I’m back…

I have returned.  The suitcases are unloaded, the sheets are washed, the bills are paid, the banking done.  I’ve sent a care package to my daughter and I’ve cleaned out the refrigerator.  One has nothing to do with the other… I bought a cart full of fresh produce and some very dark beer.  I’ve tried to tidy up the house, but that’s proving to be a bit elusive.  After all, the house was occupied by a 23 year old, and two dogs for almost a month.  All in all, the carnage was held to a minimum, and in reality, other than the malfunctioning toaster oven, all the plants are still alive and the house is still standing.  It is just really really dirty.  It could have been a lot worse…

My California adventure has come to a close, and though I’m really happy to be home, I wouldn’t have traded a single day, it was wildly successful in so many ways.  And this was, I can assure you, a group effort.  I couldn’t have done this trip without the help of so many dedicated people who got me where I needed to be, fed me countless meals, served me countless glasses of wine and some of the best dark ale I’ve ever had (thanks Bill!).  Going into this trip, I wasn’t sure all the prep in January was worth it, but now that it is behind me, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  And whoever out there was in charge of keeping me healthy, you did a terrific job, I managed to dodge the flu and the norovirus, both of which followed me to the west coast.

The last week of the trip was spent with my friends Amy and Bill, who live in San Diego.  Amy hosted a private five day intensive with two other delightful women, whom I’ve worked with before, in her studio.  Amy spent the month of January trying to make room for three workstations, with ironing boards scattered around the house.  She did an incredible job, clearing out a lot of clutter and making the space very very serviceable.  Amy also planned meals so everything was in place, and we could seamlessly finish up right before dinner and then move to the kitchen to create the evening meal.  That takes major organization.

I thought with only three students that I’d have a bit of down time, silly me…  No matter how many or how few students there are in a class, I end up working my butt off, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Judy made a lovely jacket, a variation of my workshop pattern, and we spent some time working out a closure.  The three buttons on Judy’s jacket are of Czech glass, and unfortunately while I was trying to measure for the turned tube loop, I dropped one which instantly shattered in shards across the floor and I felt positively awful.  Judy was very goodnatured about it and we switched to some Native American copper buttons which were equally lovely but I am noting for the future, have students stand on a well padded blanketed surface when dealing with Czech glass buttons…

Mary brought some wool yardage she wove for an exhibit piece she is trying to create.  She really only needed me to help her fit the muslin, and then we talked about the work as she moved along.  Taking photos of the progress shows things that aren’t normally picked up by eye, and Mary couldn’t have seen what the camera saw because the problem was behind her.  I didn’t like the way the grainlines curved down the lower portion of the side back, which I immediately saw when I looked at the photo, so she carefully took the seam apart and restitched.  I rarely get to see the actual finished piece, there is always much finishing and hand work to do once the workshop is completed, but I’ve known Mary for a long time and she does really wonderful handwoven garments and it was a pleasure to work with her again. And I can’t wait to see the finished photos.

And of course my fearless hostess Amy had quite a different agenda.  Amy wanted patterns that fit.  She is a felter and a weaver and has a body that doesn’t follow standard sizing guidelines.  We took apart some garments to remake them, we corrected a handful of commercial patterns to give her some fitting slopers for future designs, we made a ton of muslins, and I showed her how to copy an existing garment which is a great skill to have when you do find something that fits well.

After a few days of rain in San Diego, the sun came out and the last couple of days the temperature warmed up to the 70’s.  Prior to that, I think I wore my winter coat almost every day.  Amy and Bill’s gardens are lovely and of course they can have plants that I can only dream of, here in the northeast, unless I put them in my house in the winter.  The walk way shows the view I see when I look out my bedroom window which is on the right.  It is lovely to wake up and see green and still be private.  I caught a couple of plants shimmering in the sunlight and it helps since here in NJ it is mostly cold and grey and dead.  (Though there are about two inches of bulb tips poking out of the ground…)

Amy and Bill are fantastic cooks, but we decided Saturday night to send out for pizza.  I adore anchovies, but almost no one else does, even my husband won’t let me get them on our pizzas because he thinks they contaminate the rest of the pie.  So I get my own personal serving of anchovies, in a sealed container.  They are perfect for snacking.  Oh, and did I mention that Bill and I both adore dark beer?  The Harviestoun Old Engine Oil was my absolute favorite, dark and sludgey, and absolutely smooth…

Monday was our play day.  The workshop was finished, and Amy and I headed off to Balboa Park, one of my favorite places in the world, great restaurants, art museums, gardens, and music.  All  backed up to the San Diego zoo.  We had lunch in the sculpture garden, and then went to the San Diego Art Museum to see two exhibits, the reopening of the Asian Art Galleries, and Masterworks in Metal, Ink, and Silk from the Suzhou Museum in China.

This amazing textile is a silk tapestry.  I can’t even imagine…

The newly re-opened Art of East Asia galleries are gorgeous.  The trend in exhibit space is to forgo the cold sterile white traditionally found on museum walls, and instead, present works of art against strong deep colors, that create an inviting, more intimate space.  This is definitely an exhibit hall where this treatment works.  Amy and I came upon two 19th century granite rams from Korea flanking one of the entryways into another exhibit space, and I wish I could have brought home replicas for my gardens.

I always encourage anyone working in any kind of creative field, to get out of the studio and see stuff.  Not just things in the medium in which you work, but stuff from other centuries by other cultures in other places to help give inspiration and perspective.  This new wing is a lovely size with some beautiful works, including this early 18th century wooden flying Apsaras from Japan.  An apsaras is a celestial being who is able to fly through the air.  Who knew?

This enamel bowl was only about 5 inches across, but the enameling was flawless and gorgeous and so detailed I kept coming back to the piece.  I forgot to get a shot of the label so I can’t say where this is from or what century.

And then we wandered into the exhibit Pacific Horizons: Melanesian Art from the Valerie Franklin Collection, which is basically primitive art from the Pacific.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art here in NY, has one of the most extensive collections in one of the most spectacular spaces, I’ve blogged about it before, and this type of work is up there with my most favorite non textile art, the images and the forms are so inspiring, and I was happy to get a small dose of it in San Diego.

The park itself is always great to photograph and the flowers were in full bloom and I was happy to have a day of sunshine and greenery before heading back to the east coast where we still have another month of cold dreary weather.

The trip home was a bit of a nightmare, there was a snowstorm in Denver and heavy winds and rain in Newark, and the last hour of the trip was spent tightly belted in, flight attendants included as we tossed about the stormy skies.  But I made it, all my bags are accounted for except for the last remaining box, which should arrive tomorrow via UPS.

Stay tuned…