Change Over Time

Lobster Traps

2012-01-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid. lobster traps were all made of subtle grayed wood, but today they are multi-colored extravaganzas of wire mesh, bait bags, net, rope and bricks.

Freeze and Thaw

2012-01-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

The other day I went shopping for groceries and as I pulled out of the parking lot I noticed the shadows in the broken pavement. It was afternoon and the damp morning streets had mostly dried, leaving a white edge of salt along each crack. I went home to pick up my camera and returned to the store so I could photograph these wonderful circles and lines.

Goldenrod Shadows Drawing

2012-01-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is a recent drawing on paper based on autumn shadows that I drew and stitched on cotton fabric. I'm interested in the stitch as a mark and how drawn marks can have the quality of stitches.

Goldenrod Shadows at the Beach

2012-01-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

In the autumn I drew the breezy shadows of a goldenrod plant on cotton fabric. As the days grew shorter, I stitched. In this unseasonably warm January, I took my stitching to the Beach.

2012-01-05T13:32:00.001-08:00

Significant Objects

2011-12-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

I always like to see personal collections of amuletic objects. Keys rings and fobs are often powerful and significant. Keys provide access to specific areas of the physical world and other objects hold connections to a personal symbolic world. My nephew was wearing this wonderful collection this December.

The Sum of its Parts

2011-12-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

At Christmas, my mother was wearing a pendant I made years ago. It was interesting to notice that after time had passed I could see it as its own whole self instead of as the parts I had combined.

Infinity Cards

2011-12-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

At the December meeting of the Brunswick Arts Collaborative, Lonnie showed us how to make Infinity Cards. Two sheets of paper are folded and glued so that you can open the card sequentially to show four different arrangements of pattern and/or text. Here are some of mine. You can learn how to make an Infinity Card from The Toymaker at http://www.thetoymaker.com/Toypages/61EndlessCard/61InfinityCard.html

Smoketree Leaf

2011-11-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

The colors are fantastic in my yard today!

Seeds and Stones

2011-11-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

These blue seed pods are gorgeous in the autumn garden.

Ants Make Sand Circles

2011-11-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ants work so hard! And here, they managed to find three different colors of sandy soil in one small, dry space in the middle of a parking lot.

Autumn on the Water

2011-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Found Wooden Circles

2011-10-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Circle of Water and Stone

2011-10-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

I like circles and spots wherever I find them. Circles within circles...

Autumn Sumac

2011-10-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Dots on Stems

2011-10-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Crow and the Labyrinth Goes to the Gardens

2011-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

An image of Crow and the Labyrinth is part of the publicity for the Maine Fiberarts Showcase at the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine.

Mushrooms

2011-09-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Recently, I attended a really interesting lecture on edible mushrooms by David Spahr, author of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada. Since then, I've noticed and wondered about a lot of mushrooms. I've collected, sauteed and tasted a puffball. I've looked, in vain, for black trumpets in the woods, but found some for sale by Oyster Creek Mushroom Company at the Bath Farmer's Market.

Most of my mushroom collecting, though, is by photograph. These were in Harpswell, Maine.

Mending in Place

2011-09-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a series of small pieces about mending. In many situations, it's really more effective to mend something rather than to start over. The human relationship to planet earth comes to mind. My meditations on mending are small and portable so they have been going places with me. I mark time, in place, with stitch.

These pieces incorporate a cotton plaid from a shirt I picked out for my husband a long time ago. I carried them on a walk one late summer day at Thalheimer Farm on Orr's Island in Harpswell, Maine.

Barnacle Stone Circle

2011-09-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

River Mending

2011-03-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

In 2010, flying over South America, I took this photo of a river.

I used the line of the river in this piece, which is about mending.

Boro Cloth

2011-03-17T12:17:00.001-07:00

I just took an on-line class called Contemporary Woven Boro, with Jude Hill, the Cloth Whisperer. I think she is a really fine teacher. Some of my most recent work includes new cloth woven from old cloth, as taught in her workshop.

In the class material, Jude Hill wrote, "Although Boro has become a bit of a trend these days, the raggedy edges and patching and primitive approach to cloth making... there is always a subtle reminder that this was not an intended art form. Or a fashion trend. This was life, mending, thrift, and respect for cloth. This is the result of living small with consciousness of means. The need to stay warm, the patience to repair, restore and to keep going... and the resulting beauty in that."

You can find Jude Hill here:

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com

Saltwater Fiber

2010-10-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

I've always been enamored of found fiber and there was some lovely stuff near Fort Popham the other day. I like the inherent energy of this rope that's been in and out of the saltwater, tied, winched, hauled, buffeted and finally tossed ashore.

Nine Patch

2010-10-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Having just moved to Maine, I wanted to work on a Good Will quilt made from local materials. Off I went to the second-hand clothing store and found myself some nice, heavy, broken-in cottons. Piecing and quilting used fabric can be a challenge. Heavy cottons make for thick seams. Corduroys have gorgeous textures but they can be slippery to sew. When you combine different weights of fabric the pieces are much less likely to end up marching in precise rows. I like the tilt. I like the way the eye dances across the implied pattern only to return in search of the surprise shape or color that didn't quite fit the assumption.

Maine Rocks

2010-10-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Lately, we walked a shore-side trail belonging to the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. Along the trail we saw The Giant's Stairs, a geologic feature on the eastern side of Bailey Island resembling a very large flight of steps tumbling down into the sea. The rocks there were full of motion and subtle, glorious color. Now I have to go see how many kinds of gray I can find in my fabric stash.

Art is Where You Find It

2010-10-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

My husband and I took a weekend drive up to Greene, Maine. It's a teeny tiny town that was first settled by one of my distant ancestors. Along the way we spotted this retirement sale. The owner was sure that his stuff was worth a lot of money - especially the stuff that had been stored in a vine-encrusted tractor trailer for 20 years. He charged me a dollar to photograph his art. There was certainly a very creative mind at work there.

Two More Crow Collage Banners

2008-12-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

More Crow Banner Collages

2008-12-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Crow Banner Collages

2008-12-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

A New Goodwill Quilt

2008-09-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

These are some squares for a new piece which will be part of my Goodwill series. The Goodwill quilts are made mostly, if not exclusively, of fabric recycled from second-hand clothing. I'm liking the look and feel of heavy cotton that's been washed a lot. The colors are soft and yet have some of the same richness I admire in old quilts. Every piece of clothing has a story and there's just something about piecing all those stories together, even if I can't read them very specifically. I wish I still had that pair of lavender bell bottoms I wore for most of 8th grade. That color would be great in a quilt.

New Collages

2008-09-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

These new collages feel full of energies and potentials, strong but perhaps unresolved. Will the energies expand in a grand explosion? Will the potentials coalesce or will the tiny black holes absorb everything into black nothingness? Perhaps time will tell.

The Miss Worcester Diner

2008-08-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

This summer I had a classic diner breakfast in Worcester, Massachusetts. Sitting in a diner is like playing in a tent made from a sheet over a card table when you were a kid. It's a whole world, a steamy tin can, a not-quite-real building where someone might bring you hot chocolate if you ask nicely.

yikes!

2008-07-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

Stitching Things Together

2007-02-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

One of my visual preoccupations is with stitching - actual or virtual, real or metaphoric. I like to see how things are connected. When things are collaged together, the challenge can sometimes be in seeing the connections. Crow, pumpkin, heart, beehive? Flight, fruit, flow, community? Magic, bounty, mystery, communion...?

Good Luck

2007-02-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm always intrigued with good luck symbols. After all, why does a four-leaf clover represent good luck or any luck at all? Yet, I've absorbed enough of a sense of the power of the symbol that I feel a little uplift at the sight of one - in a field or on a postcard. Maybe feeling a little lift is good luck enough?

Bottlecaps, Yoyos and Monkeys in a Barrel

2007-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

I'm back to bottlecaps. I love the whirly, swirly effect of the bottlecaps and yoyos in this detail from a piece in progress. I've also been on a crazy search for a Barrel of Monkeys because I wanted to add some little red monkeys to the mix. I've learned that a lot of toy stores just "get stuff sent" to them without anybody in the store having any control or being able to place an order for a customer. I wonder who gets to decide? Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Nova Scotia Fishing Boats

2007-01-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I'm working on a collage, roads diverge and I'm not sure which road to choose. Sometimes it's absolutely time to stop. Sometimes something needs to be more fully developed. So, I started this series. Each collage is built on top of a copy of a previously finished piece. In these examples you can see parts of Nova Scotia Fishing Boats showing through Cats in the Vineyard. It's an interesting process that challenges me to wipe out, cover up and sometimes (gasp) just paint over images and combinations that had been carefully completed.

Crow at White River Junction

2006-12-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

This piece is based on a photo I took in White River Junction, Vermont. The crows in the parking lot were curious but wary of me and my camera. Since crows like to collect things, I've surrounded her some goodies for her stash. I've been wanting to sew bottlecaps onto fabric for a while and finally worked out a process for making that work. The crow is bordered by silver beads.

The Journal Quilt Book

2006-11-28T23:53:00.000-08:00

In each month of 2005, I made a small experimental quilt and reflected on my process in a journal. At the same time there were people from all over the US and in many other countries quilting and reflecting as part of the Journal Quilt Project. In 2006, this multi-faceted creative endeavor was documented in Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project, edited by Karey Bresenhan. I was delighted to find a photograph of my very experimental paper and plastic quilt on page 253. It was great to be part of such a thoughtful and dynamic project and I like knowing that all of those other quilters are out there, stitching up the world.

Spirits and Shrines

2006-11-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to have some work in a show at the Fiber Art Center in Amherst, MA. Small Works: Spirits and Shrines, includes an array of "fiber-related shrines, icons, talismans, amulets" and other mystical works. The opening is from 5:00 - 9:00 on December 7, 2006, during the Amherst Art Walk. Crow in the Mountain, pictured here, is one of the spirit altars I have in the show. There's information on future shows and classes at: www.fiberartcenter.com

Improvisational Quilt #2

2006-11-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy to get this photograph-ed and posted. It's 34 x 33 inches, quite a bit larger than the first in the series. The quilts in this series are all made from a pile of clothes I bought one day at a second-hand store. I plan to keep using this collection of fabric until there's nothing left, as if it was my only source. I love the character of a piece of second-hand fabric. It's already had one set of adventures as a favorite pair of pants or a soft comfy work shirt. Then, a quilter comes along, cuts it up, stitches it together with other bits of someone's history, stuffs it, quilts it and takes its picture.

Autumn in New England

2006-10-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

This week, my husband and I took a little road trip to enjoy some fall color, visit with family and check out a couple of art museums. In White River Junction, Vermont the sumac trees were brilliant reds and yellows. In Brattleboro, Vermont, we had lunch at the Riverview Cafe with a view right down the middle of the river. Next to the door of the cafe these purple asters were blooming, buzzing with a multitude of with bees and six (!) monarch butterflies. What a sight. We went across the street to see the exhibits at the Brattleboro Art Museum in the old train station. They had some really dynamic landscape paintings by Wolf Kahn, who, rumor has it, has also painted the barn at my husband's family homestead. The museum also has an incredible maple tree out front, with enormous brilliant red leaves.
http://www.brattleboromuseum.org/exhibits/currentexhibits.html
The reason this trip got planned in the first place was that I wanted to see the exhibit of aboriginal women's paintings at the Hood museum in Hanover, New Hampshire. The paintings in Dreaming Their Way are gorgeous and powerful. I wish they were closer to my home. I'd like to go look again and again.
http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/exhibitions/dreaming/

Improvisational Quilt #1

2006-09-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

This quilt was begun this past summer when my husband and I visited a thrift shop in a small town in Ohio. I've always really admired scrap quilts and other kinds of quilts that were made with what was on hand rather than with a set of new fabrics purchased for the purpose of making a quilt. There's something about the ingenuity that goes into using a group of fabrics that 1) had been previously owned and used, 2) came in different weights or materials, 3) came from different people with varying styles and tastes, 4) had been cut and sewn into garments and 5) were all there was. I bought a pile of second-hand clothes with the intention of using them to make small quilted pieces. I wanted to experiment with the limits and inspirations that might come from having a restricted supply of previously cut, sewn and worn fabric. I also planned to work intuitively, cutting mostly without measuring and making decisions about what to add as the quilt developed rather than pre-planning the design. I'm pleased with the energy and playfulness of this piece. It's mostly cotton, 19 x 24 inches. It's interesting to watch the composition of the fabric pile change as I choose to use or avoid various pieces.

Crow with Heart

2006-09-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

The heart carving has found its way into a bunch of new collages, one of which is shown here. Crow has found a four-leaf clover. Another lucky day.

Buena Suerte

2006-09-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in power symbols for a long time. What is it in human beings that makes us want to associate an idea with a particular symbol? Last night I carved this rubber stamp, which includes a whole bunch of wishes for good things. Good luck to you!

A Rubber Heart

2006-09-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

This image, based on an old physiology text, has been hanging around in my mind for a while. This evening, I got it sized up and carved with my trusty linoleum cutter. I think it looks pretty good printed on a nice red cardstock but I may try another version on a finer carving material. I'd like to refine the lines and the shapes of the numbers a bit.

Coat Hangers and Knitting Needles

2006-09-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling really stuck with this piece. It's been hanging half-finished on the wall for months. I finally figured out the words for the last block, finished the last carving, made prints and got all the bits organized. Now, it's ready to quilt. It's really cleared a lot of mental space and made room for some new ideas.

Spirit Altars

2006-09-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

I've been working on trying to articulate just what it is I'm trying to create, The making of images seems to use a different part of my mind than the production of a piece of writing. It's almost like the writer me has to go interview the artist me sometime after the art has been completed to find out what the artist me was intending. I have a long-standing interest in creating images that represent our spiritual searches and sacred connections. My latest pieces are richly detailed, painted and quilted altarpieces to hang alone or include in a larger altar. The images include traditional symbols of luck, love, protection, meditation and earth magic.

They are about:
Communion with the wild things
Connection to all beings
Courage, compassion and good will
Clear visions and sweet dreams
Good luck and best wishes

May all good things come to you.

Cherries and Abundance

2006-09-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

To inaugurate my blog, here's a photo of a small quilted spirit altar. It's a celebration of loving abundance and a crazy cherry print I just bought at the fabric store. This piece has been painted and machine quilted with a bit of handstitching as well.