it influence your art too much?
To see some of my own obsession with repeat in nature you can go here.
To check out Things Organized Neatly go here.