Summer's End

Labor Day weekend, 29 more hours until school starts. August 30th – temperature in the 60s(!!!) and heavy showers at times. It just ain’t right, I tell ya!

On the bright side, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy I decided to go to Art in the Pearl YESTERDAY! After looking at the official website, I made a long list of artists and music and food I wanted to see, hear, and taste, then I hopped the MAX, bebopped down the road listening to my tunes, and enjoyed the show. I wanted to take a gazillion pictures, not sure if I could, then a sign posted in one of the booths made it clear: “Please, no photos of artwork!” So I politely refrained. Instead, I’ll just say that you should visit the websites of Jacqueline Hurlbert, whose big flaming heart I wish I could own; Xavier Nuez, whose photos of gritty urban decay are startlingly gorgeous; Gene Flores, master printmaker extraordinaire; Terry McIlrath, creator of multi-textured and brilliantly colored mixed media; and oh so many more – do check out the Art in the Pearl website!

I did snap a photo of one of the art ed booths – how cool is this? Letting kids go wild painting a REAL LIVE CAR!!! Way cool.

The Museum of Contemporary Crafts was having an awesome exhibit, too – international artists who are using manufactured products/materials in fun and funky ways, or using technology to hearken back to old-time craftsmanship with a futuristic vision. My favorite pieces were by Laura Splan, exquisite lace doilies created with the help of a computer program and whose intricate patterns were based on microscope views of deadly viruses. (Ironic how a virus can be such a beautiful thing! Really, check out her website.)

Back home, I was hoping to be all inspired to jump into artwork, but I was pretty exhausted after my daylong art excursion, so I took some quiet time to peruse my AF Fatbook which arrived a couple of days ago, put together by the fabulous Kristie LaRose. Here is just a small sampling of the wonderful contributions, including the cover by Kristie (Dorm 202 group – since I stayed at the hostel I don’t actually know any of these people…),

a page by Michelle Geller,

Cecilia Cordova,

Carol Ragan (back) and Kathy Welsh (front).

The book is full of gems, and I am happy I participated. I saw Judy Wise at Art in the Pearl and got up the nerve to talk with her – she’s so nice, and she’s one of my first choices for AF classes. Dang! WHEN is a million bucks going to fall into my lap!

Let’s see, what else? Oh, here is my Flobberdewotsky-inspired recycled jeans skirt I made. It’s still in progress because I’m not happy with the green section. But I think the black and white embroidered lace I bought at JoAnn’s today might make it better.

I love my front ruffle. I hand-hemmed the pink fabric on the sides. For some reason that felt so satisfying that I went ahead and hand-stitched the whole ruffle and lace onto the front, as well.

While I was at JoAnn’s I also saw a soldering iron, so I bought that, because I want to learn how to solder. And did I mention that last week I bought a little oven and a pasta machine for use with polymer clay? (And Laurie Mika’s book to help me get started with all these goodies!) School starts on Tuesday. Just when do I think I’m going to have time to mess with all this stuff?

Final bit of news: I signed up for another meet-up group that focuses on textiles. I’m hoping that maybe possibly being around others who are stitching and knitting I might be able to one day finish projects like my Mexico quilt that I started 3? 4? years ago! (Hand-embroidered and appliquéd!)
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