Hat Forms. . .

. . .from Crazy Daisy.

Utility.
Beauty.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

This satisfies me not only as an object, but also as a project.
I imagine it was so gratifying to come into the studio each day to continue work on it.
And the moment of stepping back to see it, complete - sigh.

Self-analysis: Patient exhibits profound desire to make all the pieces fit.

Charley

I have to post this boy.  I just have to do it.
(Courtesy of fiberfarm).

In other news, Finn spent another Sunday afternoon with Grandma Dale (Mommy-Mommy).

Wait. What?

It's too hot today, but some day soon, I am going to peacefully interfere with something.

Contemporary

Ah, a beef jerky dress:

A Kiki Smith felt:

Potatoes, or amputations?

Native American. . .

Japanese Warrior Garb

African Textiles

Last month, at the Minneapolis Museum of Art, Neil and I wandered around separately through room after room of ancient as well as modern and contemporary workmanship from Africa, Asia and North America.  Here is a selection of African textiles.  Asia to follow!

 I am participating in a knitting swap next month - up next, we should hold a "charm" swap:

 Look!  Tiny presents sewn on all over!

 I would definitely wear this:

 Or this:

The Sword in the Silly Putty

*Sigh*

At the Walker

 The flooding of a McDonald's.

More from Minneapolis

Tea House

The Minneapolis Museum of Art installed a traditional tea house in its Japan wing.  

An artist or artisan searches for a workspace separate from the job, from the family, from friends.  A visitor is appreciated now and then, but the space is ultimately unshared.  Everything in it relates to the artist as the artist relates to to everything in it.  All is within reach, ready to affect and be affected.

Everyone should have such a space.

Do you?  Please send me an image - a desk in the corner counts if it is where you go to be with yourself.  Ditto for the car for music or the bathtub for reading.

Where do you go when you need to hear from you?

Blankness

John Cage writes of meditation as the lack of intention.  Here are some sayings of his that help to orient me to the act of making, of taking in and putting out, of flow:

"If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all."

"There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot."

"Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?" 

"All great art is a form of complaint." 

"I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I'm doing."  

For Amanda

Some oldies from the Minneapolis Museum of Art.  

Mid-century design: nothing beats it.