Bellingham happenings

I really ought to be finishing up for my Old Town show and my new fiber arts class that I will be running on monday. All of a sudden February is upon us and I actually have events to publicize and attend.

Stop by The Old Town Cafe (316 W Holly 6:30am-3pm Sundays 8am-2pm) and see the gardeners show. It evolved into being entirely portraits of gardeners with words. The show will be up February & March.

Art Walk. First friday is February 6. Come by our studio (1316 Bay St. 6-10pm)Remember you have to go around the building into the alley and up the back stairs. Be brave. It is fun and well lit inside. I will also have some saucy pieces in the Red &Pink show at Jinx. I stitched two portraits of ladies in bloomers with velvet and buttons and lace.

regarding ferns

Here is a new piece for the Old Town show that hangs next week. I am doing the stitched portraits attached to wood blocks with painted backgrounds. This one is the late poet Stanley Kunitz regarding some ferns. He is ninety something in the photo I used.
We have had a week of cold sun and it has been a challenge to go to the studio to create these images of gardens and gardeners when my own land has been calling to me. With frost decorating the yard each morning it is too early to plant anything, but I feel compelled to move soil around, dig up more lawn and create more space to grow this year. Even just an extra foot around my existing spots seems so important. All the talk of the failing economy and hard times ahead, the call for a return to responsibility and sacrifice, to me it says grow more food, tend herbs for your health, walk the woods and find the wild foods. I am feeling a return to more of my good hippy ways,to follow through with wild notions from my Fairhaven sustainability studies. My problem is that I like to research and start projects more than I have been able to relax into the patience and daily practice of really nurturing a garden at home. To say I want to grow more food is to say I want to produce more than a handful of sungold tomatoes and garlic. I do alright with the herbs because once in, they take care of themselves. This art project of seeds and gardeners is as much an inspiration and lesson for myself as it is a display for others.

save handmade toys and their makers

I can't believe I am just hearing about this, is this on the news? The Consumer Product Safety Commission passed a great law to protect people from lead and other toxins in children's products. Unfortunately, the law, if not clarified, would turn my little creatures into contraband. The law requires safety testing on all products intended for children 12 and under.This includes books, clothing, and all the sweet handmade natural toys out there. The tests run several hundred dollars per item. As someone who specializes in one of a kind items, that sort of testing would be impossible. Without consideration for scale of business or original materials used, this law will seriously fuck many small business owners. Check out the Handmade Toy Alliance (link to the left)for more info. I just sent e-mails to my representative and senators.

after the rain

I am thinking about seeds and bulbs and life returning, of victory gardens neatly planned and wilder spaces where nothing is expected and everything is a delight. I am sewing giant seeds and printing rows of baby lettuce and poring over seed catalogs, trying to remember what I learned from last year. Since the puddles receded from the yard it felt like winter might be fading. But a cruel fog rolled in this morning as I was taking pictures of these love-in-a-mist sprouts. Hope may be in the air but you still need your mittens.

weekly practice

As some sort of new years resolution I decided to commit to a weekly blog post. I resisted even writing much of anything on this blog for so long, clinging to the notion that I would type out a new zine in some authentic and sustainable future. Believing that no one even looked at this page, I mostly posted photos of stuffed animals and art show updates. Even if it is just for Callie and Ned and Virginia and Angela and Elliot, I will give you a little more of myself in 2009.

I am thinking about my art show at the Old Town Cafe in February (is it still called nepotism if you are your own inside connection?) But other than a special order name tag, I have not made a darn stitch in about month. My pin pricked fingertips healed. Callouses from scissors softened. And I have three whole weeks to pull something together. Steeb wants me to paint again and says my drawing/watercoloring has improved so much this year in my journals. We will see...