…to let you know what has been going on in my life. Although with the current COVID-19 situation, it is not very exciting right now!
I officially stopped teaching. Basically that means I am not going out of my way to set up workshops or classes. Still love to pass on my passion for fibers, so if anyone is interested, just contact me and we can set something up.
The grandkid population has increased to 6 with each son/wife creating two. Those little ones are a blast! And they are not so little anymore: two almost 9, one almost 8, two 4 yo and one going on 3. Soooooo missing their company this year…
The biggest challenge right now is upping my sales game virtually. For the past 10 years or so I have been a part of a 12-woman group, Studio Collection, putting on an annual sales event the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year we had plans in place to change our venue which was promising and a bit scary as the event had been held at the same venue for more than 20 years. Now, bless that little virus heart, we are thinking we might have to do it all virtually!
The majority of the artists are pretty capable with their online presence. I am a bit of a dinosaur. Trying hard to put online stuff in place that will be easy and productive without having a degree in website building. Seems like each potential web sales possibility has just enough that I don’t know… and they all seem to make it hard to put it all together. But I am trying. It will be an adventure, for sure!
…waiting for me to make another post here! Hah! Already a year has passed since my last post and a lot of life has happened.
Two major developments: I have removed my work from Gallery 708 in Cincinnati (not enough sales of my work after a year, unfortunately) and I have officially retired from teaching workshops! A number of reasons for the second decision, not least of which is wanting more time to do my own work. I will miss the meeting and ‘playing’ with like-minded folks – and visiting with those wonderful fiber friends around the world! – but I will not miss the prep and schlepping of all the materials necessary for a good workshop nor the hours/days of travel time away from home.
I’ve spent more time this year with some of the grandkids doing ‘grandma duty’ and I realize this is the time to do it, while they are still small and interested in having grandma around. I think my ‘retirement days’ will get filled pretty well with grands!
Still part of the Studio Collection Fall Sale group (Saturday, November 17 this year at Harmony Hall in Spring Grove Village, Cincinnati). And still very active in my pursuit of mud and contact dyeing perfection. Papermaking, bookmaking and stitching rank high on the list, too. I may not be trotting around teaching in the future, but I will remain fiberly active!
As of July 1, I am officially an artist member (limited) of Gallery 708, the newest artist-run gallery in downtown Cincinnati! My basketry went on display amid some very exciting work by what seems to be a ton of artists! So new at this I haven’t even figured out who is showing.
If you are interested, you can check out the gallery online via their Facebook page or physically visit at 708 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, OH. An especially good time would be this Thursday, 5-8pm, to enjoy an opening reception for Nature Transformed, an exhibit of three Gallery artists: Lisa Inglert, Kent Krugh and Gail Lundgren. Hope to see you there!
Hmmm….. It is obviously well past my return to the states, I think jetlag is well and truly past (although it has been a good excuse for some things!), and I am heavily into all the activities that make a full summer.
A week after my return I worked with 161 seventh graders at Batesville Middle School for three days making coiled baskets – they were troopers and most managed to make two or more projects.
Two weeks after that I teamed up with the Southeastern Indiana Tourism Bureau to treat 54 seniors to the joys of making open-twined garlic baskets! Holding the sessions at the Great Crescent Brewery in Aurora made it very manageable – owners Dan and Lani are really sweet about making the space work out.
Since we lost so many trees last year due to the emerald ash borer, our back deck has so much less shade during the day. To make the deck more hospitable, we made a rip-stop nylon sail, 12′ x 12′, to cover a good portion of the deck. It also does a great job shading the hot tub in the morning, too!
Last weekend I was in Indianapolis for the Midwest Weavers Association’s biennial conference held at Butler University. Good connections with some long time friends; relearned ply split braiding and had great fun breaking the rules for it; spent some time with a good friend who had recently moved to that area. Overall a good trip.
My hot tub buddies helped celebrate the summer solstice this week, but we missed getting to the blueberry farm for fresh berries. That will have to happen another day.
I have had an outdoor installation proposal accepted for the Weavers Guild of Greater Cincinnati’s member exhibit at the Fitton Art Center in Hamilton for the month of August – and I have about a quarter of the work made up so far.
The Mount St. Joseph Art Gallery has an invitational exhibit planned for October of this year and I will be one of the artists. Titled ‘Biophilia’, all the invited artists have a strong connection with the earth in their work. I’ve got two large pieces in play at the moment – one with mudded silk and waxed hand made papers that will be roughly 26′ wide and 9′ high (that looks really cool with light behind it),
But the most important work I’ve done is to create an activity book for my grandson Ezra who will be turning one in early July. Made from a trendy short skirt and various other fabrics, it has dangling hearts, hidden pockets, buttons galore and things to do with them, laces and loops and the strangest looking ‘puppet’ thingee from a used onesie, lace, gloves and socks. Hope he has fun with it! (Will post an image after he receives it… just in case his folks see this first!)
And in two days we will have 5 year old Scarlett and her 15 month old brother Elliot here with us for some grandparent time! With luck they will stay till July 4, but we are staying open to schedule changes as we don’t know how the little guy will handle being away from mom.
I feel so lazy! After a very not exciting flight to Sydney on Wednesday, I have been enjoying the space and hospitality of Glenese’s home overlooking the harbour and city. Quite lovely!
Spent some time today with 2-almost-3 year old Rassmussen (Rass) at Primrose Park watching Jockey the dog run around and collecting leaves and rocks from the bush trail. What a cutie and a talker!
Other than that I have done some laundry, sudoku, kumihimo, sudoku, outside walking, sudoku, napping…
Tomorrow I start teaching a two day class – better get some sleep!