Thoughts and Prayers...

My thoughts and prayers for the continued recovery of the Japanese people on the 2nd anniversary of the horrendous earthquake and tidal wave that devastated so many on March 11, 2011.  300,000 people are still displaced and living with the memories of friends, family and neighbors who were lost. I think about them and send all the positive healing energies possible to help them continue their strength and resilience and accept nature's way of renewing itself.
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18699894&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com

Experiencing the Spectrum

I love my part-time job at SCAD in the Exhibitions Department. I spent an entire week helping Dallas-based Mexican-born Gabriel Dawe create Plexus 21, his site-specific fiber installation for SCAD's Gutstein Gallery. The exhibition titled Light Paradox opens February 18 and runs through April 11, 2013. 

Cones of color waiting to be wrapped from hook to hook...

 Warm colored reflection on the wall...

Plexus 21 is created using cones of rainbow hues of Gütermann polyester thread which is fed through a safety pin attached to the end of an expandable painting rod. Each strand of colored thread is attached to the wall around a hook and wound back to another hook on a column across the room.   It's like catching beams of light as we build the piece thread by thread.  

Plexus (warm) at the end of Day 3

It felt in so many ways like my early pre warping board days of winding a warp around chair legs. But this was so much more rhythmic and mesmerizing... and there is a lovely zipping sound the thread made as it raced through the magic wand to the next hook! It felt like action painting in thread! SCAD fibers students did most of the high ladder hooking while I hooked atbthe lower levels and counted out the numbers of the pattern Dawe meticulously created for his piece.  

Light WARM side... Yellow to Violet Palette... 

Dark WARM side... Violet to Yellow Pallette...

Light COOL side - Yellow Green to Marine Blue Palette...

Dark COOL side - Marine Blue to Yellow Green Palette...

 

The artist checking the hooks and threads the end of Day 4.

The mixture of colors when the Warm is seen through the Cool...

The artist and SCAD preparator Chris Hayes walked back and forth about 14 miles a day guiding the thread to the hooks each of the five days spent creating the 2 interacting constructions - one in warm colored hues and one in cool colors. 

We finished the installation in the gallery Friday evening Feb. 15 at 6;15pm after 5 days (40+ hours) of winding 80.77 MILES of thread! It was exhilarating! 

The spectrum of colors dance and change as you walk through the gallery.

At the end of each Plexus installation... and this is the 21st... Dawe has careful instructions to remove the thread carefully from the hooks.  The tension in the threads is released. The loose threads are gathered up and returned to the artist who encases them in a clear Plexiglass 12 inch cube which he displays at the next show.. He calls them Relics. The Relic from Plexus 3 is displayed on the pedestal. This piece is magical... it makes color come alive and you can interact with it. An excellent article describing the piece... http://hyperallergic.com/65579/a-dazzling-architectural-rainbow-with-political-and-social-history/ 

Cones of thread after completion of the installation.

Artist Gabriel Dawe with wand and Chris Hayes from of our SCAD Exhibition Department in the midst of the installation of Dawes piece in Gutstein Gallery.

Gabriel's "score" to follow on the left for both pieces of Plexus 21 and my handwritten notes to call out numbers to hook to the students...

What an honor it was to work on this magical piece! The artist was calm and patient throughout the installation and a joy to work for.  Now I will have fun sharing what I know with visitors to the gallery!  I am blessed... aren't I?

Watch this excellent video I found where the artist clearly explains his intent.  It is extremely comprehensive including examples of his early work, his Relics, and time lapse videos of his installation and take-down.  Well worth the 12 minutes to watch it!
http://vimeo.com/31383293

Videos of our process from my iPhone... 

Winter Mountain Fiber Fix

I attended the Winter Retreat in Asheville, NC held by Friends and Fiberworks yarn shop at the Biltmore Mall Saturday, January 19. They offered a variety of workshops and had several vendors in a unique setting... a mall! Actually the empty stores were perfect places to hold small workshops. The organizers even arranged for rooms at very reasonable rates at the adjacent Comfort Suites which included an excellent breakfast!

A Mokume Bark Felt workshop with well-known felter fiber artist Chad Alice Hagen of Asheville was just the ticket... Chad was leaving the next day to take a bookmaking workshop at Arrowmount where she often teaches. She is often on the teaching schedule at John Campbell.

Mokume is a Japanese shibori technique which creates a bark-like texture and look on the needle felted wool fabric. The seven participants felted, stitched and resist dyed the pre-dyed wool batts and created beautiful scarves. I was delighted with the scarf I created and I'm looking forward to doing more. I've deemed 2013 the Year of Exploration on Felt!

A quick reunion with Esther Rogers, who came to Savannah give us an art yarn spinning workshop a couple years ago, was a delight! Esther hopes to come back to Savannah this spring to do a workshop at Jen's Frayed Knot. A shopping spree at Friends and Fiberworks to get some novelty yarns for the Taste of Nuno Felting workshop I'm teaching in March for the Fiber Guild of the Savannahs was very productive.

Sunday, after the workshop, was time to explore southern North Carolina's fiber arts heritage. A drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Folk Arts Center was lovely and the work in the center was so inspiring! Weavings from traditional mats to fine tailored and funky textured clothing filled the shop and galleries. All of the work of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild: pottery, woodwork, quilting, glass, leather, was exceptional.

It was hard to leave... but on to Black Mountain for a walk around Lake Eden home of famous Black Mountain College (someday I plan to write the sequel to Woven: a Bauhaus Memoir where my alter ego Anna Werke winds up at Black Mountain College with the Albers -- so trips to the Asheville area must include stops at the college sites in Black Mountain) We then went into the town of Black Mountain for a visit to Nice Threads Fiber Gallery behind the red door... for more inspiration! (There are a great deal of talented fiber artists in this part of the world!) I picked up some yummy wool and bamboo top to spin and some colorful locks before heading back to Savannah.

What a wonderful weekend in the mountains with my hubby -- and a fiber fix, too!

BLESSED

Well... There ya have it...I feel blessed! My oldest daughter Kristin and I had a nice chat about the word after she proclaimed that she felt "blessed". I told her that word was used a lot in the South and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I kind of feel a bit pretentious when I use it... But by her definition it's much more than "lucky" or "fortunate" and definitely has a spiritual component to it... And by that definition yes... I too, FEEL BLESSED!

I've been rather silent for months now. A lot has happened... Some great... Some not so great, but... I AM truly blessed: I have a sexy husband who continually makes me feel loved, four fantastic children with four amazing significant others, four adorable grandchildren, a wonderful family, supportive and nurturing friends, my fiber art which enriches my soul, a summer home on our sailboat on Lake Champlain, our beloved new city of Savannah that fills me with joy as I am able to walk the beaches at Tybee and under the spreading live oaks dripping with Spanish moss downtown, and my bike rides on windy trails through tall Southern pines and Palmettos.... and this is only part of what makes me feel blessed!

Last April I had news that rocked my world for a bit... But I refused to let negative thoughts rule the day. What I thought was a sore on my tongue due to biting it.. turned out to be squamous cancer on the left side of my tongue. Several doctor visits later we decided on a course of action... Quoting my rather young but very competent radiologist ... I decided to have my wonderfully talented ENT surgeon "whack it off"... and if necessary, Dr Doogie Howser would "mop it up later" if necessary. Surgery was scheduled for May 5... A mere 3 weeks from the discovery by biopsy of the cancer. I'm happy to report that I'm healed! Dr R was able to cut off enough of the side of my tongue that the edges were cancer free.. And so far so good... No recurrence!... And no radiation needed, which made last summer on the lake glorious! Taste has returned and numbness is almost gone... And LIFE IS GOOD. I am BLESSED!

I hope that the 2013 brings you and your family and friends many blessings. I will do my best to be more prudent in updating by blog. I'll add some collages I made of my Christmas knitting projects... 2 stuffed animals, 2 fingerless arm war,wars, 3 pairs of socks, 2 fair isle hats and a long cozy cowl.I've also been busy weaving... But more about that in a future post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!!!

The adventurer has returned...

I don't think I mentioned it before I left but I travelled to Dubai, yes... Dubai, on Feb 4th to see my oldest son Erik and meet his lady friend, Pune. It's really nice of him to locate in such an exotic and interesting part of the world, isn't it? I of course wanted to see where he lived and learn a bit more about what he does... And meet Pune, so a trip was in order... No matter where he lived. But Dubai!!!!

It was a very long plane trip... But I was ready with my compression hose ( which worked!) and lots of stuff to keep me busy on the journey because I knew I wouldn't sleep. I did manage to relax and rest though, despite a seat that would not recline! I left Savannah at 5pm and Atlanta at 9pm and got it at 8pm Dubai time, so that was about 11am Savannah time ( they are 9 hours ahead!). That's 14 hours in the air... Dinner at 10:30pm... Breakfast and then later a light snack. I watched 3 movies!!! Lots of choices on Delta.

How great it was to see Erik and meet Pune when they picked me up at the airport! Their apartment in the Index Tower designed by Sir Norman Foster was stunning. You enter through an exceptionally tall doorway to the lights of downtown Dubai stretching out before you from the floor to ceiling windows! I was stunned! After a lovely chicken cutlet dinner I gave Pune the shawl I had woven for her and Erik the Rem Koolhaas book. She said that the shawl was perfect for Dubai and I later learned that it was.









The next morning... You can see the Arabia Gulf and the World islands from their windows!

Sorry for the delay

I apologize... It's taken me forever to get back to this blog. Lots of excuses...sorry...
My trip to Dubai was incredible. The most exciting part was spending an entire week with my oldest son... When did that last happen??? Or did it ever??? Being the oldest of four meant he had to do a lot of sharing of our time besides being responsible for a lot at an early age. He has turned out to be a talented and wonderful man... I am so proud. He did a fantastic job showing me around Dubai and parts of the UAE! So great a job that I was able to fend for myself on the last day of my stay as it was time for home to get back to work!

This is number one son Erik and me is the amazing Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi... the formal name is The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It's breath-takingly beautiful... It is NOT wabi sabi at all!!! Because it is a sacred space you must be covered except for your feet. I was ushered to the right upon entering the first arches... To a small room with lots of black robes (abayas) and head coverings. They fit me with a large one which covered me to the ground and I struggled to keep the scarf from slipping off my head. Erik was okay with his large sleeved shirt and blue jeans but men wearing shorts and tshirts also had to don floor length robes.

The courtyards was covered with floral mosaics on a white marble background. After taking our shoes off and carrying them in a plastic bag we could enter through the imposing highly decorated doors to the interior which as magnificent with a capital M! The carpet was hand knotted and worth over 8 million dollars, the chandeliers were made in Germany and also worth over $8 million. The names of the 99 qualities of Allah were written with subtle fiber optic calligraphy on the Qibla wall which faces Mecca. There are over 1000 columns on the exterior and 96 in the main prayer hall. More than 50,000 can pray here during a prayer service! The building was started in 1996 and opened late in 2007. It certainly was over the top In opulence in a way that the wealthy oil barons of the UAE can do!

One of the other highlights of my adventure was seeing some of the buildings that Erik has designed... One just about complete and one I nearly construction...
The Dialysis Center...

And the Al Mafraq Hospital...

The hoarding or temporary walls surrounding the building site showing what the finished hospital will look like...


The antithesis of this experience in some way was the souks. These were wabi Sabin in some ways... Souks are covered markets -- predecessors to the shopping mall. As you walk through the central hallway the vendors come towards you with their goods in hand trying to entice you into their little space to buy, buy, buy. This was especially true of the Textile Souk where stall after stall was filled to the brim with Pashima shawls...and others had different exotic fabrics. I decided that I wanted to buy shawls for my daughters and daughters-in-laws, so I chose one toward the end of the gauntlet to enter and buy. Erik helped me barter the price down... We bought 5 for 50 UAE Durham which equates $13.50 -- a mere $2.70 a piece! Amazing... I returned on my own on the last day to sketch the sites and to buy solid color pashima shawls that I want to cut into strips to tie together and knit or weave into some garment for me... You cannot find yarn in the UAE so this will have to suffice. We crossed the Creek (actually a river that separates Bur Dubai on the east side with Diera on the west bank) by Water Taxi (abra) passing lots of dhow which are large wooden shipping vessels from Iran that bring their cargo to the souks. The gold souk was full of yellow very ornate gold. I really wasn't even tempted, but I hear the prices are quite good and several of the shops were bus with customers.

On Saturday we took a day trip to Fujiera, another Emerites on the eastern coast facing Pakistan and Indian on the Indian Ocean. To get there you drive over very different terrain leaving the dessert behind for the Haggar Mountains... Very rough, rugged, rocky, Rick Ricky mountains cut by wadi or rocky valleys that are created by the runoff of heavy rains. We had a lovely lunch at the beautiful le Meridian Al Aqah Beach Resort after walking around the grounds of the very, very old Bidiya Mosque and it's 2 watch towers.
I'm skipping lots of amazing experiences. Come see me and I'll tell you so much more... And show you tons of pics, but I don't want to bore you!!!

I love creating things!!!

I promised photos of my Jacquard sample travel bag. So here it is... I am using it every day already to carry my STUFF to and from work and my yarn projects to knitting. It's exactly what I wanted and needed!



The lining..


A detail... Can you see my initials??? S W H ???


These are some photos of a small bag that I made from another piece of fabric from my Jacquard workshop.