The River Road to Lewiston, Maine

A few weekends ago, we took a cold drive to Lewiston, Maine, in search of the last resting place of one of my ancestors.  The cemetery was snowed in and locked up but we enjoyed exploring this classic New England mill town.  Lewiston is home to a community of recent immigrants from Somalia, as well as the descendants of the French Canadian, Irish, Welch, German, Lithuania, Polish and English immigrants who worked in the textile mills in the early 1900s.
Along the river road into town we saw hundreds of crows.
The red brick mill buildings define the urban landscape.

Improvisational Piecing: Red Sun #1 and Red Sun #2

Red Sun #2 (2015, assorted mostly repurposed textiles, thread, 

10" x 10")

Red Sun #2 (2015, assorted mostly repurposed textiles, thread, 

10" x 10")

10x10 Benefit Art Exhibit & Sale

I'm so pleased to see my piece on the 10x10 website (www.10x10brunswick.org) as part of the illustration for the Review of the 2015 10x10 Exhibition.

A Review of 2015 10x10 Exhibition 170 Maine artists : 300 works of art : Benefit Arts Are Elementary

Interstitial #1 and Interstitial #2 at the 10 x 10 Benefit Art Exhibit and Sale in Brunswick, Maine, September 25, 2015

I stitched these for the 10 x 10 Benefit Art Exhibit and Sale show which is an annual fundraiser for Arts are Elementary in Brunswick, Maine.

According to the website, "Arts are Elementary is a local nonprofit program founded in 1980 that brings visual artists, writers and performer into the Brunswick Elementary schools. The program reaches all children in kindergarten through the 5th grade with a myriad of fun, inspiring opportunities for creative expression." 

Alas, my pieces did not sell, but a family member scooped them up in the New Year for her collection.

Interstitial #1

Interstitial #2

Harvest Time

The colors of the harvest are almost overwhelming in their beauty... Cherry Tomatoes, Chinese Long Beans, Flamingo Chard, Scarlet Runner Beans…

(And, inside those dry brown pods are shiny purple and black beans from a vine that attracts hummingbirds with its scarlet flowers.)

Textilian Tri-Animal Bicycle in the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel

"Waterville art exhibit welcomes trekkers"

"Bicyclists participating in the Trek Across Maine arrived Saturday in Waterville, where Common Street Arts was opening a bicycle-themed exhibit, "Art on Wheels."

Decked-out bicycles such as this one by Brunswick artist Jennifer Beaven greeted visitors and participants in the Trek Across Maine on Saturday at Common Street Arts in downtown Waterville. Staff photo by Rachel Ohm

Lobster Traps

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

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

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

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.

Significant Objects

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

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

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

The colors are fantastic in my yard today!

Seeds and Stones

These blue seed pods are gorgeous in the autumn garden.

Ants Make Sand Circles

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

Found Wooden Circles

Circle of Water and Stone

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

Autumn Sumac