Textiles

French General Chateau Getaway 2011 is already in place.  Sign ups are happening!  We had an excellent time last year.  We met amazing people.  And I haven't even begun to write about all the things we saw, did, ate, experienced.  There's many a post, sitting idle, with copious photos languishing in iphoto, to be had.  I will write about them:  ALL!

Okay, most...    it was a lot of experience!

In the meantime,  if there's one thing the French General adventure taught me this past summer, it's this:  textiles are close to godliness.

Yeah, I knew I loved them:  the feel of the weave, the beauty in the strings.  But this past summer, Kaari, Kick and I had the opportunity to dig thru some of the greats:  Older than old, mysteries woven by the way of the warp and the weft. We even inspected some unbelievable tapestries at eye level, fingering the unfinished yarns.

You never know what you'll find in an old textile.

There are crazy stories included in these threads and hems that we'll never know... if only this stuff could talk!

We guess at the age of the fabric, we guess at the usefulness of the piece, we guess which room it hung in or what trunk it was stuck in all these years.  We guess at who the people really were that worked on that tapestry that hangs in the cathedral, what they went through, and if they would ever have thought that so few people would still keep that tradition going today.  We try to become experts at quoting a year, identifying a string type, a dye, a colors name.

And always, of course, no matter what, cop a feel.

for you textile-ophiles out there, here's more

  First Girl at the Party is back, baby.

That's right.  I've been getting my voyeuristic gig on.
I've recently met some very cool, very inspirational, very down-to-earth artists.  One of them being Summer Makovkin of Maiden Hand.  And she let me into her lovely, stoop-envy-worthy, red-doored, lemon-tree-having, juicy haven she calls home.

It was awesome!

And it gave me a renewed excitement for First Girl at the Party ("the other blog").  I know I have a couple other people in my life right now that have extended the offer for me to venture into their personal but inspirational stories and I'm looking forward to getting back into giving. 'Cuz isn't that what a little voyeurism is all about?

Head over to First Girl At The Party and see what you're missing.  Big, big thanks out to Summer for letting me in...

Friday I'm In Love

heart photos: moi

cone photos: mon frere

Half Empty, Half Full

For years I've owned a tiny pin that belonged to my Grandma.
It was her pin for The Optimist Club. 
I've hung on to that pin as one of the classic emblems of my youth.  No, I didn't know what it was, nor did I ever join the club myself, but the thought of a club titled after an emotion seemed like the kind of club I wanted to be a part of.

And now that I've learned more about it, it seems exactly the kind of club I should be a part of.

Optimist International is a service club organization that was formed in 1919 and is made up of autonomous Optimist Clubs. The clubs primarily work within their own communities and serve local youth. The Optimist motto is "Friend of Youth" and the organization also uses the branding statement "Bringing Out the Best in Kids." In addition to helping children, Optimist volunteers try to live up to the words of the Optimist Creed.

Promise Yourself-

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Damn

Yes, I AM this serious about entertainment: in all it's forms! I LOVE this!

Kaari, Lisa, and Kick, this one's for you, too. Enjoy.

A Little Culture Never Killed You

A little while back, some very good friends of mine joined in a group art show titled "Heliography".  Put out by Invisible City Audio Tours, the idea is so very cool.   The weather, when it was dropping faster than a mad hatter, was not so very cool.  It was insanely cold.

But these artists, these fabulous friends of mine, kept on keeping on.  We got to stop at each display along Telegraph Avenue and check the wares.

Each artist was paired with a local business along the main street and asked to create art/product/display that represented that business in their eyes.  Then, you, as a patron of the arts, followed a map or listened to the podcast and strolled along Telegraph stopping to chat and purchase.

By the end of the  night, we stumbled onto the Oakland Art Murmur and joined another group of friends.  It was one of the bigger scenes I've been a part of since leaving NYC.  The street was closed off, you had every entertainment you could legally do on the street and then you have door to door galleries filled to the brim with cutting edge shows.

It's where I fell deep and hard for these golden dream boat pieces:

I'm not sure that photos do them justice.  There was actual energy coming off these pieces.  There was so much incredible detail work here, the insanity and the obsessiveness was palpable. 

I freaked out for a bit before I started searching in earnest for the artist.  I was really, really hoping she wasn't going to be a jerk.  And I wasn't disappointed in the least.  Esther Traugot was fantastic.  We stood and talked detailed obsession for as long as either of us could stand it.  We kept being interrupted by our eagle eyes drawn to her stitched-body-suited-bee installation:   Some, who have no sense of space or respect for the detail in something.... well, these 'some' kept bumping into or literally touching the bees that were ever-so-delicately hanging in the air.

It's really quite difficult to explain the ridiculous beauty of this piece. So, I was shocked that many in the crowd didn't quite understand the intensity that was facing them.

During the conversation with Esther, more than once, I had to stop and lean over to someone asking did you realize you're backing right into this piece of art?  One guy actually responded with, oh, well, i didn't kill 'em, did i? they're already dead!  What an eye-roll that got from me.

Each bee, with a crocheted skirt all his own. 

Ms. Traugot's explanation of what she does is much more eloquent than I could ever hope to be about the topic:   

Although futile in its attempt at archiving and preservation, there is the desire to suggest optimism. My meticulous act of crocheting mimics the instinct to nurture and protect what is viable, what is becoming precious. 

It neither stopped nor started with the bees.  It kept going all around me.

So many more beautiful shots in her website gallery.

have you ever had so much to say, but no where to say it?

Dia De Los Muertos

We've done our celebrating, but you've still got another day to build an alter and honor the dead, if you haven't already.
It's a spectacular, traditional way to remember those we loved.

happy halloween, happy friday, happy candy corn!

from the san francisco hills of creativity....

(thanks t, thanks tara)

Off To The Land of KCRW

I'm off to LA today to family hang and teach the collage class on Saturday.  The thing I really love about these classes is the camaraderie that you find.  Many people have done this kind of work before, but don't really realize they have it in them.  So, it's sharing ideas and introducing some new techniques that get people excited again about what they can do.

After the great response I've gotten locally, I'm already talking classes for the holidays.  I've got a couple places in mind... and one shop I talked with yesterday mentioned bringing in food trucks during the evening class!  There's a back garden, on a beautiful side street and we can craft, eat, drink and be merry to our hearts content!  I'm liking where this is going....

First though, if you haven't already, but are wishing you had:  Sign up for Saturday's class!

 

buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons?

Well, apparently, I DO now.

I'm making buttons by the buttload!

Bazillions of buttons, all vintage ephemera:  Books, song sheets, labels, old LIFE magazines, wallpaper, typed work pages....

I've got a thing for buttons now.

I can blame it all on my sister, who brought her button making madness to the NSS last May.  It caught on and it caught up to me, and now it's how I spend my free moments, making buttons.  Maison d'Etre in the East Bay can't keep 'em in stock!  I just shipped a bunch to Oz, as well.  A great little shop called Newspaper Taxi has bought into buttons!

The best part is finding the images:  digging through all the piles and piles of old books and papers and journals and pamphlets and labels, on and on and thinking there it is, there's the image, and that one little inch is going to say a whoooole lot for someone.

I think I get such a kick out of it because I used to be a major button wearer.  I still find myself buying a little button at the counter top, just before I pay for all those cards and zines in my hand.  Growing up, I had buttons on my jacket and my backpack.  I couldn't pass up a good band button:  I had a set of Beatles buttons that were the absolute bomb.  And buttons that said "question authority" or "kiss me it's my birthday/ I'm Irish", were always on hand.  I believed in communication by button for awhile there. 

And now it's my turn to create the idea, make the button, and help someone else communicate by button.