Special Event pt. 2

Last night was a very special night for me, and for Photographer Pete Byron. Pete has spent the last two years photographing breast cancer survivors, in joyous playful moods, in spite of their scarred and misshapen bodies.  The Morris Museum, along with huge support from the The Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital have put together an exhibit of Pete’s images and public awareness programs for the month of October.

In June of 2007, my friend Misa called me, her former neighbor, whom I’d met at a party at her house a year or so before, was a freelance photographer, and beginning to explore this personal subject, and was looking for breast cancer survivors who might be interested in working with him.  I spoke with Pete, and was instantly taken with his approach to the subject, and agreed to a photoshoot.  Pete was generous of spirit, and easy to trust, and I’m thrilled at the end result of images now on exhibit at the Morris Museum.

Last night was the opening reception, it was packed, with all sorts of dignitaries, the press, the women who shared their experiences with Pete, modeling for him, allowing this exhibit to take place.  Families and friends, and supporters of the museum and the cancer center at Morristown Memorial Hospital (where my children were born),  were there, as well as medical students and other breast cancer survivors.  The food was excellent, and the wine flowed.  It was a beautiful evening, celebrating the many faces of Breast Cancer.

MorrisMuseumExhibitI got a great shot of my family, beside one of the two images Pete used of me, all of the images he shot were of me at the loom, doing what I love, and I was proud of the support.  I hadn’t originally invited my son, he isn’t usually around anyway, but he ended up coming with his friend (I think the free food was partly the draw) but it meant a lot that he came and looked at the exhibit and understood the importance of what it represented.  My sister even drove up from Maryland.

DarylwithFriendsTwo of my friends came as well, Misa is on the right, she introduced me to Pete, and my neighbor and good friend Deb is in the middle.

PhotoDarylartistStatementI’m including the statement I wrote, that hung next to one of the images of me.  As I read it I thought about how important this whole cancer thing has been to me and my work and how I view my life.

This has been a privilege, working with Pete, and being part of this event of celebration and friendship.

And, if you’ve been putting off getting that mammogram, this is breast cancer awareness month, early detection is critical!

Pete is looking to expand this body of work, and hopes to publish a book as well.  If you are interested in working with Pete, or know of someone, toss me an email and I’ll put you in touch with him.

Paperwork: Love it or hate it?

I am choking in paperwork.  There seems to be an inordinate amount of show applications due by October 1, along with the proposals for the American Sewing Guild conference.  My inbox is overflowing and all the bills are due on Thursday.  I had all the banking to do from my trip last week, and my work from the summer shows is starting to return, one of the pieces from the Small Expressions exhibition sold, and I had to ship that out this morning.

I spent the afternoon, trying to decide what images to send to a major exhibit here in NJ.  It is a show I’ve never gotten into, sponsored by the NJ State Council on the Arts, but in reality, I may have only applied a couple times in my whole career.  For the first time in my life as an artist, not just a clothing designer/handweaver, I feel like I have a strong body of work to actually use for the application.  Except I’ve already applied to two shows last week, for the same time frame, and apparently it is a big no no to use the same work for more than one application, because if the worst happens, and both shows accept the same piece, you can’t write them and say, sorry, I’m sending it to someone else.  There is gallery exhibition etiquette here, and I’m new at this game.  So I spent about 3 hours on the application, trying to figure out how to navigate this one, after driving to Bergen County with my husband for a field trip.

I got one of my pieces accepted to the Art Center of Northern NJ’s 18th National Juried Show.  I posted the show, which runs October 11-November 2, in my events calendar, in the widget on the right. The drop off for the work was today, and I invited my husband to come along for the ride.  He was born and raised in Bergen County, and I thought it would be fun to drive around the area and see what’s changed.  Change is an understatement.  I enjoyed his stories, of shooting troubles as a lineman for the phone company, where there were serious breaks in the phone lines, one on Christmas eve, where he stopped at a tree seller, and threw a Christmas tree in the back of the phone company truck on the way home to his mom’s, and hanging over a stream trying to repair a line hit by a backhoe, as a thunderstorm hit.  Funny the things we remember, vividly.  It was a lovely afternoon.

I ran into Nisha Drinkard at the Panera where we stopped for lunch, former fiber department head at William Paterson University.  We chatted for awhile.  And having just gone to the Peters Valley 38th annual craft fair yesterday, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to other fiber artists, and how they are fairing in this poor economy.  I’m always amazed at how upbeat artist’s are, and how resourceful they can be, and how they aren’t afraid to reinvent themselves.

So, back to the paperwork.  I haven’t decided if I really hate paperwork, or I am challenged by it and am really good at it.  It is a love/hate relationship, but the bottom line is, I can’t teach if I don’t write proposals, and I can’t get my work into shows if I don’t fill out entry forms and applications, and I can’t stay in my house if I don’t pay my mortgage and utility bills, all of which are due within the week.  So, whether I love it or hate it, it all still has to be done.

Which is why I took a break for what my weaving buddy Sally calls, a weaving snack.  While I was at Sievers last week, I stayed in the teacher’s cottage, which is full of lovely things that other instructors have done and donated to decorate the house.  (Note to self: I really need to make something to send to them for the house…)  On one of the end tables was a beautiful mat made from inkle loom strips,  five in each direction, plaited together and stitched around the edges.  Simple enough.  I don’t know who made the one on the table at Sievers, but I thought it was a great thing to do in about 15 minutes with a finished inkle band.  God knows I have enough of them.

So I pulled a 1″ wide inkle band out of the bin, and I chopped it into 10 6″ sections.  Then I went hunting for my macramé board, the one I’ve had around the studio since 1977.Craft_Showcase

Sidebar:  After I graduated with a degree in fine arts, in 1977, I went to work for a retail chain of mall stores, called the Craft Showcase, owned by Cole National Corp.  It was the only experience I’ve ever had working in corporate America.  And that was quite enough.  The stupidity of some of the mandates from corporate headquarters, like change every price tag in the store to read .99, instead of .00.  We had to drop one cent on the price of every item in the store, thousands of items, and when we finally finished the job, headquarters decided we had to change them all back.  I still remember stupid stuff like that.

I did enjoy the job, I taught classes in calligraphy, stained glass, macramé (which you will recall was the technique du jour in the 70’s), along with needlework, fine art techniques, and anything else that came along where we had to promote the products and teach students how to make stuff.  I was responsible for making sure the ceramic owl eyes were always in stock, making a macramé owl plant hanger was the most popular class.  And I did all the window and wall displays.  I learned a lot from that job, and I picked up a lot of things while I worked there, which still exist in my studio and come in handy.  Like my macramé board. With the $2. price tag on it.

Of course I had to go looking in my daughter’s room.  When things are missing from my studio, I can usually find them there.

cut_pinSo I plaited the 10 1″ strips of inkle weaving together, and pinned them carefully.

stitch_matI went to the sewing machine, and stitched around the perimeter, with a shallow zig-zag.

trim_matThen I trimmed the raw edges to 3/8″.  With a long pin, I carefully pulled the weft threads up to the stitching line, creating even fringe all around the edge of the mat.

And here is the final mat!

Finished_Mat

OK, so I should be working on the proposals.  But this was fun, and I got a much needed break!BjornLR

And here is a great shot of the new dog, Bjorn, that my husband took the day they brought the dog home.  He has the sweetest face.

I’m back!

ferryWhew, what a week.  First, I have to say that Sievers Fiber School, is my most favorite place to teach.  For a couple of reasons.  The location is sort of like heaven, especially in September.  You have to travel to an obscure airport, Green Bay, which exists solely for providing transportation for Packers Games, then there is the two hour drive north through Wisconsin, into famous Door County, with all the cherry trees, and I’m talking the kind you can make wine with, and then you hop a ferry for the 25 minute trip to heaven.

In September the population of Washington Island drops to almost nothing, at least by New Jersey standards, and the weather is gorgeous.  It hadn’t rained in 25 days, but the first night there, we got some welcome rain, and it stayed cool and comfortable all week.

The staff at Sievers is unbelievably hospitable, and caring, and they make you feel like family.  SieversThey start with a Sunday night welcome social, and do their best to be supportive and encouraging, and grateful for not only the faculty, but the students as well.  More than half my class were returning students, this was my third year there.  I love the five day format, students can accomplish a lot in five days, but it always ends up rushed because one of the secrets of teaching is that no matter how much time you give students, they always need more!  The new students follow my agenda, they all make a jacket from my pattern, learning the basic skills I want them to learn, and then when they return the next year, they may bring anything they want to work on.

This is such a great opportunity for me as a teacher, each student wants something different from me, and I find myself working way outside my comfort zone and really being challenged by some of the projects, some of the patterns, and some of the fabrics students bring.  I think that’s my favorite part.  I learn as much from them as they do from me.

studioworkroomThe work space, which is a fabulous  hexagon,  a really beautiful building to work and teach in.  It is roomy, bright, with plenty of work tables.  Students can just spread out and fill whole corners.  Many of them brought SUV’s full of stuff, projects, fabric, supplies, and the gallery/store at Sievers has lots more stuff available should you need anything at all.

There is a tradition at Sievers on the final morning, a group photo, a mini graduation, a song from Cindra, one of the staff members, who has a beautiful voice, a song about sleeping on an island, and never being quite the same.  I cry every time I hear it.  And a quick look around, I’m not alone!

Class_PhotoI shared a cottage with Nancy cottageAdams.  She taught the other class at Sievers this week, a beyond beginning weaving class.  She had eight students, and they were all enthusiastic and talented, and made some beautiful things.  And we kept trying to convince them that they should be weaving yardage for clothing, forget rugs, and table runners…   🙂

Nancy was a great roommate, this is the second time we’ve roomed together.  We would chat in the evenings, over dinner, which we cooked in the cottage, and then head back to the studios for the evening.  There is no internet available, no TV, nothing else to do but what you love best!  It doesn’t get any better than this…

SailorsPubThe final night we all went to a Washington Island landmark, the Sailor’s Pub.  It has become a tradition, and we filled the restaurant with happy talk of fiber, and projects, and what next, and how we are all looking forward to coming back next year.  We left the restaurant just at sunset, which was a fitting end to a glorious week.sunset

I encouraged Ann, the owner of Sievers, on the drive back to Green Bay, to think about offering to rent sewing machines to those flying in from other states.  I know many more would be able to take advantage of the classes they offer if they didn’t have to worry about bringing a sewing machine on an airplane.  I’m hoping they can work that out for next year on a limited basis.

I flew home uneventfully, in first class, enjoying the quiet time before returning to the melee at my house.

We have taken on a few additional teens in the basement since I was last home.  I think my son is trying to get in as much partying as possible before he leaves for the military.  He is still working on all the paperwork, and I get frequent texts asking me about medical procedures he had, or things like the spelling of my maiden name and where I was born.

BjornAnd I’m sure you are all waiting to hear about the new dog.  My husband and daughter spent a few hours repairing my fence last Sunday after dropping me off at the airport, and they brought home a lovely year and a half old male Norwegian Elkhound. His name is Bjorn, and he follows my daughter around like they were glued at the hip.  She has known him since he was 2 months old, was bred at the kennel where she works, and after he became a champion, the breeders needed a home for him, too many males with five females in heat becomes quite the juggling act.  Bjorn was my daughter’s favorite, and so she brought him home.  I really haven’t seen much of the dog.  If my daughter isn’t home, he just sleeps at the foot of her bed and waits for her to come back.  He isn’t quite sure where I fit in, since he lived her a week before I returned.

I’m all unpacked, and I’m caught up on laundry, starting to clean, and look at the workload for this week.  I don’t travel again for a couple weeks, and then it is off to Albany for a quick weekend.

It is good to be home.

Wrapping it up…

I’m all packed.  For the most part.  I’m leaving early in the morning for Green Bay Wisconsin, via Minn/St. Paul, where I’ll be picked up and driven two hours north, through Door County, hop a ferry, and end up, if all goes as scheduled, at Sievers Fiber School on Washington Island, WI, tomorrow night.  I love this island.  It is pretty remote, and fall is the end of the tourist season, there isn’t much going on there but the Fiber School and the fall air and turning leaves.  It is a fabulous time to travel to this island.

I managed to streamline what I needed to take.  I went through all my lists, eliminating anything that I deemed non essential.  I have to fit all my teaching materials into two 50 pound bags, not my usual 70.  I’m not flying my usual airline, where I have baggage perks, though Northwest is a codeshare of Continental, at least for another 10 days, until they part company, so my elite status on Continental got me a first class upgrade for the trip from Newark to Minneapolis.  The trip to Green Bay is on a little RJ jet, so there is no first class cabin.  I actually like to fly RJ’s, sort of like a bus in the air, they are quick, easy to board and deplane, no baggage to drag on board, it doesn’t fit, and I love the single seats on the left of the plane.

matsI did manage to get nearly all the proposals for the American Sewing Guild conference written, and I made a couple of placemats to see if it was possible to do this piecing technique I do, in four hours or less.  I don’t really offer any hands on workshops that can be done in four hours.  Maybe the inkle loom class, but that’s it.  So I finished a mat, and shot a photo of it, for the proposal, and then my husband walked in.  He is such an engineer.  He picked it up and looked at it carefully, turning it over, and said, in his methodical engineer voice, “Can you wash it?”.

OK, of course this will be an issue, and of course I’ll have to throw these two puppies into the machine to see what happens to all the components and my construction skills once they swish around in the wash, but that wasn’t the response I was looking for.  Yet, my engineer husband has kept me grounded and focused on practical issues for our 35 years together, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything, but I still hate when his first response is, “Can they be washed”, and not “Wow, this is so cool”.  ( note to husband who is reading this at some point, “I love you!” He gets to find out what I’m up to squirreled away in my studio by reading my blog.)  And of course, my engineer husband, in short order, figured out why my new Eee PC had to recover twice from the blue screen of death, while I was updating all my lectures and files before I set out tomorrow. Something that had to do with parental controls?  I am incredibly spoiled married to a techie.

So, I’m off tomorrow, to a place with no internet service.  There will be a computer in the office at Sievers, but no wireless, and they are still sadly on dial-up.  So I’ll be vacationing from blogging for a week while I focus on my students and teaching them whatever I can about sewing, designing, fitting, pattern alterations, and life, should they ask…  At least my opinion of it anyway!

And, while I’m away, I have a feeling that my husband and my daughter will be madly shoring up our fencing because I think, I’ve been weakened sufficiently to finally say, albeit quietly, it is OK for my daughter to bring a dog into the house.  I did last a whole year, my daughter works in a kennel, and has been working on me for the last year to replace the dog we had to put down back in 2007.  It all started with the fact that the kennel, where she works, breeds Norwegian Elk hounds, which I adore, almost as much as I adore Siberian Husky’s (our first dog was a husky, a male, mellowest dog you’d ever want to hang with).  They have 5 girls in heat, and have to move some of the males off the premises quickly.  And you know once the dog comes into this house, it will be staying for the next 10 years or so…  So I’m not sure what I’ll find when I return next Friday night, we will all be surprised!  Stay tuned…